Of Foreign Language Teaching in a Secondary School

AIMS OF TEACHING

Aims are the first and most important consideration in any teaching.

„Процесс обучения представляет собой переход уча­щихся из одного состояния в другое... Задачи обучения состоят в том, чтобы переместить обучающихся из их на­чального состояния в определенное состояние (или, точнее, во множество состояний), означающее наличие у них опре­деленных знаний, навыков и умений" '.

Hence the teacher should know exactly what his pupils are expected to achieve in learning his subject, what changes he can bring about in his pupils at the end of the course, at the end of the year, term, month, week, and each particular lesson, i. е., he should know the aims and objectives of foreign language teaching in schools.

The terms "aims" and "objectives'; are clearly distinguished in this work in accordance- with the suggestion given by R. Ro­berts.² Here is what he writes: "The term 'aims' be reserved for long-term goals such as provide the justification or rea­son for teaching second languages... the term 'objectives' be used only for short-term goals (immediate lesson goal), such as may reasonably be achieved in a classroom lesson or sequence of lessons." In this chapter we shall deal with long-term goals, that is, with the aims of foreign language teach­ing which dictate the teacher's approach to this subject.

The changes the teacher must bring about in his pupils may be threefold: practical — pupils acquire habits and skills in using a foreign language; educational — they develop their mental abilities and intelligence in the process of learning the foreign language;

pupils extend their knowledge of (he world in which they live. Therefore there are three aims, at least, which should be achieved in foreign language teaching: prac­tical, educational, and cultural.

Practical aims. The foreign language as a school subject differs from other subjects of the school curriculum. Whereas the teaching, for instance, of history is mostly connected with the imparting of historical laws and facts which pupils are to learn and the teaching of the mother tongue leads to the mastery of the language as a system (which is already used for exchanging thoughts and feelings) so that pupils will be able to use it more effectively in oral and written language. the teaching of a foreign language should result in the pupil's gaining one more code for receiving and conveying informa­tion; that is, in acquiring a second language for the same pur­pose as the native language: to use it as a means of communi­cation. In this connection we should like to quote G. Perren: "Whatever a new language is being taught as a curricular extra... or as an essential medium for education it will be learned by the young child only if it obviously makes possible some purposeful activity other than language learning. If it does not do this, attempts to teach it may be largely a waste of time."

In modern society language is used in two ways: directly or orally, and indirectly or in written form. Thus we distin­guish oral language and written language. Direct communi­cation implies a speaker and a hearer, indirect communica­tion implies a writer and a reader. Hence the practical aims in teaching a foreign language are four in number: hearing, speaking, reading, and writing.

When adopting the practical aims for a secondary school course the following factors are usually taken into considera­tion: the economic and political conditions of society, the requirements of the state; the general goals of secondary school education; the nature of the subject, and the conditions for instruction.

The Soviet Union is establishing closer economic, political, cultural relations with various peoples of the world. International relations are extended and streng­thened through the exchange of delegations as well as

scientific, technical, and cultural information. The peoples of the Soviet Union want lo know what is going on in the world in all spheres of human activity; science, engineering, culture. politics, etc. They also want to acquaint other peoples with their life and achievements. In this situation foreign language teaching is a matter of state significance. The Council of Min­isters of the USSR in its decision "On Improving Foreign Language Learning" has obliged educational boards to ensure that school-leavers master a foreign language as a means of communication in its two forms —oral and written, therefore. proficiency in speaking and reading are the desired skills. They are both of great importance, since oral language, though opportunities for conversation arc rare for most of the school-leavers, creates favourable conditions for language learning. Besides, practical aims as they are understood here, corre­spond lo the idea of secondary school education — to provide pupils with the fundamentals of the subject. Hearing, speaking. reading, and writing within carefully selected linguistic ma­terial will constitute the fundamentals of the language.

The nature of the language should also betaken into consid­eration in determining the aims of language teaching. Learn­ing a living language implies using the language of sounds, that is. speaking. Scientific research gives a more profound insight into the problem. II is not so much the ability to speak that is meant here but rather the oral treatment; in other words, the language of sounds, not of graphic signs (which is usually the case when a dead language is studied) should serve as basic means of teaching.

