DIDACTIC AND METHODOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES OF FORMATION OF MECHANISMS OF DIALOGICAL SPEAKING IN STUDENTS OF GRADES 7-9 OF HIGH SCHOOLS

Abstract

Practice shows that teaching dialogic interaction is one of the least developed aspects in methodology of FL teaching. Partly this is due to the long methodological tradition that put greater emphasis on developing students’ knowledge of a foreign language system i.e. vocabulary and grammar whereas shaping the ability to produce complete utterances not always complied with requirements of proper communicative interaction. For a long time teaching of verbal communication was limited to producing monologues and role-playing short drill-dialogues which lacked pragmatic value.

In the early 2000s, FL curricula for Ukraine’s school was updated in order to clearly define the pragmatic nature of communication (i.e. speech functions) and to set qualitative parameters for dialogic speech. Nevertheless, elaborating the system of tools for teaching dialogic speech still remains a difficult methodological challenge for educators and textbook authors. Such factors of natural dialogues as their dependence on overall context, participants’ background knowledge and emotional state define its unpredictability. Together with peculiarities of questioning and replying, utterance ellipticity and use of paralinguistic expression hinder the development of a coherent theory of teaching dialogic speech that would go beyond model training (the so-called drills and patterns). Moreover, students are often reluctant to engage in role-play situations, which poses additional challenges to educators.

The author insists that in the context of competence-based paradigm, the process of shaping students’ dialogue skills in grades 7-9 of gymnasiums is to be based on modelling communicative situations. Their content is to be determined by the curriculum topics. In order to involve students in dialogic interaction, it is necessary to minimize the ‘artificiality’ and ‘drilling’ nature of dialogues by addressing students’ personal interests and problems.

Analysis of methodological research has shown that the problem of linguistic correctness of verbal utterances has remained underestimated within the framework of communicative methodology. Therefore the author emphasizes the importance of observing linguistic (in particular grammatical) accuracy of students’ statements. It is also noted that the rules of a dialogue in an
intercultural environment are mediated by socio-cultural norms, and therefore the formation of skills in this type of activity should take place in close interaction with the rules and norms accepted in a particular society.