WAYS OF EXPOSING PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENTS TO SOCIOCULTURAL INFORMATION IN THE PROCESS OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE ACQUISITION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF COMPETENCE-ORIENTED APPROACH

Abstract

A primary school pupil is considered as a full-fledged subject of the cultural environment. In this respect, school environment should encourage development of pupils’ self-identification with their own people and culture. In the process of learning a foreign language, childrenhave to understand that there are other cultures, which might be different from their own. Therefore, mastering a new language code should be coherent with the cultural context where it is spoken. As far as thematic principle is didactically appropriate and generally accepted for the modern textbook, acquaintance with cultural phenomena of the countries of the target language occurs through so called ‘thematic primitives’ — topics which reflect those basic fragments everyday life which the child is familiar with. Thematic primitives are aimed at shaping a non-problematic strategy in education. By representing new cultural information mainly on the level facts such topics do not distract a pupil from learning a new language. To fully promote pupil’s acquisition of cultural competence, the didactic material must meet the criteria of authenticity at the level of the language (speech patterns), as well as the context — the storyline of the textbook or its separate topics. In the process of foreign language learning it is deemed necessary to take into account facts about student’s native culture (local component). A parallel presentation of similar facts in native and foreign culture will contribute to a better understanding of their differences and similarities. This way methodical principle of the “dialogue of cultures” is implemented. An important aspect of foreign language learning is not only presentation of information about cultural phenomena, but also creation of conditions for pupils to compare them. At the initial stages of FL learning such tasks are based on reproductive approaches. In conditions of multinational educational environment it is vital to consider all pupils’ native culture — this aspect still remains unsolved from didactic and methodological perspective.