Theory and practice of teaching foreign languages and foreign language culture

Abstract. This article examines the teaching foreign languages and relationship with culture. The subject "foreign language" not only introduces the culture of the country of the target language, but by way of comparison highlights the peculiarities of its national culture.

Keywords: foreign language, theory of language, foreign culture, approach, method.

In the modern methodology, one of the most important problems is the formation of an artificial foreign language environment while teaching foreign languages. The productivity of foreign language teachers depends on the degree to which they successfully master the provisions of modern education and whether they begin to implant these ideas in the process of teaching a foreign language. It is important for a future foreign language teacher to understand that the updates involve:

1. revision of goals and learning outcomes;
2. reducing the amount of hours required to complete the topic;
3. improvement of technologies, methods and approaches to mastering the content of teaching;
4. application of an individual approach in the process of teaching a foreign language;
5. transformation of the program, standards, curricula in a foreign language.

A modern approach to teaching a foreign language can be called a competence-based activity approach, the main idea of which is that the implementation of updated content and the use of innovations in teaching will become the foundation for the formation of various competencies of students (educational, cognitive, speech, linguistic, socio-cultural), and the process of learning the content will be characterized by an activity character [E. I. Passov  2006: p.133].

The concept of "method" can be interpreted from two sides. On the one hand, the method can be viewed as an orientation in teaching in different historical periods of the development of science or as a methodological system. On the other hand, the concept of "method" can be explained as "ways and means of achieving the goal in teaching and learning" [I.P. Podlasy 2004: p. 365]

As M.L. Vaysburd notes, scientists put vocabulary and grammar first; either a constant analysis as a learning system, or an absolute imitation; then reading; then oral speech, either they were convinced that only the translation of everything in a row would come to the result, or they deleted it altogether from the learning process [N.M. Koptyug 2008: p. 29 - 32].

The history of foreign language teaching methodology sees numerous and varied attempts to find the optimal method of teaching foreign languages. The oldest method was the natural one, which practically did not differ from the method by which the child learns his native language. Mastering a foreign language took place by imitating ready-made templates, by constantly repeating and reproducing new material by analogy with what was learned. The natural method pursued exclusively practical goals - teaching, first of all, the ability to speak and read light texts, this method for a long time satisfied the needs of a society in which effective command of a foreign language was the prerogative of its upper strata.

The teacher and methodologist from England, Harold Palmer, believed that the main goal of teaching a foreign language was mastering the skills of oral speech. His method is called the oral method. The system of exercises for developing correct speaking skills is of the greatest interest in the Palmer method. Exercises in this system can be divided into the following types:

1. a purely receptive process (understanding at a subconscious level, but at the same time conscious oral assimilation, training in following instructions, monosyllabic answers to general questions);
2. receptive-imitative process (repetition of individual sounds, words and sentences after the teacher);
3. conditional conversation (question and answer, directions and answers, end of sentences);
4. natural conversation [A. A. Mirolyubov 1995: p. 47].

In modern school education, one of the priority areas is teaching foreign languages. The specificity of a foreign language as an academic subject is its integrative nature, i.e. a combination of foreign language education and elementary foundations of literary education (familiarization with samples of foreign literature), as well as in its ability to be both a goal and a means of teaching for acquaintance with other subject areas ( humanitarian, natural science, technological). Thus, the most diverse interdisciplinary connections (with the native language, literature, history, geography, etc.) can be realized in it.

The main participants in the learning process are the teacher and the student. The relationship between them is based on joint work and equal speech partnership [E.I. Passov. 1998: p. 159].

The following principles can be distinguished in the application of the communicative teaching method to build the learning content:

1. Learning a foreign language through communication, namely, its speech orientation. The communicative method was the first to formulate the position that communication should be taught only through communication. This leads to a more practical lesson orientation. In addition, it must be added that it is communication that seems to be the main requirement for proper education. There is not just a declared communication, which acts as a simple addition to learning (often inherently traditional), but in fact is:

a) the means through which the development process takes place;

b) a tool that develops individuality;

c) the way of educating the necessary personality traits;

d) a channel for transferring experience and developing communication skills.

