Received: 15 February 2018
Accepted: 22 March 2018
Abstract: The article is devoted to the formation of speech activity among junior school students in the process of teaching foreign languages with the help of integrative learning technology through a personality-active method as the methodological basis of the integrative method. As a result, the technology of teaching foreign languages among the junior school students on an integrative basis reflects the mutual conditioning of the communicative and speech process development by the means of native and foreign language. As a conclusion, the given analysis showed inconsistency in Russian and English languages education.
Keywords: Personality-Active, Technology, Speech, Education.
Resumen: El artículo está dedicado a la formación de la actividad del habla entre los estudiantes de secundaria en el proceso de enseñanza de idiomas extranjeros con la ayuda de la tecnología de aprendizaje integrador a través de un método de personalidad activa como la base metodológica del método integrador. Como resultado, la tecnología de enseñanza de idiomas extranjeros entre los estudiantes de escuela primaria sobre una base integradora refleja el condicionamiento mutuo del desarrollo comunicativo y del proceso del habla por medio de la lengua nativa y extranjera. Como conclusión, el análisis dado mostró una inconsistencia en la educación en ruso e inglés.
Palabras clave: Personalidad-Activa, Tecnología, Discurso, Educación.
1. INTRODUCTION
In the modern school, the educational strategy is changing, new educational standards are being created, new programs are being developed that require the creation of innovative methods of teaching foreign languages that are oriented toward the development of communicative and speech activity and personality of the students. In the context of education computerization, multilingualism and multiculturalism the problem of the primary education quality of foreign language is of special importance. In the curriculum of the new state educational standards of the elementary school, the subjects of the linguistic cycle (Russian language, Foreign language) are included in the unified educational Philology area, which necessitates the use of a unified approach to teaching the subjects of the linguistic cycle, the formation of communicative competence among junior students in Russian and foreign languages, as an indicator of the culture, which should be formed as an integral system. The analysis of the pedagogical and methodological literature, the condition of the foreign languages teaching has shown that modern junior school students are educated on the conditions of information society, variability, integration of languages and cultures, multilingualism and multiculturalism, strengthening the role of foreign languages in the life of society.
The main trends of modern society, affecting the development of foreign languages education, include: "Acceleration of the globalization processes, the formation of multiculturalism, strengthening the interdependence of countries and cultures, the need for communication and information interaction”. Today in multinational countries, including Kazakhstan, the role of multilingual and multicultural education and upbringing is growing bigger. There is a need to teach a number of subjects in the national language and teaching Russian as a non-native language. In addition to the subjects of the general education cycle, students study the culture, history, traditions of one or another nation, three languages (Russian, European or Oriental as foreign and national).
The existence of different practical goals and approaches to teaching the subjects of the linguistic cycle negatively affects the quality and effectiveness of the primary foreign language education, as it causes various kinds of interference (the negative impact of one language to another).It should be noted that the inconsistency of approaches, goals, content and ways (methods) of teaching native and foreign languages creates certain difficulties in the formation of foreign communicative competence among the junior school students, the impossibility of practical use of principles of reliance on the native language, which were originally developed for students of the basic and high school. The article explores the problem of an integrative approach to teaching subjects of the linguistic cycle and justifies the necessity and possibility of using the personality-active method as a unified strategy of language education.
2. METHODOLOGY
The conditions of multilingualism, bilingualism, multiculture, the unification of educational subjects in the unified educational Philology area, the focus on the development of the individual in the process of learning languages and cultures, requires the use of an integrative approach to teaching languages. This approach should be based on common grounds and have a single methodological basis or a strategy according to which foreign languages will be taught on the basis of the experience of the students in their native language. The basis for developing an integrative approach can serve the functions of language education (Cook, 2001), the overall goal of teaching the subjects of the linguistic cycle is the formation of mass productive multilingualism. Different positions on this issue are evident if we turn to the idea of an integrative approach in teaching the subjects of the linguistic cycle. Vygotsky (1983) pointed out that the mastering of a foreign language proceeds in a way that is directly opposite to the way in which the native language is mastered. A student learns his native language unconsciously, instinctively (from bottom to top), and learns foreign language consciously (from top to bottom).