The length of the course, the frequency of the lessons, the size of groups should also be taken into consideration in adopt­ing practical aims. The amount of time for language learning is one of the most decisive factors in mastering and maintain­ing language proficiency since learners need practice. The more time is available for pupils' practice in the target lan­guage, the better results can be achieved. Moreover, for the formation of speech habits frequency of lessons is a more es­sential condition than the length of the course. It is not necessary to prove (it has already been proved) that intensive courses are more effective than extensive ones, for example. six periods a week for three years are more effective for lan­guage learning than three periods a week for six years. In our secondary schools, however, we cannot afford an intensive course because school curriculum includes a lot of essential subjects and I he foreign language is one of many should be taught. The lime which can be allotted lo foreign language learning is distributed throughout the six years with the following frequency of lessons: V —4; VI—VII — 3- VIII—X —2 periods a week. As lo the size of groups, large forms are divided into two groups for foreign language lessons so that a group should not exceed 20—25 pupils. Proceeding from these considerations the school syllabus emphasizes reading and speaking as the chief practical aims of language teaching. Writing is restricted to teaching the ability to compose simple letters on everyday topics. Thus the syllabus sets out to the pupils to carry on a conversation in a foreign language and to read texts with complete compre­hension.

The syllabus for the eight-year school concentrates on the development of speech proficiency. Pupils should be able:

(1)lo give a short talk and carry on a conversation on the topics included in the programme;

(2)to read without a dictionary lexis containing familiar grammar material and no more than 4—6 unfamiliar words (per 100 words) the meaning of which, as a rule, should be clear from the context or due to familiar word-building elements.

The syllabus for the ten-year school requires that school-leavers should:

(1)read and understand a foreign text both with and with­out a dictionary;

(2)understand oral language and speak within the topics and material required by the syllabus

(3)write a letter.

In foreign language learning all forms of work must be in close interrelation to in order to master the language. However, attention should be given mainly to prac­tice in hearing, speaking, and reading. Thus pupils must achieve a level in their knowledge enable them to further develop practical work. At the present time, however in school the results do not quite meet the demands of our society. In this connection we should welcome O. Moskalskaya's proposal to investigate the aims of foreign language teaching to be able to establish what can really be achieved under school conditions.

In conclusion it should be said that the achievement of practical aims in foreign language teaching makes possible the achievement of educational and cultural aims.

Educational aims. Learning a second language is of great educational value. Through a new language we can gain an insight into the way in which words express thoughts, and so achieve greater clarity and precision in our own communi­cations. Even at the most elementary level learning a second language teaches the cognizance of meaning, furnishes a term of comparison that gives us an insight into the quality of language. When learning a foreign language the pupil under­stands better how language functions and this brings him Io a greater awareness of the functioning of his own language. Since language is connected with thinking, through foreign language study we can develop the pupil's intellect. Teaching a foreign language helps the teacher develop the pupils' voluntary and involuntary memory, his imaginative abili­ties, and will power. Indeed, in learning a new- language the pupil should memorize words, idioms, sentence patterns. structures, and keep them in long-term memory ready to be used whenever he needs them in auding, speaking, reading, and writing. Teaching a foreign language under conditions when this is the only foreign language environment, is practi­cally impossible without appealing to pupils' imagination. The lack of real communication forces the teacher to create imaginary situations for pupils, to speak about making each pupil determine his language behaviour as ii he were in such situations.

Teaching a foreign language contributes to the linguistic education of the pupil, the latter extends his knowledge of phonic, graphic, structural, and semantic aspects of language as it is through contrastive analysis of language phenomena. Cultural aims. Learning a foreign language makes the pupil acquainted with the life, customs and traditions of the people whose language he studies through visual material (such as post cards with the views of towns, countryside, and people; filmstrips, for example, "Great Britain", "What Tour­ists Can See in London", "Disney Land" films) and reading material dealing with the countries where (he target language is spoken. Foreign language leaching should promote pupil's' general educational and cultural growth by increasing their knowledge about foreign countries, and by acquainting them with progressive traditions of the people whose language they study. Through learning a second language the pupil gains a deeper insight into the nature and functioning of language as a social phenomenon.

