Acmeological approach in the English teaching of civil servants

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УДК 81'243:378.147

Kovnir O.V

In Ukraine modern European guidelines for the development of democratic, legal, social state are impossible without reforms and the development of public service that provides high-quality training of new management staff who are able to have modern management technologies, understanding European integration processes and implement European standards of public administration. Despite a very long European integration course and state tasks Ukrainian civil servants are isolated from the European Union with the language barrier. Most of them do not speak any of the communities' official languages. In practice it limits their opportunity to gain international experience in public administration, to participate in international conferences, to train abroad and to work in international projects and so on.

One of the results of the language policy in the European Union is that the lingua franca (common language) within the EU is English. According to this statement the organizing of teaching process should be structured in a specific way in order to reach a certain level of foreign language competence by civil servants. It would give an opportunity to carry out effective communication in professional activities [5].

At the same time, the current issue of foreign language communication training of civil servants and officials of local government in Ukraine is very serious. That is why civil servants should be highly qualified specialists in management and in foreign languages. They have a daily need for communication with foreign counterparts to exchange professional experiences, to discuss state and local issues, to increase the effectiveness of the management system [2]. Taking into consideration the role of English as a language of international communication, the President of Ukraine in the Decree of November 16, (2015 № 641 / 2015) proclaimed the 2016th as the year of English in Ukraine. It will help public to get the access to the world's economic, social, educational and cultural opportunities. The program Go Global describes learning English as the main stream in the development strategy [11].

This document entrusts Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to develop and adopt a set of measures for 2016 on the evaluation English level of civil servants and to organize language courses for its study, to implement the established procedure for qualification requirements of English language proficiency for public servants including English training programs for civil servants and local government officials and activation of English versions of the official websites [12].

In addition, Article 20 of the new Law of Ukraine «On State Service», implemented on 1 May 2016, defines as one of the requirements for a person applying for a positions of public servant with category «A» (senior executives) knowledge of foreign language, which is one of the official languages of the Council of Europe. This requirement will be in forced in two years on May 1, 2018. Consequently, the legislators gave public employees just two years to master the official languages of the Council of Europe [10].

It should be noted, according to Article 12 of the Statute of the Council of Europe adopted in London on 5 May 1949, the Council of Europe official languages are English and French. The circumstances and conditions that may permit usage of other languages are defined by the rules and procedures of the Ministers Committee and the Consultative Assembly [13].

In our article we intend to determine main principles of acmeological approach in order to intensify the professionally oriented foreign language training of civil servants.

As we know, foreign languages learning is defined as the main stream in the domestic policy and in the strategic documents of the European Union and Ukraine. Thus, the development strategy «Ukraine - 2020» determined as one of the key indicators the fact that by 2020 75% of high school pupils will know two foreign languages.

Beginning with the 2016-2017 academic year, many higher educational establishments in Ukraine, including Kherson National Technical University, launched the Bachelor's program on a new perspective specialty 074 «Public Management and Administration». School leavers will know two foreign languages. It will contribute to studying and getting the best preparation for future administrative.

However, European integration processes in Ukraine require state employees to have a certain level of foreign language, which has become an important part of their training. At various forums and in a large number of state documents the importance of the language training for civil servants is stressed. It is also noted that this is the area where we need to make every efforts to prepare for release in Europe.

In addition most civil servants would like to know a foreign language more properly. In particular, the survey of Civil Servants graduates showed that they are aware of their lack of proficiency in a foreign language. They understand the needs of foreign language in the future, the probability of getting interesting well-paid work [3].

In a new meaning the fundamental principle of acmeology as methodological framework orientation to the future is thought about. The understanding of the content and strategies of life category and social optimism is increasing. It gives reasons to develop individual goal-setting, motivation and acme formation.

Improving the quality of civil servants training is the priority of our University. Its solution is possible through the introduction of acmeological approach that determines the process of self-realization and creative potential of students, their opportunities for career growth.

Many Ukrainian and foreign scientists developed the theme of professional actualization in many aspects. Acmeological study in the context of the theory of general and professional activities is described in research works of N. Rybnikov, B. Ananiev, K. Stepanova, M. Obozov, N. Kuzmina, O. Bodalev, A. Derkach, K. Abulkhanova-Slavska, E. Klimov, A. Anisimov, O. Aseyev, M. Zazykin, V. Bransky, V. Ilyin, S. Pozharsky and others. It should be noted that acmeology is a new discipline that appeared at the end of the 80s.

А. Derkach and M. Zazykin treat it as a science that studies the laws and phenomena of human development at the stage of maturity and especially when reaching its highest level in the development [4].

N. Kuzmina specifies, that acmeology is the science of improvement, correction and creative reorganization of experienced professionals [8, p. 5].

S. Palchevskiy affirms, that acmeology is a call of future. Nowdays acmeology as a science at this stage of development distinguishes fundamental, integrated nature and humanistic orientation [9, p. 7-13].

It is important to note that acmeology is a fairly new branch of scientific knowledge in the field of man studying. Its subject are self- creative potential patterns of adults towards their higher levels of performance and professionalism [6]. training language acmelinguistic dialect

As the leading scientists point out (A. Derkach, V. Zazykin, N. Kuzmin, S. Palchevskiy ) the goals of acmeology are individual improving, help to achieve the heights physical, mental, moral and professional development of a person and the humanization of one's development.