When studying a foreign language, the student correlates language units and cultural realities with experience in his native language, and thinks in his native language. According to Vygotsky (2000), a foreign language does not follow the way of the native language development, but both of these processes have much in common, in fact, they belong to a single process of speech development. During the mastering of a foreign language, the whole semantic aspect of the native language is used. This study follows the definition of Filatova (2004), who views the approach as a general methodological basis for learning, which characterizes the point of view on the subject of learning and the possibility of mastering it in the learning process.
In the foreign language education, the following approaches are developed and applied in practice:
2. Personal approach Goncharova (2003) and personality- oriented approach;
3. Activity approach Jones (2000) and personality-active approach;
4. Communicative-cognitive (Filatova, 2004);
5. Sociocultural Goncharova (2003);
6. Intercultural Zhetpisbaeva (2008), and others.
Communicative approach, developed by E.I. Passov, assumes the mastery of the language as one of the most important means of communication, which allows students to create their own statements, texts, dialogues on this basis. It also forms a culture of communication. With the communicative orientation of learning, it activates the formation of all types of speech activity (speaking, listening, writing, and reading). Language is seen as a universal mean of communication based on a sign system that reflects the world. Therefore, the activity aspect of the language and the interaction of everything that is connected with the process of communication, is highlighted in the communicative approach. The use of the communicative-active approach in the teaching of junior school students promotes the formation of verbal communication and the increase in the level of academic achievement. It also ensures the communicative interaction of students, the participation of each of them as a subject of cognitive activity.
Personality-active approach, developed by Zhetpisbaeva (2008), is realized in the framework of the already formed educational activity of students in the main school. This factor does not allow us to use this approach to the fullest, since the educational activity of junior school students is not formed. The analysis of the remaining approaches showed that all of them were developed for students of main, high school and students in universities. Considering the teaching of foreign languages among the junior school students in the framework of the integrative approach, the personality-active method of learning is used, which is aimed at the development of personality (of junior school students) in the process of mastering speech activity in the native, second, foreign language, the language of the subject. The personality- active method acts as a strategy (direction) in language education and significantly expands the horizons of education and upbringing of the young generation, since it sets a single vector of personality development regardless of age, type, kind and profile of the educational institution. The personality-active method is based on personal and active approaches, which determines the general guidelines for the development of personality in the activity. When implementing the personal approach as an educational strategy, educators and parents (the adult world) should build relationships with the world of childhood on the basis of the principles of equality, dialogue, partnership, democracy, integrity of development, reformation, sovereignty, ensuring the cultural and historical development of the individual.
At the same time, the teacher helps students to design new elements of the children's subculture and creates conditions for the formation of a children's picture of the world in their consciousness, filled with ideas of good, truth and beauty. In this triunity the culture of the junior student personality can be presented. To implement a personal approach, the teacher must master the strategies of social and personal development of the individual in the learning process. When organizing educational process, teacher builds a system of emotional, personal and value relationships, ensuring development of the abilities and qualities of an individual; the teacher directs the learning process to transform the personal experience of students and the mastering of social norms. The following positions of the personality-active method serve as the methodological basis of the integrative method:
In this case, the personality is considered from three positions:
1) as a subject of historical and evolutionary progress (cultural and historical development of a personality), 2) as the quality acquired by students in the process of communication and team activity (social development of personality), 3) as an integral system-semantic formation (personal development of personality).
When developing the personality of the junior school students in the process of education and teaching foreign languages, it is necessary to focus on the image of a person as a doer who is ready to exercise free choice, capable for creativity and making responsible decisions.
