Teacher language awareness as an integrative-reflexive method of formation foreign language teacher’s professional competencies

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Kazakh Leading Academy of Architecture and Civil Engineering

Teacher language awareness as an integrative-reflexive method of formation foreign language teacher's professional competencies

Abilchanova Zhibek Kenzhekhankyzy Master of Pedagogical Science, assistant professor in Department of General Training

Kazakhstan, Almaty

Abstract

The term Teacher Language Awareness (TLA) refers to teachers' cognitions (knowledge and beliefs) about language in general and the language they teach. TLA research considers how these cognitions are developed and their impact on teaching and learning. Integrative-reflexive TLA method is considered as a bridge for connecting linguistics with pedagogy, psychology and foreign language teaching methods.

Key words: teacher language awareness, professional competencies, integrative-reflexive method

It is axiomatic that in the context of modernization of the higher foreign-language education of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the problem of formation of future foreign language teacher's professional competence acquires an essential character. The orientation of education system of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the competence approach in the field of foreign language education is reflected in the targeted and content aspects of the following normative documents: State Compulsory Educational Standard, the Concept development of foreign language education of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the modern model curriculum of the specialty «Foreign language: two foreign languages», the international program documents of the Council of Europe «Common European Framework of Reference for Languages» [1], European language portfolio [2]. The above-mentioned normative documents allow teacher trainers to have clear guidelines on the purposes and content of the curriculum for forming bachelor's professional competences of the specialty «Foreign language: two foreign languages», but the procedural aspect of future foreign language teachers education, particularly, the choice and practice of forms, means, methods and approaches of education is a problem for a particular teacher. Teachers are prone to concentrate their attention on the content of the course, equating «teaching» with «coverage of content» and very little care about what methods to use.

Analyzing the multidimensional concept of «competence» and the ways of forming teacher's professional competencies, we mean by the term «competence» the degree of skill, a certain result of self-development. Professional competencies are understood as subject areas, of which the specialist should be well informed, showing readiness to perform professional activities. Emphasizing the activity nature of the «competence» category, many foreign and domestic scientists [3, 281], [4, 14], [5, 53] understand not only subject and declarative knowledge («know that») but also procedural («know how») and value-semantic («know why and for what reason»).

With regard to the training of the future foreign language teacher, the student must possess not only subject knowledge such language disciplines as the theory of grammar and lexicology, but also the ability to successfully apply their knowledge in practice in a particular foreign language lesson. This is the professional knowledge (competencies) of teacher, which the American scientist L. Shulman [6, 9] calls the pedagogical content knowledge, which means using of studied subject knowledge for further teaching.

In other words, it is possible to perfectly operate with grammatical rules of English language, but not be able to transfer this skill to other people. Here there are questions: when mastering a large array of educational material on the same theory of grammar, does the student think about the practical application of this knowledge in the future pedagogical activity? Does he see the sense of studying this subject knowledge for his pedagogical activity or only mechanically learns the grammatical categories and rules in order to get a mark and successfully pass the examination session? In our opinion, the modern system of professional training of the future foreign language teacher should integrate the subject-knowledge, creative-activity and personality-development aspects of higher education.

One of the innovative methods of formation professional competence of the teacher is the integrative-reflexive method Teacher Language Awareness. According to this method, the internalization of theoretical subject knowledge from different academic disciplines takes place through reflection, integrating the student's personal life experience with subject knowledge and applying them to solve specific academic and professional problems. This method can be concerned to a consciousness-raising approach to education, since the development of the main professional roles of future foreign language teacher occurs on the basis of a reflexive analysis of one's own consciousness and educational and professional activity. British methodologists T. Wright [7, 115], S. Andrews [8, 25] considering the essence of Teacher Language Awareness, draw an analogy between the professional roles of the future foreign language teacher and its main professional competencies (see Figure 1):

· user of the given foreign language - speech and intercultural communicative competence (IELTS, TOEFL, DAF);

· linguist -- analytical and research competence (the ability to analyze language material and identify the difficulties of its mastering, the ability to apply theoretical knowledge acquired in the study of language disciplines, the ability to analyze the specific language needs of students);

· foreign language teacher -- general pedagogical competence (the ability to adequately respond to phonetic, lexical and grammatical errors, the ability to create their own study and communication assignments, the ability to predict student's difficulties in the process of mastering a particular language category of foreign language).

The main idea of the Teacher Language Awareness (TLA) method is an integrative approach to the study of linguistic, psychological, pedagogical and methodical disciplines, aimed at the dynamic formation of the professional competence of the future foreign language specialist. As S.Andrews notes, the integrative-reflexive TLA method serves as a bridge for connecting linguistics with pedagogy, psychology and foreign language teaching methods [8, 29]. There are certain disciplines on the development of discussed professional roles of modern teacher in the domestic standard program of professional higher education of foreign language teachers. For example, there are disciplines aimed at developing student's linguistic competence: grammar theory, lexicology, introduction to linguistics and practical phonetics. There are disciplines that develop students' professional and methodological competence: modern methods of foreign language teaching and specially-oriented methodology for foreign language teaching in an elementary school. However, we observe that there is no special discipline that would be able to integrate the learning process of the formation of all three key roles of foreign language teacher's profession, where the reflexive activity of the future teacher would occur in search of a solution to a particular educational or pedagogical situation with the aim of achieving concrete results.

