DEVELOPING PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENT’S ‘NATIONAL CULTURE AWARENESS’ IN THE CONTENT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING — DIDACTIC OUTLINE

Abstract

The article deals with the problem of presenting information about students’ native country and culture in the process of foreign language learning. Implementation of this approach is vital for providing methodological principle of “dialogue of cultures”. The author emphasizes that a child of junior school age is a ‘full-fledged’ subject of cultural environment in which he or she exists. Therefore, it is deemed necessary to develop their national identity, sense of dignity and patriotism while studying school subjects and foreign language is not an exception. According to the author in the process of studying a foreign language a students have not only to develop their linguistic skills and expand knowledge of another culture but also be ready to present information about native culture in the process of communication with native speakers. The author introduces a term to describe the scope of knowledge about students’ native culture and defines three levels of its presentation: national, regional and local. The importance of introducing the above mentioned information is determined by a number of factors: 1) important aspects of language and culture are revealed only in the condition of their comparative analysis; 2) in the process of communication it is necessary to represent information about own culture and country; 3) understanding of student’s own culture raises the sense of their national identity and patriotism. A number of primary school teachers were questioned in order to define which information about students’ native culture is to be included in the process of learning. The empirical data was analyzed and systemized so as to appropriately supplement the syllabus. The obtained data can be used by textbook writers and curriculum developers in order to incorporate information about native culture and country in educational process.