3. Using the strategy of altruistic interaction between teacher and student in the learning process will contribute to the development of children's social activity, which will ensure their social adaptation in the constantly changing conditions of communication.
4. When teaching foreign languages, it is necessary to use the strategy of personal development of the junior school students, which gives guidance for the harmonious development of the child's personality and his/her linguistic consciousness.
5. When organizing the process of foreign languages teaching among the junior school students, it is necessary to bear in mind the patterns of children's speech activity development (as a basic one), including meaningful and productive activities. At the same time, speech activity that serves other practical activities of junior students is a source of cognitive, educational and game motivation development when learning foreign languages.
In order to realize the personality-active method, it is necessary to take into account the specifics of teaching foreign languages among the junior school students, which is related to the peculiarities of perception, processing and mastering of information, with the content of the children's picture of the world that forms in their minds and constitutes the values of the children's subculture.
Taking into account that the practical goals of teaching native and foreign languages are different, it is necessary to have various ways of learning, otherwise there is a need for the coordination of foreign languages education among the junior students on an integrative basis. Integrate means to unite the parts into one. Integration in learning is the process of establishing links between the structural components of content within a particular educational system with the aim of forming a holistic view of the world, oriented to the development and self-development of the child's personality. When developing an integrative approach, the authors rely on the definition of approach by Zhetpisbaeva (2008), treating it as the direction of teacher-and-students activity within any system that provides interaction between the teaching and learning sides; it is included as a component in the learning technology directly related to the problem of how to teach. At the same time, the organization and implementation of pedagogical process take place through the methods of instruction practiced in receptions; through a variety of means; when using different organizational forms of students’ work; taking into account the age of the students, the level of their preparation in the native and foreign languages and general development, the degree of education, educational material, and time devoted to its study.
Thus, the authors consider the process of teaching foreign languages among junior school students on an integrative basis as a way of interaction between teacher and students, oriented toward the realization of a single strategic (personal development in the process of mastering speech activity) and practical goal such as the formation of primitive communicative competence in another language based on experience in native language. The essence of teaching foreign languages on an integrative basis is that it reflects the mutual conditioning of the learning process and communicative-speech development of the junior school students by the means of native and foreign language. The essence of teaching foreign languages is realized when the teacher of a foreign language integrates practical goals (and result), program content and learning process, that will help to improve the quality of primary foreign language education.
3. LITERATURE REVIEW
Practice shows that junior students in a general education school begin to consciously study a foreign language, mainly by the end of the third grade, when they acquire the ability to orientate in the structure of a sentence, to distinguish and name parts of speech (noun, verb, adjective, pronoun, etc.).The analysis of scientific works made it possible to identify two opposing points of view on the problem of an integrative approach to teaching subjects in the linguistic cycle. Vygotsky (1983) believes that the subject’s native language and foreign language are more different than similar. The differences are explained by the fact that the main and leading goal in the teaching of a foreign language is a communicative goal that determines the entire teaching process, while in the teaching of the native language this goal is not the main one.So, the authors point out the differences in the practical purpose of teaching native and foreign languages.
The supporters of the integrative approach to learning the subjects of the linguistic cycle Zhetpisbaeva (2008) believe that there is a commonness between the processes of mastering native and foreign languages, conditioned by the unity of language as an entity and the presence of linguistic universals. This commonness lies in the overall goal of learning, i.e. in the formation of mass productive multilingualism. Supporters of the integrative approach believe that the goal and the result of education should be considered as the formation and development of students' speech competence in various types of speech activity. At the same time, these authors state that the level of speech development will be different.
