Aims in foreign languages teaching

The importance of FLT can hardly be overvalued; its practical, educational and cultural value is great. Students extend their knowledge of the world, their philological outlook, their notion of cultures by comparing things in FL1, and FL2. It is important to understand what we mean by culture. Culture is a way of life. Culture is everything. It's the context within which we exist, think, feel and relate to others. It is the glue that binds a group of people together. Culture is an ingrained component of FLT.

A language is a part of culture and a culture is a part of a language. The acquisition of a FL is also the acquisition of a second culture. It is co-teaching of culture and language (со-изучение культуры и языка). Co-teaching of language and culture is implemented through content based and context-based language instruction. Content-based teaching of culture focuses on culture-related information, while Context-based instruction emphasizes real-world where people behave in a culturally appropriate way. Content-based teaching is knowledge-oriented instruction and context-based teaching is skill-oriented.

There are different approaches to organization of the process of teaching FL. The most known models are as follows:

M1-FL1+FL2 are taught concurrently (parallel) in the 1-11 forms (3 hours a week).

M2-FL2 is introduced in the 5(7) forms (3 hours a week).

M3-FL2 is taught in the senior forms (10-11) (3 hours a week). It is considered to be most rational.

Aims and objectives are the first and important consideration of FLT. Цель как закон, она определяет характер и способ действия. Every teacher should know exactly what his pupils are expected to do, to achieve in learning FL, what changes he as a teacher can bring about in his pupils at the term, school year. Aim is the result planned beforehand. Aim is the philosophical category. The aims in the FLT are planned by program.

There are three aims which should be achieved in FL teaching: practical, educational, cultural.

The practical aim: the acquisition of a FL as a means of communication.

The educational aim: through FL study we can develop the pupil’s intellect. Teaching a FL helps the teacher to develop the pupils’ voluntary and involuntary memory, his imaginative abilities and will power.

Thecultural aim: learning a FL makes the pupil acquainted with the life, customs and traditions of the people whose language he/she studies through visual material and reading material; with the countries where the target language is spoken.

Nowadays we emphasize the integrative character of the aim in FLT. So, the aim in FLT is a complex, integral one and it implies 3 aspectsaccording to S.S.Kunanbayeva:

- Pragmatic (Communicative) that consists in the formation of Intercultural Communicative Competence which means the ability and readiness to communicate, to use the target language as a means of communication on intercultural level;

- Cognitive that consists in the development of cognitive mechanisms of the learners (memory, perception, thinking and its operations);

- Pedagogical that consists in the development of "language ego", that is "личности субъекта межкультурной коммуникации" according to S.S. Kunanbayeva (2006).

Cognitive and linguistic development go hand in hand with the development of "language ego" in the process of FLT/L.

Aims are determined by the social requirements, by the requirements of people and society. According to the Conception of Foreign languages education development of Republic of Kazakhstan in every pupil we should develop a personality, capable of Intercultural communicative competence, so as to integrate in the system of world and national culture. We should develop language personality (Language Ego). What makes pupil “Language Ego”? It is ability to fulfill different types of speech activity and communication. “Language Ego” is a universal category of creating relations between people. The category of Aim is a developing category. The aims in FLT were not always the same. In the period when the dead languages were taught, when Grammar-translation method was domineering, the teaching of FL included reading and translation, development of logical thinking. Pupils were given a list of vocabulary, classical texts to translate from native to foreign or on the contrary, grammar rules to learn. They could never speak. With the development of capitalism, when it was necessary to know language practically, the direct methods appeared which aimed at teaching Speaking as a mean of communication. Nowadays the communicative aim in FLT at school is determined by the following factors: 1) the economic factors; 2) the political condition of society; 3) the requirements of the society; 4) general goals of education; 5) nature of the subject; 6) conditions (books, equipment, etc).

Content in FLT

Aims determine the Content in FLT (What to teach?). This cannot be denied. In different epochs there were different aims of FLT. Nowadays the Communicative-cognitive approach to FLT determines the following components of the content of FLT in general:

The first component psychological is habits (grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation) and skills which pupils should acquire (listening comprehension, speaking, reading and writing).

The second component is a linguistic one. It includes:

1. Language material (grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation)

2. Speech material, i.e. (spheres of communication, themes, texts, situations, speech patterns).

The third component – methodological component, i.e. the techniques which pupils should acquire to learn the FL in a most effective way. The fourth component is a socio-cultural (cultural background). The fifth one is an emotive component which means the learners’ interest to the subject. The content of teaching is laid down in the syllabus and realized in teaching materials and in the teacher’s own speech.

Principles in FLT

The modern process of FLT has greatly changed due to the new philosophy of education aimed at developing students' competences. The existing system of principles, in FLT has also undergone some changes.

What is a principle?

According to C.C. Кунанбаева «под принципами... понимаются исходные положения, которые, реализуясь в содержании, организации, методах и приемах обучения, определяют стратегию и тактику обучения» (cм. «Современное иноязычное образование: методология и теории», Алматы, 2005, стр 47).

A principle (* lat. Principum) is a guide line to follow, a comprehensive and fundamental rule, doctrine or assumption / basis arid foundation of smth.

It is very important to define the basic principles of FLT. In order to definitely know strategy and tactics of implementing the new conception of FLT. As a Pedagogical science FLT Methodology is based on the principles of didactics, on the one hand, and on the other hand it has its own principles :as well. It is natural that we cannot deny these principles traditionally used in our Methodology but at the same time we should take into consideration the new ones. So, let as analyze the use of the principles traditionally used in FLT:

	Principles of didactics
Principles of FLT Methodology