Considering Ukraine's integration into the political, economic and cultural life of Europe and the world, modern education should be shaped by the principle of communicative learning, developing students' communication skills based on interrelated speech, socio-cultural and linguistic development.The use of debate technology is particularly relevant in these circumstances. Having mastered it, students learn to discuss various problems, defending their opinion with its clear argumentation, analyzing events of people's lives, expressing their attitude to them, finding solutions to problems of society, families, schools, deepening knowledge of the history and cultural heritage of the life of the people of the country whose language is being learned.The use of this new technology in teaching creates favorable conditions for acquaintance with the values of life of people of other countries, cultural realities, customs, traditions of Ukraine, English-speaking countries and other countries of the world in specially simulated communication situations.The presence of a sociocultural component will make this process effective, which will enable the education of an active personality who is prepared to participate in the dialogue of cultures.

On the other hand, the use of debate technology has an educational influence, because it teaches students the culture of communication, which is adopted in the modern civilized world, the emotional-value attitude to the world around them, develops linguistic, intellectual, cognitive abilities of students, and enhances self-motivation in creating language skills, develop the ability to transfer knowledge and skills to a new situation through problematic search activities.It should also be noted that the use of Internet resources, media, working with dictionaries, reference literature allows students to develop skills of independent search.

To begin with, let's look at what difficulties a student encounters while learning English, and whether debate technology can help them avoid it. So, when learning English, students are faced with a number of difficulties, the main ones are:

1. Language barrier, or inability to speak English spontaneously. As you know, most of the lesson is devoted to learning vocabulary, doing exercises, reading, and translating texts. Less attention is paid to the practical application of the language. As a result, due to lack of oral practice, the student feels uncertain about the free expression of his or her opinion, for example, when confronted with a foreigner.
2. Poor English perception of hearing. Faced with fluent language, the student does not understand the meaning of what he said, because he cannot recognize individual words. They all merge together. Hearing English is a skill you need to work on. In order to develop it, you need to listen to as many English texts as possible.
3. The constant forgetting of English words. Low-use words are relegated to the passive stock. You need to practise speaking more and more often, using a variety of synonyms, to make up sentences with the words you are trying to memorize.
4. Complexity of control of "vocabulary - grammar" in verbal speech. In oral language, if the student focuses on vocabulary, he often stops controlling grammar, and vice versa. The solution to this problem is also the constant practice of speaking.
5. Inability to "think" in English. Another problem is the constant translation of what the student is trying to say from their native language into English. Because of this, he talks slowly and constantly thinks about how to make up a sentence. After all, he first needs to formulate a thought, then pick up the words in English and make up the sentence correctly in terms of grammar. This is a very long process and also requires a lot of verbal practice.

As we can see, most of the difficulties are related to verbal speech and its perception. This is where the debate comes to the rescue, as it is a good practice of speaking and listening.

So, what is "debate"? Debate is an intellectual game that is a particular form of discussion that follows certain rules. The essence of the debate is that the two teams put forward their arguments and counterarguments to defend and refute the proposed thesis to convince the jury (judge) of their correctness and experience of rhetoric.

In other words, the debate refers to a clearly structured and specially organized public exchange of views between the two parties on a topic. In this kind of public debate, the participants in the debate are led to believe in the correctness of the third part, not of each other. Therefore, the verbal and non-verbal means used by the participants in the debate are intended to produce a certain result – to create a positive impression on the audience.

According to the rules, teams must assert their positions by the end of the game. Therefore, at first glance, it seems that the skill of debate does not produce the ability to compromise. However, since students will have to carefully analyze the topic of debate in the preparation process, they will have to weigh different sides and analyze different approaches. This indirectly contributes to the development of a willingness to compromise.

As we can see, as a game the debate is democratic, because it involves honesty, equal opportunity, respect for the opponent, tolerance, and at the same time critical thinking. Participation in debates, including educational ones, allows students to experience the benefits of this way of discussing issues.

On the other hand, it is not just a game, because debate has its must-haves. Discussion of a controversial issue becomes a debate only when this process acquires the following mandatory features: a theme, definitions, the system of argumentation, support and evidence, cross-cutting questions.

It should also be noted that there is a third party in the debate - the judge. Therefore, in our view, its role in the debate should also be considered in detail. The main and complex criterion of refereeing is persuasiveness, that is, the feeling in the judge that this team convinced him in his position. It, in turn, consists of 4 criteria:

1. Argumentation and validity - presenting serious judgments in defense or refutation of a given topic and refutation of opponents' arguments.
2. Evidence and support - the support of reasoning with the logical course of thought and facts, examples, statistics or expert quotes.
3. Structure and organization of the presentation - the connection of arguments with each other and with the topic, the sequence of counter argumentation.
4. Speech method and style - accessibility of language, manner of its pronunciation, verbal and non-verbal techniques of speech.

So, debate technology is really important in studying. According to Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Professor O. Pometun, students' participation in the debate provides them with greater educational opportunities both to improve their cognitive activity and academic achievement, and for future professional development and life in general [2, p. 12]. During the debate, critical thinking is activated, which means the ability to analyze and organize ideas, to think abstractly; oratory skills are actively developing, which are manifested in the clarity and logical consistency of expression.

On the other hand, the debate develops all the qualities necessary for a successful personality, namely: self-confidence and ability to defend one's position; persistence and ability to find a way out in any situation; ability to plan and anticipate difficulties; erudition, as the subject of debate is diverse and requires extensive preparation; ability to collaborate and work as a team.

Thus, we can conclude that the use of debate technology in the process of learning English is very relevant and effective today. Debates as a game, on the one hand, and innovative and pedagogical technology, on the other, actively develop students' speech competence.This modern language teaching technology helps students develop language, intellectual, cognitive abilities, enhances motivation for further self-improvement in the field of language proficiency, develops the ability to transfer knowledge and skills to a new situation through problem-based search and self-search. All these are very important at the present stage of development of Ukrainian education.

Literature

1. Ivin A. Rhetoric: The Art of Persuading / А. Ivin. – Kyiv "FAIR", 2002. – 304 p.
2. Pometun O. Debates at school. How to teach students argumentation and public speaking / O. Pometun. – Kyiv, 2006. – 126 p.
3. Nolasco R. Conversation. / R. Nolasco, L. Arthur. – Oxford University Press, 2003.
4. Yule G. Survey interviews for interactive language learning. / G. Yule, W. Gregory. – ELTF 43/2, 1987.