This contradiction calls for the formation of speech activity among the junior school students in the process of teaching foreign languages on an integrative basis. When teaching foreign languages on an integrative basis, it is necessary to take into account the commonness of the linguistic cycle subjects, which, in the opinion of Vygotsky (1982), manifests itself in the fact that each of them is aimed at the formation of the student's language personality. The development of the student's personality in the process of mastering speech activity (on native, second, foreign language) is a strategic goal of language education, which should be realized within the framework of a unified strategy for teaching the subjects of the linguistic cycle. The inconsistency of approaches, goals, content and ways (methods) of teaching native and foreign language creates certain difficulties in the formation of foreign communicative competence among the junior school students, the impossibility of practical application of the principles of reliance on the native language, which were originally developed for students of the basic and high school. The following authors studied the importance of integration in the study of native and foreign languages: Rogova (2008) theoretical prerequisites for an integrative approach to teaching foreign languages among the junior school students are reflected in the following studies:
- On the use of the integrative approach to the development of speech and the foreign language teaching of preschool and primary school age children (Vorobyova, 2009);
- On didactic interrelations in the teaching of native and foreign language among the junior school students (Trofimova, 2009);
- On interdisciplinary connections and comparison of languages (Shukin, 2004);
- On the development of speech and communicative abilities in the process of learning a foreign language (Passov, 1993).
In these studies, the emphasis is placed on the need for interrelated integrative education for native and foreign languages in a system of uniform requirements. The formation of speech activity in the process of teaching foreign languages on an integrative basis was studied by local Matskivskaya (2003) and foreign authors (Macaro, 1997).
4. RESULTS
The teaching of junior students to foreign languages on an integrative basis includes the content and stages of teaching. Under the content of teaching the authors understand what the teacher must teach, and learners learn in the learning process. The content of the teaching includes the main objectives of education, the principles of education, defining the requirements for the learning process and its components (objectives, means, methods, forms, learning process).The developed technology on an integrative basis implements the strategic (bringing- up, educational, developmental) and practical education objectives:
1. The bringing-up goal is aimed at the formation of a positive attitude among the junior school students to a foreign language (educational and cognitive motivation), the formation of a spiritual and moral values system, the connection with the development of emotional experiences and socialization of junior students.
The positive attitude of a junior school student to a foreign language depends largely on the teacher, on his kind and human attitude towards students. If the student trusts the teacher, if he/she feels protected during the lesson, the result is the success and achievement gained by the student. In the process of communication and team activity, the junior school students receive the experience of teamwork, bringing- up the responsibility for their peers, value kindness and mutual assistance.
2. The educational goal is aimed at the formation of a children's picture of the world (the world of nature, the world of objects, the world of people), to meet the cognitive needs of junior school students in different activities. The source of formation of the junior school students' representations about linguistic reality, about cultural and family traditions, customs is the cognitive activity that stimulates the development of cognitive needs of junior school students in different types of activity.
3. The developmental goal is the development of ways of expressing thoughts in different types of speech activity and mastering the experience of implementing the methods of activity by acquiring the independence of communicative and speech actions with the help of educational and game activities, development of the sensori-motor, mental, emotional-volitional spheres of a child's personality.
Since the modern junior school students perceive the world holistically, the formation of an individual style of thinking (processing and mastering of information in a foreign language in different types of activities) is taking place. The mental sphere of students is developing at the same time. The necessary condition of which is the system of linguistic generalizations, which can be formed within the framework of a single topic that includes micro-topics.
4. The practical goal is to coordinate the communicative and speech development of the junior school students on English, aimed at forming an elementary communicative competence, the willingness and ability of the junior student to communicate in a foreign language, using those means of expression that fit the situations of communication.
The practical goal of teaching is formed by the speech activity of the junior school students in a foreign language, which has its own developmental features: the motive is merged with the goal, then the motive acquires a cognitive character, and the goal becomes communicative; by the end of primary school the motive acquires an educational and cognitive character; orientation on the meaning of the activity. In primary school, the practical goal of education is to prepare the student for intercultural communication in the main school, which is the guarantee of the multilingual education continuity.