The relevance of the TLA method is also explained by the problem of the fragmentation of the curriculum as a system of all academic disciplines and a lack of interdisciplinarity. This fragmentation is also expressed by the lack of cooperation between teachers. The process of formation the professional competence of the future foreign language teacher should be carried out harmoniously and integratively, and not by separate blocks through the study of individual subjects. As shown in Figure 1, reflecting on his personal experience of learning the language as a user, mastering the analytical abilities of the linguist, then developing teacher's professional competence, the future specialist becomes a reflexive practitioner and researcher of his educational and professional activities.

Figure 1. The formation of the future foreign language teacher's professional competencies on the basis of the Teacher Language Awareness method

As you know, the student remembers only 20% of what he sees, from 20% to 30% of what he hears, 50% of what he sees and hears at the same time and 80% of what he sees, hears and does at the same time. When applying the TLA method, classes are organized on the basis of the theory of empirical learning (learning through doing).

Stages of training of future foreign language specialist on the basis of the Teacher Language Awareness method:

1. The study of authentic language material or a qualitative analysis of assignments offered by foreign language textbooks;

2. Reflection on the personal experience of foreign language studying at the level of foreign language user;

3. Analysis of linguistic features of educational material at the level of linguist;

4. Creation of own educational and communicative tasks at the level of foreign language teacher, reflection on the effectiveness of assignment from the student position (pedagogical reflection).

As mentioned above, students are first given the opportunity to study modern authentic foreign language materials in order to study a «live» foreign language, as well as classes on assessing the effectiveness of assignments offered in foreign language textbooks. Then, students learn to create their own teaching and communication exercises for their further application during pedagogical practice. The starting point of learning should be the study of the linguistic phenomena of studied foreign language, followed by a reflection on the potential pedagogical and methodological difficulties of presenting linguistic material to students and foreign language teaching as a whole.

Under the conditions of the Teacher Language Awareness method, the student, relying on his own experience of learning foreign language and predicting the difficulties that his students may face when studying a particular language aspect (for example, Passive Voice, Present Perfect, Participle), reflectively reflects them in his consciousness and learns to build a lesson scenario, taking into account the forms, means and ways of presenting the educational material, methodical methods of organizing interactive learning activities. In other words, the student develops the ability to reflect, think from the position of the student, correlating the acquired teaching experience with his specific learning experience.

In the process of training future foreign language teachers on the basis of the TLA method, the development of professional reflection should be carried out step by step, following the logic deployment of reflexive act scheme, which includes:

· clarification of the facts to be analyzed;

· observation and comprehension of key ideas and principles that lie in the their basis;

· analysis of all components of the situation;

· synthesis of knowledge and ideas for decision making;

· Evaluation of the adopted decision.

The analysis of the literature devoted to the development of reflexive method of Teacher Language Awareness allows us to formulate the basic principles of training future foreign language teachers on the basis of this method:

· principle of interdisciplinarity;

· principle of integrating theory, practice and reflection;

· principle of actualization of student's subjectivity through its inclusion in the selection and design of the content of its own learning activity;

· principle of freedom of choice of the topic of studying language material;

· principle of integrative formation of future foreign language teacher's basic competencies;

· principle of peer learning;

· principle of active discussion in the group (3-5 people);

· principle of lessons orientation on the practical result;

· principle of situational involvement and the context of learning;

· principle of actualization of learning outcomes.

In conclusion, according to the current State Compulsory Educational Standard of the Republic of Kazakhstan, specialty «Foreign Language: Two Foreign Languages» [9, 5], the mastery of self-reflection and the formation of reflexive skills among learners is the content of the teaching and professional activity of a foreign language teacher. However, the analysis of the content of the modern curriculum on the specialty «Foreign Language: Two Foreign Languages» testifies that for all the variety of existing disciplines on the method of training future specialists, this professional education system is not able to offer a fairly organized training and methodical complex for the formation of professional reflexion of future specialists. The results of pedagogical practice confirm that students often substitute the analysis of their own educational and professional activities related to reflection to a simple statement of what was done. Reflexive activity requires a certain amount of time, which is not in the traditional forms of education. One of the reasons for this situation, from our point of view, lies in the abstrusity of the organizational and pedagogical foundations of teacher training with an adequate level of reflection. The application of the Teacher Language Awareness method can be considered as an attempt to concretize the practical possibilities of integrating the processes of formation future foreign language teacher's professional competencies. teacher language knowledge

Literature

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2. European Language Portfolio. Council of Europe, Modern Languages Division. - Strasbourg, 2001. - PP. 1-3.

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6. Shulman L. Those who understand: Knowledge growth in teaching // Educational Researcher, 15/2, 1986. - p. 9.

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9. Государственный общеобразовательный стандарт образования Республики Казахстан: Образование высшее профессиональное. Специальность 050119 «Иностранный язык: два иностранных языка». - Астана: МОиН РК, 2006. - 5C.

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