In conclusion it should be said that practical, educational, and cultural aims are intimately related and form an insepa­rable unity. The leading role belongs to practical aims, for the others can only be achieved through the practical com­mand of the foreign language.

 

CONTENT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING

The content of foreign language teaching or what to teach is one of the main problems the.Methods deals with. In this chapter an attempt is made to touch on the chief components which, we think, should constitute the content of foreign lan­guage teaching in schools; a more detailed consideration will be given in appropriate chapters dealing with teaching various.aspects of the language and language skills.

The first component of "what to teach" is habits and skills which pupils should acquire while learning a foreign language. According to the aims of learning this subject they are: hear­ing (listening comprehension), speaking, reading, and writing. The level of habits and skills is determined by the syllabus for each form. However, quantitative and qualitative char­acteristics of skills, or the so-called terminal behaviour, is not defined yet for different types of schools and stages of instruction. This is one of the problems for methodologists to investigate and solve. Nevertheless, some attempts have been made in this respect. Thus in school syllabi we can find some directions as to the level of skills that should be reached in each particular form and their development from form to form. For example, the requirements for hearing and reading skills differ in the 9th and 10th forms. In the 9th form pupils should be able to understand oral language on the basis of the material previously learned and within the topics cov­ered, while in the 10th form the material for hearing should include 1—2 unfamiliar words for pupils to guess their meaning, and to understand a text received by ear, based on the material learned and on topic close to those pupils have worked at. This is a new "qualitative step" for pupils in under­standing oral language. It in the 9th form pupils should read with the speed of i 000 signs per academic hour, in the l0th form the speed of reading is 300 words per 1 minute.

The second component of "what to teach" is language) material, arranged in topics and serving as starting points for the development of oral language and written lan­guage, which allows the teacher to reach the practical, educa­tional, and cultural aims set by the syllabus. For example, in the junior stage (the 5th and 6th forms) pupils should speak and read about school, home, town and countryside, nature, physical training and sports. In the senior stage the textual material should cover the following topics: the life of the youth in the USSR and abroad; sport in the USSR and abroad; industry, agriculture, and science in the USSR and abroad; history and geography of the country whose language study; art and literature in the USSR and abroad.² Topic; for speaking and reading are developed from form to form, i. е., the pupil's ability to read and speak on a certain topic is widened as his vocabulary and grammar are enriched.

The third component of the content of foreign language teaching is linguistic material, i. е., phonology, grammar, and vocabulary carefully selected for the purpose. The selection of linguistic material, the compiling of the so-called minima, for instance, minimum vocabulary and minimum grammar, has always been one of the most important and difficult prob­lems to be solved and, although a great deal of work has been done in this respect, we are still on the way to its solution. A limited body of linguistic material is required by a pupil' who have about 600 class hours at their disposal spread for six years (extensive course), and at the same time it must be large enough to serve as a sound basis for developing pupils’ language skills.

To sum up what has been said above, the content of for language teaching involves: (1) language skills: hearing, speaking, reading, and writ-

2) language (textual) material;

(3) linguistic material; vocabulary; grammar, phonological in conclusion it should be said that the content of teaching in our schools is laid down in the syllabus and realized in teaching materials and in the teacher's own speech.

PRINCIPLES OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING

Methods of foreign language teaching are based on the fun­damental principles of didactics; among them, a conscious ap­proach to language learning, activity, visualization, and others. However, in foreign language teaching, due to the spe­cific features of the subject in which means and ends are equal I y essential, these principles arc used in a particular way.

