The General Educational Objective
OBJECTIVES AND TASKS OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING
1. The notion and types of teaching objectives
2. The practical objective
3. The general educational objective
4. The upbringing objective
5. The developing objective
6. Student autonomy as an objective in language teaching.
The notion and types of teaching objectives
The objective of language teaching is a preplanned result of activities in language acquisition, achieved with the help of different methods and means of teaching.
In methodology it is traditionally accepted to distinguish the following objectives of teaching: practical, general educational, upbringing and developing. In recent years attempts have been made to distinguish one more objective of teaching – strategic (global). Its essence is in the formation of a secondary language personality, that is, the level of language skills, which is characteristic of a native speaker. The strategic objective of teaching is considered to be the leading one in the paradigm of teaching objectives to which we refer practical, general educational, upbringing and developing.
The problem of the leading objective in teaching has been solved in different ways at different times. Thus, in the XVIII – the beginning of the XX century the general educational objective was considered to be leading, according to which foreign language learning was aimed at developing logic thinking and broadening learners’ outlook. Therefore the basic objects of teaching were grammar, reading and text translation. Thus, grammar-translation method was widely used.
In the second half of the XIX century the practical objective of teaching came to the fore as the leading one and retains its dominating significance even nowadays. It favoured the revision of the system of teaching a language as a whole: new approaches to teaching were widely popularized (direct, communicative activity-bearing) and corresponding methods of teaching (communicative, intensive).
The Practical Objective
The practical objective pursues the language acquisition as a means of communication and the formation of a number of general education skills (such as the ability to work with a book, to make notes at studies, to use modern technologies of teaching). Thus, the practical objective embraces both the ability to communication and knowledge, habits and skills of the technological character, ensuring and stimulating the process of language acquisition.
The practical objective is realized in setting language proficiency levels and in distinguishing intermediate and final objectives at every stage of teaching.
At classes with students-philologists the following final objectives are advanced: a free command of a language in its oral and written forms within the limits that are close to the level of native speakers, the acquisition of knowledge about a language system and the ability to use this knowledge in further professional activities. At classes with students who are non-philologists a language is mastered to such an extent which is necessary for being educated according to the profile of the institute of higher education.
Thus, the practical objective or objectives of teaching have different content expression depending on the stage of teaching. They may be selective (acquisition of one of the skills) and complex (acquisition of language means and skills).
The task of teaching is practical realization of teaching objectives as applied to a certain stage and conditions of classes. Within the framework of one and the same objective different tasks of teaching may be solved. They are presented in the form of enumeration of knowledge, habits and skills.
We distinguish the following tasks of teaching: subject, language, speech, general educational, socio-cultural and professional.
Subject tasks include spheres (social and everyday, educational, professional etc.), topics reflecting situations of communication, communicative intentions, comprising the basis of the planned speech act.
Language tasks identify the knowledge and the habits (phonetic, lexical and grammatical) learners need to acquire and the number of language units they need to learn (e.g. the threshold level of the 11th form is determined within the limits of 3 000 words).
Speech tasks are realized in the process of the formation and development of communicative skills on the basis of linguistic and socio-cultural knowledge and habits within the framework of a certain subject field (topics, communicative situations, etc.).
General educational tasks involve the development of skills to work with a book, a dictionary and technical aids, to take study notes, to form logical utterances, to use translation.
Socio-cultural tasks are achieved in the process of acquiring knowledge, habits and skills from linguistic area studies comprising the basis of socio-cultural competence.
Professional tasks are concerned with professional activities of teachers, lifelong improving of their practical teaching skills and knowledge, and professional competences.
The General Educational Objective
This objective of teaching pursues the use of English with the aim of increasing general culture of learners, broadening their outlook and knowledge of the English-speaking countries. The general educational objective of teaching is achieved in the process of text analysis at classes, talks with learners, discussions of topical problems, at reviewing video-films, etc.
This objective promotes the improvement of both native tongue and foreign language. The achievement of the general educational objective makes a contribution to the development of learners’ logic thinking (such tasks as making a plan, theses, telling according to a plan, etc.) and also favours the perfection of communicative culture, models of mental work (work with a book, reference literature, etc.).
The general educational objective is aimed at acquiring knowledge connected with linguistic area studies. This knowledge includes the information of the country of the studied language, its geographical and natural conditions, state structure, culture and its contribution to world culture, educational establishments, memorable dates etc.
The knowledge of linguistic area studies includes the information about national-cultural peculiarity of native speakers’ communication, comprising non-equivalent vocabulary, background knowledge laid in toponymy (place-name study), proper names, proverbs, sayings, phraseologisms, the names of things and phenomena of a traditional and new way of life, the peculiarities of behaviour and etiquette, which at language classes are considered from the point of view of culture reflection in them, national and mental peculiarities, the experience of people, speaking that language.
The Upbringing Objective
This teaching objective is realized through the relation of a learner to the language and culture of native speakers and presupposes the accomplishment of tasks providing the formation of: a) respectful and well-wishing attitude to the people, whose language has become the subject of learning; b) the system of moral values and evaluative-emotional attitude to world; c) positive attitude to language and culture of the people, speaking that language, that favours the development of mutual understanding and tolerance; d) understanding the importance of a foreign language learning and the needs to use it as a means of communication under the conditions of international co-operation; e) the feeling of justice, deliberate attitude to moral deeds and actions of people, the wish to look into the situation that arose and make a proper moral conclusion.
At this stage the main purpose of teaching is to prepare pupils for life and work in a continuously developing democratic society. Education at large and teaching English in particular should encourage the personal development and health of each individual, as well as laying the foundations for independent thinking and co-operation, i.e. for the development of life skills. Pupils should be encouraged to develop spiritual values, physical health and psychological strength by means of language learning. In addition, children and young people should be encouraged to develop their social maturity, morality and respect for themselves and others.
- The Developing Objective
The developing objective is manifested in teacher’s activities aimed at developing language abilities among pupils, culture of speech behaviour, general educational skills, steady interest to language learning, such personal properties as stable positive emotions, a strong-willed character, memory, etc. in the process of personal development by means of a studied language the accomplishment of those tasks is presupposed, that favours the formation: a) the mode of language guess and the skill of transference of accumulated knowledge and habits to a new situation on the basis of problem-searching activities; b) language and speech capacities to language acquisition (the ability to guess-work, distinguishing, imitation, logicality of account, language feeling, compensatory capacities, etc.); c) the abilities and readiness to enter into a foreign language communication, the need in further foreign language learning; d) the motivation to further acquisition of the culture of the country, whose language is studied and considered to be a part of this culture; e) mental functions connected with speech activities (types of perception, memory, steady arbitrary attention, word-logic thinking); f) emotional-volitional sphere (steady positive emotions, personal activity, readiness to overcome difficulties, persistence in achieving the set objective, diligence, inquisitiveness, aspiration for self-expression, etc.).