We fully share the B. Kalaur's views that the acmeology is the science about improving mechanisms of human activity on the basis of the latest innovative technologies [7].

Listening (with understanding), speaking, reading and writing are the four fundamental skills. Listening and speaking are primary skills, while reading and writing are secondary skills. Reading and writing are reinforcement skills. They reinforce what has been learnt through understanding and speaking. In fact, understanding and speaking speed up the reading process. Writing should be introduced after reading [14].

In our work we take into consideration some guiding principles of acmelinguistics.

The first one is a system approach to the foreign language teaching. It means that each step of learning must be clear for students. In other words, it means that the language material is acquired consciously, the student understands what he learns. Such approach usually contrasts with «mechanical» learning throughout repetitive drill. So the students should acquire the rules of the language in order to be able to follow them in the act of communication. Vocabulary should be kept under control. Vocabulary should be taught and practised only in the context of real situations. This way, meaning will be clarified and reinforced [15].

The principle of activity implies that the students should be active participants in the learning process. Activity arises under certain conditions. According to the Sets Theory the learner should feel the need to learn the language, thus the main sources of activity are motivation, desire and interest in the language.

The principle of individualization is getting very important at present. There always are some individuals in the class who learn more slowly than others, or faster than others. The teacher has to assess the progress of each individual in the class and find the way how to manage the classroom activity so that the slowest learners are not depressed being left behind and the fastest learners are not frustrated by being held back. This principle is achieved: by using the individual cards; by specific selection of exercises for each group of pupils in the class; by the use of additional material, etc.

The principle of durability implies the ability of a student to keep in his memory linguistic and language material he learns of ready access, i.e. the student can use units of the language whenever he needs them for oral or written communication. The durability is ensured: - by vivid presentation of material; - by constant revision and drills; - by the use of the material on the part of the learner for communicative needs; - by systematic control; - by constant supervision of student's habits and skills on the part of the teacher.

The principle of acmegram orientation is becoming a new one. The main points of the acmegram are responsibility, self-sufficiency, self-development, i.e.to be mature enough to accept new knowledge.

The principle of hierarchical structure and complexity of linguistic means (vocabulary, grammar, phonetics, pronunciation) implies the ability of a teacher to conduct the lesson using the next rules:

1) «from the simple to the complex«;

2) frequency and scale. It means that more frequent language phenomena are paid more attention to;

3) relevance and priority. It means that we have to prioritize language materials according to goals and time for getting new knowledge.

Selection of the language material to be taught is the first requisite of good teaching. Selection should be done in respect of grammatical items and vocabulary and structures.

Selection of language items should involve frequency, range, coverage, availability, learnability, teachability.

The principle of following the ethics implies raising and displaying student's moral qualities by the means of foreign language.

The principle of visualization is very important in teaching English since the process of knowledge gaining begins with sense perception. The use of visualization makes the lessons emotionally coloured, gets the students interested and awakens their thought. It creates natural or almost natural situations for the use of the language as a means of communication.

Imitation is an important principle of language learning. No leaner by himself ever invented language. Good speech is the result of imitating good models. The model should be intelligible. Imitation followed by intensive practice helps in the mastery of the language system [16].

We think that knowledge and use of main principals mentioned above will help teachers to intensify learning process for civil servants.

There are many factors that influence the successful of teaching English. One of them is approach. Approach is the way of teacher to transfer the knowledge to the students besides encourages their motivation to learn. Teacher should be creative and smart in choosing and using an appropriate approach. Teacher can use acmeological approach as the way of intensifying the teaching process. In this approach, students focus on identifying meaning, understanding the speech quickly.

Acmeological approach is quite a new one in foreign language training especially for civil servants. Foreign languages are among the most important intercultural competencies of civil servants. Knowledge of foreign languages opens the door to other cultures and can improve intercultural understanding of our authorities in Europe. So all the institutions teaching civil servants should review their curriculums and add more courses for the reason to improve civil servants' foreign competence and the best ways of training should be investigated.

References

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Annotation

This paper focuses on such notion as «acmeological approach» in order to intensify the professionally oriented foreign language training of civil servants. The main principles of acmelinguistics are analyzed: a system approach to the foreign language teaching, the principle of activity, the principle of individualization, the principle of durability, the principle of acmegram orientation, the principle of hierarchical structure and complexity of linguistic means (vocabulary, grammar, phonetics, pronunciation), the principle of following the ethics, the principle of visualization, the principle of imitation. It will contribute to studying and getting the best preparation for future administrative work according to social, economical and political demands.

Здійснено аналіз і систематизацію головних принципів акмелінгвістики в контексті навчання іноземної мови держслужбовців, це зокрема системний підхід до навчання, принцип активної діяльності та індивідуального підходу, принцип послідовності та ієрархічності мовного матеріалу (лексика, граматика, фонетика), принцип орієнтованості на акмеграму та етичні цінності, принцип візуалізації та імітації. Установлено, що саме акмеологічний підхід зробить навчання іноземної мови більш ефективним та адекватним до сучасних соцільно-економічних і політичних вимог. Таке розуміння дозволить викладачеві здійснювати пошук найбільш доцільних форм і методів роботи з держслужбовцями й нівелювати численні труднощі, які виникають у навчанні дорослих.