The Linguodidactic Potential of Valency Theory in Teaching the Untranslatable Semantization of Medical Discourse Terminology (On the Material of the German Language)

Nowadays, teaching professionally oriented discourse becomes an urgent issue of the education policy. The aim of the current research is to reveal the linguodidactic potential of the theory of internal valency as the basis of an educational technology aimed at developing students' skills in untranslatable semantization of medical terminology as an important component of the foreign-language terminological competence that is manifested in the ability to operate with a foreign language terminological thesaurus in cross-cultural professional communication. The methodological basis of the research is the systematic approach to foreign language education as a holistic process of language acquisition and students' cognitive abilities development alongside with societal and cultural determinants of learning. The methods of retrospective study, analysis and synthesis of the works on valency theory and medical terminology as well as pedagogical observations and assessment of the level of students' skills in direct semantization of medical terms were employed. The theoretical foundations of the suggested educational technology are the key issues of the theory of internal valency viewed in a linguodidactic perspective, and studies in term-formation. The focus was on such issues as frequency models of word-formation, structural and semantic compatibility of root stems and word-building formants, formation of terminological thesaurus of medical discourse in diachronic and synchronic aspects. The educational technology designed on the basis of a linguodidactic interpretation of the theory of internal valency consists of a two-stage algorithm of students' learning activities. The first stage implemented through the Theory Module suggests that students acquire a certain amount of knowledge in the key points of the theory of internal valency. The second stage actualized as the Practice Module aims at developing students' skills in the didactically relevant analysis of structural, etymological and semantic aspects of internal valency of the terms as the basis for their untranslatable semantization. The analysis of the data obtained through the experimental teaching shows that the development of the students' skills in analyzing the internal valency of the terms promotes ability in untranslatable semantization, which, in its turn, fosters the positive dynamics in the development of the foreign language terminological competence. The theoretical significance of the research lies in the linguodidactic interpretation of the theory of internal valency, contributing to the development of theoretical and methodological foundations of teaching professionally-oriented discourse in a foreign language. The practical significance of the work manifests in the possibility of applying the suggested learning techniques to teaching terminology of different types of professionally-oriented discourse.

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