2. Functionality. Initially, this principle assumes that students understand the functional purpose of all aspects of the language being studied, in other words, each of the students needs to understand exactly what practical language skills can serve him personally.
3. Situational. Communication learning is carried out on the basis of a situation, understood as a concept of relationships. Fundamentally important is the choice and organization of material based on situations and communication tasks that interest students of every age. "Educational situation" as a unit of learning, which simulates the situation as a unit of communication, keeps all the basic qualities of the latter, all the variety of interrelations of communicating. This is what makes it possible to use the situation as a basis for cooperation. The urge to speak appears in students only in a real or recreated situation concerning the speaker.
4. Personal orientation of communication. There is no faceless speech, speech is always personal. Each person differs from others in his innate characteristics (abilities), and the ability to implement educational and speech activities, and his personal characteristics.
5. Modeling. The volume of regional and linguistic knowledge is very extensive and cannot be mastered within the framework of the school course. Therefore, it is necessary to select the amount of knowledge that will be necessary to show the culture of the country and the language system in a concise form (as a certain model), i.e. to build a scheme of the content of the object of knowledge. The proposed scheme serves as a kind of general model, a source of knowledge for all students [E. I. Passov. 1998: p. 159].

Intensive methods of teaching foreign languages are becoming more and more popular. Many types of intensive methods have been created, which are most often used to teach a foreign language to adults. Nevertheless, in school, teachers with experience use the working methods characteristic of these methods rather successfully [F. M. Rabinovich, T. E. Sakharova 1991: pp.9-17].

Today there is a wide variety of intensive methods of teaching a foreign language to adults. Most often they are used in circle or extracurricular activities in schools and gymnasiums. But, despite this, the successful application of the techniques and elements of work that are inherent in these methods is possible in the classroom in a regular school. Accelerated methods allow you to take a fresh look at the methodology of teaching foreign languages ​​at school, activate the processes of perception and assimilation of the basics of communication and increase the effectiveness of teamwork.

It is important to say that using intensive methods in high school can be difficult for several reasons. Such reasons include, for example, technical problems associated with the complexity of the equipment of a special room for training, as well as the lack of a specially trained specialist. A room for classes of this kind should be equipped with appropriate lighting, soft chairs arranged in a semicircle, two tape recorders, and a projector. It would be very difficult for a general education school to equip this type of premises. Therefore, with regard to secondary school, it is more correct to talk about the integration of elements of intensive methods into the process of teaching foreign languages ​​[L.G.Denisova 1995: p. 6-12].

Based on the theoretical foundations and analysis of school textbooks "Spotlight", as well as methodological manuals for this textbook, the following types of exercises can be distinguished:

Exercise 1: "Imitation".

The purpose of imitation is the involuntary memorization of speech patterns of the text. The maximum results are achieved when acting according to the principle "from simple to difficult", first of all, memorization of words on the studied topic follows, and then, the transition from the learned word to combinations of words and sentences.

Before starting work, the settings in Kazakh and foreign languages are sounded: Look at me! Hear me Repeat with facial expressions and intonation.

Then the words are pronounced by the teacher in a foreign language and in Kazakh several times (depending on the difficulty), and the students repeat it in chorus. They need to repeat the facial expressions and intonation of the teacher (or maybe surpass him).

Exercise 2: Rhyming.

The purpose of using rhymes is the involuntary memorization of speech patterns of the text. The peculiarity of pronouncing a poetic text with "rapping" each word and at a set fast pace leads to a direct unconscious memorization of information. For example, when studying the verb “can”, the following song is given:

        Can, can you dance

        Like I can?

        Can you sing like I can?

        Can you run

        And can you jump

        Like me?

        Can, can you walk

        Like I can?

        Can you talk like I can?

        Can you swim

        And can you climb

         Like me? [N. I. Bykova, D. Dooley, M. D. Pospelova, V. Evans 2017: p. 178].

The song is set on a recognizable motive. The text of the song is previously read by the teacher and students. In the process of performing the above exercise, verbs are repeated, the form of building a question with the verb “can” is remembered.

The main goal of studying foreign languages ​​at school is to create opportunities for schoolchildren to implement foreign language interpersonal and intercultural communication with native speakers, that is, the formation of foreign language communicative competence. The achievement of the designated goal is facilitated by raising the cultural and social orientation of teaching foreign languages, focusing on strengthening the cultural aspect in the content of education, and on involving schoolchildren in the communication of cultures. All this contributes to the familiarization of students with the culture of the country of the target language, the development of mutual understanding, a tolerant attitude to the peculiarities of another culture, helps them better understand the characteristic features of the culture of their own country and develops their ability to represent it in the process of communication by means of a foreign language [Z.N. Nikitenko 2010: p. 128].

The teaching foreign language as an object of mastering and learning. Styles and categories of foreign language acquisition. The modern learning process of foreign language, built on a communicative basis and focused on the personality of the learner, forms in the student a broad humanistic view of the world based on universal human values. The process of mastering a foreign language acts as a powerful mechanism for the personal development of students. A foreign language as an academic subject is an additional "way" into the world, a means for replenishing knowledge in different areas of life, science, art, culture. The use of a foreign language as a means of transmitting and receiving information from the surrounding reality from a variety of subject areas creates favorable conditions for expanding the general educational horizons of students.

