Psychological
peculiarities of teaching foreign languages
Methods of teaching foreign languages do not exist in isolation, it is
associated with a number of other Sciences (philosophy, physiology, psychology,
linguistics, pedagogy, etc.) are an assault on their established patterns. In
this paper we try to show the reflection of the psychological regularities in
the methods of teaching , because "in no other method,"notes G. E.
Wedel,-"there is so much controversial and contradictory in methods of
teaching a second language". As an example, G. E. Wedel specifies the
following issues:
thinking mechanisms in the first
and second languages, their origin and their functioning, and the role of
translation in this case;
the increasing level of second language acquisition: from knowledge to
abilities - abilities - skills;
the role of mechanical memory and age related differences in learning a
second language;
teaching literal and figurative-verbal reading and reading And reading
with subsequent transfer;
learning grammar rules and model sentences, sequential consideration of
grammatical phenomena in the classroom.
According to G. E. Vedel technique itself must solve these and other
such problems. However, among the above unnamed and there are many problems
such that the method can solve only together with the psychology and
physiology, or based on psychological and physiological regularities.
In considering the psychological
characteristics of learning a second language, it is very important to keep in
mind, on the one hand, a natural psychological and on the other hand, not
psychological, and social needs and objectives in learning a second language. It
is absurd to study the psychological regularities of mastering the language
system by analyzing the process of foreign language acquisition or to reveal
the psychological rules of the practical mastering a foreign language by
analyzing the theoretical mastery of the system of a given language.
Given the difference in approach
to learning a foreign language, I would like to highlight the basic meaning of
the learning process, acquire special relevance at the present stage of
development of our society. This is, firstly, educational value, which is that
"foreign language learners see patterns of sound, morphological and
syntactic system. This observation is carried out both on the basis of already
known knowledge about their native language", and on the background of
expanding contacts. This value includes good culturewide-ical orientation,
provides in the learning process "dialogue of cultures",
"providing more opportunities for scientific and technical progress,
contributing to the increase in the contribution of each to the development of
understanding among peoples" . Plays an important role and educational
value of foreign language, namely, to direct that the educational material
selected by the teacher educates himself.
However, it is known that to master a foreign language means to learn to
think in that language. It's a fair statement, formulated Berlicum M. D.,
involves the joint search of ways of overcoming "violations
ekstrapiramidnye factors psychological laws" of mastering and mastering a
foreign language.
It is known that in XIX century psychology have contributed to the
methodology of teaching a foreign language. As an example we can mention the
views of Wilhelm Wundt to the psychology of speech and feelings. Later in
psychology has accumulated extensive theoretical material, and were the
regularities manifesting themselves both in the assimilation and mastery of a
foreign language and in the study of any subject. Let us cite as an example the
patterns allocated to the G. E. Wedel:
the theory of unity of consciousness and activity;
the theory of stage formation of mental processes;
theory unit;
the concept of an open and hidden way of teaching; the theory of the
degree of intensity of the excitation state of the students in the learning
process;
the concept of inner speech and latent articulations, of the basic
mechanism, both verbal and creative thinking;
theory of latent verbalization managing the neurodynamics of mental
processes and many others.
Will try to trace how the theoretical principle of the unity of
consciousness and activity is realized in the process of learning the phonetics
of a second language.
It is known that we perceive the
sounds of language, formed speech apparatus and system in which a given
language signal of objects and phenomena of reality. Due to the reflection of
sounds in the human consciousness, we can perceive through the sound to
distinguish word meanings. By V. A. Artemov "Experimental phonetics"
describes the experience on the sound perception of subjects never studied a
foreign language with the subsequent reproduction of these sounds. The first
time the experimenter was behind a screen, at other times, students have
reproduced the sounds by auditory-visual imitation, i.e. seeing the face of the
experimenter. The third time the sounds were perceived and reproduced on the
basis of their analytical explanations and direct experience. The results of
the third case exceeded the level of the responses of the first and second
cases.
This study allows to establish that the perception of sound, the
originality of which lies in their acoustic, depends on the articulatory
structures and of students, respectively, from impressions to correct
pronunciation by their teacher, i.e. "the combination of motor impressions
from what is heard with auditory sounds and visual from schematically
illustrates the provisions of bodies of the articulation of Iran pronouncing
individual sounds" .
Thus, by conscious comparison of possible development of dynamic
stereotypes, which can address errors in the perception of students and
pronouncing the phonemes of a foreign language, is very typical depending on
the sound structure of their native language.
Therefore, the learning process
is a process of interaction between the teacher and students because teaching
is by its psychological nature, represents a process of joint activity of
teachers and students. The teacher's task is to control cognitive activity of
students: "students' cognitive activity are realized in the learning
process, acts as a subject of control from the teacher" . In educational
process it is, above all, educational-cognitive activity that includes
substantive work aimed at the development of relationships with people and
society and the absorption of all that accumulated by a person. Activation of
educational-cognitive activity contributes primarily educational interests of
students, which can be defined as "the relation of personality to the
object, caused by the consciousness of its vital importance and its emotional
appeal" . Accordingly, it is important to encourage the student to master
the essence of the study.
Summarizing the foregoing leads to the conclusion that the leading place
in the structure of professional thinking of the teacher is psychological
thinking, because the content of the learning process "is always focused
on the individual, reflects the psychological laws and mechanisms of its
development and social life".
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