The technology of teaching a foreign language among the junior school students on an integrative basis is realized during the following stages: analytical-contextual, criterial-diagnostic, propaedeutical, educational-developmental, and criterial- evaluative. At each stage a certain group of objectives is solved:
2. Criterial-diagnostic stage, the main objectives of which are the development of diagnostic tools and the diagnosis of communicative speech development of the junior school students on native language.
3. Propaedeutical stage is aimed at developing preventive activities, objectives and exercises to ease difficulties in learning a foreign language.
4. Educational-developmental stage is the organization of educational process on the basis of the coordinated principle of native and foreign languages education.
5. Criterial-evaluative stage is the speech development diagnostics of junior school students on a foreign language and revealing the level of its formation.
Teaching of foreign languages on an integrative basis should be carried out with the help of the following teaching aids: communicative and problem situations created by teachers in the classroom, i.e. the language space; types of communicative and speech activity; handouts (books, workbooks, toys, pictures); educational didactic material; technical means. At the beginning of learning a foreign language, education is conducted on an intuitive and practical basis, which involves the following objectives: introducing a new world of languages and cultures to the junior school students; formation of a positive attitude towards a foreign language and social motives; adaptation of junior school students to systematic education in primary school; relief of anxiety; development of all spheres of the junior students’ personality; development of sensori-motor, language, communicative and speech abilities and removal of difficulties in the process of mastering a foreign language; preparation for mastering reading and writing on a foreign language. Thus, the technology of teaching foreign languages among the junior school students on an integrative basis reflects the mutual conditioning of the communicative and speech process development by the means of native and foreign language. This technology is realized during the integration of practical goals (result), program content and the learning process.
5. DISCUSSION
Studying the problem of teaching foreign languages on an integrative basis, the authors turned to studies on the interrelated teaching of the native and foreign language among the junior school students. The reference to the works devoted to the junior school students was caused by the need to trace continuity in the speech and personal development of junior students. In his thesis work Kuvashova (2006) defines the ways of methodical integration in the development of speech among the junior school students in native and foreign languages. The author is based on the proposition that teaching a foreign language as a secondary code should proceed from the epistemological attitude that the language picture of the world is one for all the humanity, and the most effective way of teaching is to teach an integrative whole. Integrated language programs form a poly- systemic knowledge of the language. At the same time mastering mono-system knowledge of a foreign language is not the goal, but a mean in the consciousness of interrelations with other mono-systems.
Jones (2000) believes that if the teaching of a foreign language is carried out in the conditions of communication-learning with a child, by determining the minimum communicative level of speech development in the native language, one can achieve better results in the development of speech in a foreign language. The author suggests an integrative approach to the foreign language teaching of junior school students. This factor points to the interrelations of native and foreign languages mono-systems, which contributes to the formation of homogeneous verbal and communicative skills, holistic view on European culture, development of the linguistic personality. Goncharova (2003) in her work explores the problem of continuity in teaching foreign languages to preschool and primary school children and determines uniform requirements for the construction of foreign language programs. As a single requirement, it proposes to orient programs to the new historical conditions, to the real consumer; the program should set guidelines, outline the main directions in achieving the goal, provide an opportunity to choose; it should be oriented towards a specific course of study; it should really encourage the teacher to work.
Goncharova (2003) in her research indicates that the use of interlinguistic comparisons in Russian language lessons will help students solve some spelling problems, supplement their active and passive vocabulary. Systematic education at Russian language lessons, related to the comparison of Russian and English languages, contributes to the improvement of the students' linguistic abilities, development of linguistic instinct, increase of interest to Russian language lessons, and development of figurative thinking. According to Filatova (2004) education of first-graders in the schools with enhanced coverage of the English language will be effective if the learning process for native, regional and foreign languages is coordinated and will be conducted on the basis of a multilingual readiness. The coordination during the teaching of native, regional and foreign languages should be considered as a different level, i.e.: coordination will be identical at the level of universal speech acts; coordination will be differentiating in the formation of a multi- conceptual picture of the world; the agreement will be taken into account when forming the language of the world.