In the practice of teaching a foreign language in Kazakhstan and abroad, in recent years, ideas have been increasingly being embodied, the essence of which is the co-study of a foreign language and culture, the development of students' ability to navigate the culture of a native speaker country, removing stereotypes and raising a personality ready for intercultural communications. A foreign language, as a phenomenon of social culture, has great opportunities for borrowing the values of other cultures. Learning a foreign language is the first, but a very essential step in the formation of a linguistically interesting personality. The subject "foreign language" not only acquaints with the culture of the country of the target language, but by means of comparison it emphasizes the peculiarities of its national culture, acquaints with universal values, promotes education of students in the context of "dialogue of cultures". “Knowledge of foreign languages ​​can definitely be qualified as a component of the general culture of the individual, with the help of which the person is introduced to the world culture” [Krylova N.B. 2000: p. 135]. The involvement of cultural components in teaching a foreign language is absolutely necessary to achieve the main practical goal - the formation of the ability to communicate in the target language.

The culturological approach to education was developed in the works of L. White, E. Sapir, N.S. Trubetskoy, V.F. Sidorenko, A.S. Zapesotsky; a cultural approach to teaching foreign languages ​​was covered by E.M. Vereshchagin, V.G. Kostomarov, L. Bloomfield, V.A. Maslova, V.V.Safonova, M.A. Suvorova, G.V. Elizarova, V.Shaklein. M., Khrolenko A.T., Furmanova V.P., Telia V.N. With a culturological approach to education, not only fundamental and applied knowledge and skills on the subject are important, but also principles that correspond to professional culture - the criteria for the social acceptability of the forms of carrying out this activity (at their social cost and consequences), ethics of attitude to work and professional interaction, realistic status claims, traditions, attributes of prestige and other role characteristics of a specialist in this area, i.e. full integration not only into production, but also into the social-functional stratum (professional cultural community) of producers.

Each lesson in a foreign language is a practical encounter with another culture, primarily through its main carrier - language. Each foreign word reflects a foreign culture, behind each word there is a subjective, conditioned only by a given language culture, a kind of impression about the world around. The examples below illustrate that, when working with some expressions, as well as proverbs and phraseological phrases of the English language, background knowledge is revealed, without which it is impossible to seriously study the language and comprehend the cultural characteristics of the ethnic group.  The study of the cultural component of words is an important condition for the successful mastery of a foreign language, however, in turn, it is included in a wider range of cultural and historical meanings of the corresponding social reality, the assimilation of which is an important condition for using language as a means of communication. Recent studies give grounds to assert that the study of language communication in the light of sociolinguistics is relevant today, and more and more begin to acquire a pragmatic character. The language, first of all, reflects the social experience of the people.

In conclusion, society's requirements for mastering a foreign language in large volumes with little time investment increased with the development of information technology, an increase in the number of foreign contacts, the development of culture and trade, which, in turn, gave rise to the creation of the category of intensive teaching methods in the middle of the twentieth century.

The introduction of these methods is carried out in order to implement a communicative approach in teaching foreign languages. Without a doubt, the main task of intensive education is to increase the level of a foreign language, but at the same time it is aimed at the comprehensive development of the student's personality, at the simultaneous development of its intellectual, emotional, motivational aspects. Using the latent mental reserves of the personality, i.e. reliance on the unconscious is the fundamental basis of all intensive methods, which guarantees their greater effectiveness. However, if a number of features of the organization of such training are not observed, one cannot speak of the achievement of any results. Such prerequisites that ensure the fruitfulness of intensive classes are the professionalism of the teacher, the high motivation of students, a special favorable working atmosphere, a carefully selected composition and nature of the study group. The main task of the teacher of a foreign language is to be able to choose the appropriate method for their contingent of students. To choose the appropriate method, the teacher needs to consider the following: the student must feel comfort and freedom, be motivated to learn and use a foreign language; the student must show initiative, be an active participant in the educational process; the student must understand that the study of a foreign language depends to a large extent on himself, on his interest; the teacher needs to stimulate the speech, cognitive and creative abilities of the student; all kinds of work in the classroom (individual, group), stimulating the activity, independence and creativity of students should be envisaged”. Also teaching intercultural communication presupposes the formation of the following skills among students: use a foreign language in all its manifestations in authentic situations of intercultural communication; the process of forming skills and abilities; to understand and assimilate at a certain level someone else's way of life or behavior (cognition processes); to expand the individual picture of the world by introducing the speakers of the target language to the linguistic picture of the world (development processes).