Didactic Features of Educational Technology «Edutainment» in English Language Classroom at the University

The term “edutainment” is formed from two English words: “entertainment” and “education” and combines entertainment and learning. Edutainment is a special education technology, viewed as a complex of modern technical and didactic means of teaching, based on the concept of learning through entertainment. The principle difference between edutainment and the modern paradigm of learning is that the subject is actively involved in the educational process. Edutainment technology tasks have to meet three pedagogical principles: the principle of theory with practice linking, the principle of consistency and the principle of accessibility. Edutainment technology has great potential in the organization of the learning process at the university. It is necessary to maintain a reasonable balance between education and entertainment. Tasks created to promote the interest, need to be balanced with activities to improve intelligence. The main task of edutainment in the university education process is to ensure the enjoyment of the student in the learning process, which can be expressed through interesting content of the material; satisfaction from the independent decision of any task; social interaction with other students; progress in learning; motivating, representing the meaning for a student of material related to the practical aspects of his life. Various edutainment tools were considered – interactive reading, case-study, WebQuests. The author presents the experimental work using Treasure Hunt method as the basis for game-based learning. The results of the study show that edutainment technology contributes to the formation of certain personal and professional qualities of students (tolerance, communication skills, and ability to overcome the psychological barrier when communicating in a foreign language) by the presence of personal meaning in the study of the subject.