Педагогические науки/ 4. Стратегические направления реформирования системы образования

Белоусова И.В.

Восточно-Казахстанский государственный технический университет

им. Д. Серикбаева, Казахстан

The Reason the University Students are Seeking for Extra Foreign Language Classes

The cross-cultural communication and translation centre (CCTC) has been functioning at the East Kazakhstan State Technical university foreign languages department since 2006, and since 2008 foreign language courses have been conducting regularly. The learners of the courses are mostly the students of the mentioned university. The number of people interested in these courses is increasing from term to term. The university administration fixed a payment for the courses. Thus, the lecturers are able to get extra pay for extra classes at their workplace.

But the main reason of growing popularity of the foreign languages courses isn’t the extra profit for teachers. I can speak about it confidently because I myself have worked at CCTC for three terms. It is complicated work I should say. Motivated students deserve modern proper means of learning, i.e. appropriate textbooks, supplementary audio, video, and reading materials, etc. That is the teachers’ constant concern alongside with the curriculum and award certificates.

We use “New English File” elementary and pre-intermediate learning complex, published by Oxford University Press, which consists of student’s books, workbooks and teacher’s books with audio- and video- supplement materials as a basic methodological instrument for elementary, pre-intermediate, and intermediate students. These intensive training courses are worked out for adult learners and encourage both students and teachers to work regularly and hard.

The instance that brings students to the courses and makes teachers carry out a good deal of extra work (they are overloaded with their direct duties), we think, has the following sources.

First of all, we would like to tell about shortcomings of school secondary education. Curricula and textbooks alteration and the much-talked-about Unitary National Testing negatively affect school students’ knowledge of foreign languages.

A special emphasis should be made on a recent reform of Kazakhstani higher educational system. After leaving school students enroll at the university and face the same shortage of foreign languages classes. Moreover, all the university students are taught together regardless of being beginners, intermediate or advanced. Such a situation makes some students look for a way out of it.

When the way out seems to be found, it turns out to be the right thing in a wrong place. Why? Why don’t we have a relevant result having motivated students, sufficient course and materials, and experienced instructors at our disposal?

In our opinion, the students can’t master the proposed intensive language course due to lack of time. To obtain certain results, the students are supposed both to participate in group activities, and to do a good deal of tasks individually at home.

Now we must realize why the students have no chance to spend their time obtaining knowledge they need. Under a newly introduced credit system in higher education reality, at our university in particular, students have 3-5 academic “pairs” per day, approximately, 20 “pairs” per week. In addition to classes within their chosen specialties, students are required to do a lot of other subjects.

Many classes are offered only once a week (80 minutes). It is extremely difficult for a teacher to explore his or her subject deeply in such a limited amount of time.

So, rather than mourning the loss of their ability to provide a broad education, Kazakhstani HEIs should seize this as an opportunity to decide which subjects are truly valuable and which are not, to cut those which are not, and to provide adequate time (and resources) for those remaining in order to more properly teach them.

Kazakhstan has begun a new phase of higher education, one that radically departs from the old Soviet model: a shift to a credit system, one ostensibly based on America’s. However, how much is really known in Kazakhstan about the American system? What strengths of the old system will be lost? What current weaknesses could hinder future progress? Can another system successfully be transplanted into a substantially different culture? Those and many others similar questions are still food for thought in our society, though about seven years have already passed since new educational standards were introduced in 2004 by the Ministry of Education and Science of Kazakhstan. And from the very beginning there was little if any clarity in the subject. The Ministry allow universities to realize educational process according to both the traditional linear or new credit system. So we have on the one hand, the title and elements of the new, and on the other hand, doubtful habits and traditions of the old system.

We name the former system traditions “doubtful”, because under that system it never occurred to higher school students to seek for additional classes of foreign language. That was for special textbooks, curriculum, and the amount of academic hours were beyond far enough to obtain special knowledge for each student.

“Kazakhstan is not ready to change to an American-style system, and it shouldn’t lose the advantages of its own education system,” warn many Kazakhstani teachers.

There is a popular verdict even among younger generation that “maybe it was the best system in Soviet times.” Best or not, it was certainly respected, and many of the teachers trained in those times remain in the system today.

The transition to a new system is likely, at least in the short term, to create confusion, instability for good teachers and students.

Today we should admit mournfully, that all the events affect human resource development in this country.