Consequently, the author points out the need for integrated education in the native and foreign languages for first-graders in the schools with enhanced coverage of foreign language. It should be noted that in the Kazakh society a conscious understanding of the need for a multilingual education has been formed, not only at the state level, but also at the personal level. Filatova writes: "... integration into the economic world space is not possible without knowledge of world languages, in particular English” (Filatova, 2004: 21). In connection with its intensive study, the language situation for the majority of Kazakhs can be fully described as multilingual. The objective realities show that the bilingualism common to the Kazakh society is gradually beginning to be replaced by multilingual space. Multilingual education is a consequence of the socio-cultural transformation of the modern language situation in Kazakhstan. The implementation of a large-scale state educational program should be realized as a controlled innovation process, organically combining scientific and pedagogical achievements and activating the ethnolinguistic and regional components. In connection with the abovementioned, multilingual education appears as a multifaceted phenomenon, showing not only pedagogical, socio-cultural and linguistic problems of the multilingual personality formation.
Thus, it is obvious that the English language occupies more and more advanced positions in the educational space of Kazakhstan, which causes a high interest to the problem of language contacts in general and the switching of codes in particular. In this regard, the phenomenon of Kazakh-English code switching is increasingly noticeable in the educational sphere of Kazakhstan, which requires a detailed study. American scientists are also interested with the problem of codes switching in the speech of teachers. The alternate use of two languages in the speech of teachers can occur spontaneously and unconsciously or intentionally, purposefully. The relation to the process of codes switching is dual. According to various scholars, education only in second (foreign) language allows students to immerse themselves in a real foreign environment. Other researchers believe that the exclusion of the native language during the teaching of the foreign language will limit the possibilities of language teaching. Cook treats the classroom as a natural code switching situation and code switching is a highly professional activity.
So, the analysis of scientific works on the problem of integrative approach during the teaching of the junior students to the linguistic cycle subjects showed that its essence lies in the commonness of the universal psychological, psycholinguistic and didactic laws of the learning process for different languages; in the presence of unified universals in the systems of European and other groups of languages; a number of general objectives, education principles, the content selection criteria, the general construction of some teaching methods, and also taking into account the students' personality integrity, his/her general cultural, philological, regional, life experience.
6. CONCLUSIONS
This study is devoted to the development of a coordinated technology for teaching foreign languages on an integrative basis, bringing-up and development of junior school students. When studying this problem, it was found that it is possible to implement the coordinated learning technology within the framework of an integrative approach to the teaching of junior students in the linguistic cycle subjects. When studying this problem, it was found that it is possible to implement a coordinated technology for teaching foreign languages within the framework of an integrative approach to the teaching of junior students in the linguistic cycle subjects. This technology implements continuity in the development of the junior student’s personality in the process of mastering speech activity in native and foreign languages. It was found that the personality-active method is the most suitable method for the fulfillment of personality and the specificity of the teacher and student activity, which involves modeling in the process of teaching the structure objectives that ensures the priority of the individual over all educational activity. This method is a set of personality-active orientations for the teacher and the student with the purpose of organizing the process of communication in native and foreign languages aimed at junior school students' communicative and speech development.
During the study it was established that children's speech activity is a set of speech actions caused by other practical activities that form a child's picture of the world in a junior student consciousness and the communicative situation. Features of speech activity among the junior school students are: educational purpose, cognitive method; handling of other activities (game, cognitive, etc.); development in the process of communication on the basis of speech functions and mechanisms. To implement the principle of integrative learning, a comparative analysis of exemplary programs for teaching Russian and English languages was conducted; the similarities and differences in the aims and aspects of content were revealed; the time for mastering these aspects was determined. The given analysis showed inconsistency in Russian and English languages education. Prospects for the study are seen in the use of an integrative approach during the teaching of foreign languages to the junior school students when the teacher develops a work curriculum, in training and retraining programs for primary school and foreign language teachers.
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