The principle of conscious approach to language learning implies comprehension of a linguistic phenomenon of language material by (he pupil usually through the medium of the native language, or the arrangement of the material in sentence patterns graded in difficulties with the emphasis on some elements which arc singled out as "teaching points". In all cases pupils understand both the form and the content of the material they are to learn, and they are aware of how they should treat the material while performing various exercises which aim at developing habits and skills in using it. Such an approach to language learning usually contrasts with "mechanical" learning through repetitive drill.. A great deal of research work has been carried out in Soviet psychology and Methods, and it has been proved that conscious appro­ach to learning a foreign language promotes the acquisition of the subject. V. A. Artemov, a prominent psychologist, puts forward a theory of the unity of the language rule and the speech activity (language behaviour) in foreign language teach­ing. He writes, „Язык по самой своей природе есть система правил; 'система' потому, что в ней все основано на про­тивопоставлении, а 'правил' потому, что язык есть орудие поощрения, а орудие без правил его употребления не есть ору­дие. но правила языка не раскрыты наукой до конца и подчиняются этим правилам в своей

речи. Следовательно, у человека имеется возможность соз­давать посредством деятельности коры больших полушарий мозга программу, правила языка. Эта программа все время совершенствуется но закону обратной связи речевого дей­ствия с его правилом".

In teaching a foreign language therefore, it is more rea­sonable to help pupils in assimilating language rules which function in this language by introducing the rules, rather than to wait until the learners deduce these rules through speech activity. V. A. Artemov warns the teacher against put­ting this hard work on the learner's shoulders. Here is what he writes: „... не бояться языкового правила, не переклады­вать труд его выработки на плечи бесконечно повторяю­щего и "бессмысленно подражающего учащегося, а искать оптимальное сочетание языкового правила и речевого дей­ствия в процессе обучения речи на иностранном языке.... Объединение правила и действия в любом виде деятельно­сти ведет к оптимально краткому времени работы и макси­мальной ее эффективности".

Proceeding from this consideration it becomes obvious that in learning a foreign language the pupil should acquire the rules of the language to be able to follow these rules in the act of communication; and the teacher's task is to help the pupil in this respect. From the definition given by the author it is clear that he does not mean "rules" in their traditional interpretation, but in the form of algorithms that can direct the pupil's learning and lead him along the shortest way to the desired end.

B. V. Belyaev, whose contribution to foreign language teaching is considerable, insists on a similar conscious ap­proach to foreign language teaching as do B. A. Artemov and others. In his opinion „Приобретение теоретических знаний должно только способствовать процессу образования рече­вых навыков и умений в результате иноязычной речевой деятельности. Эти навыки и умения вырабатываются зна­чительно быстрее и значительно прочнее усваиваются в том случае, когда процесс их образования под влиянием речевой практики подвергается должному осмыслению". Не pre­sents the above-mentioned process like this:

Theory (теоретические знания)

Proficiency(опыт, квалификация)

Language practice(языковая и речевая практика)

Не stands for knowledge or theory. His scheme represents the process of mastering the lan­guage. The author's interpretation of the process is as follows. The acquisition of knowledge (theory) cannot provide the mas­tery of the language. Nor can habits ensure this. Only language practice supported by theory can develop language habits and skills in a desirable direction and lead to the mastering of a foreign language. The author develops the following idea. Since learning a new language is connected with acquisition of new concepts by the learner, theory can help in forming these new concepts. One of the ways of doing this is an exten­sive use of translation-interpretation. However, this teaching technique is not approved of by a majority of niethodologists and teachers because pupils learn about a linguistic item more than they need for practical application, also it is time-con­suming and, therefore, this contradicts the communicative approach to language teaching.

A conscious approach to foreign language teaching implies the use of the learner's native language. Soviet Methods has devoted much attention to the problem of the mother tongue in teaching and learning a foreign language. If a man knows only his native language his concepts are directly associated with the expression" of these concepts in this tongue. The associa­tions which arise, extremely complicated in nature, are very lasting due to systematic speech practice. The acquisition of a foreign language means the transition to thinking in a second language. For this purpose, it is necessary to acquire the ability to establish direct associations between concepts and their means of expression in the second language. Indeed, when a pupil begins to learn a foreign language the words of this language are often associated with the words of the mother tongue first. However, thanks to constant practice the intermediate link — the native language — fades, and for­eign language words come into the pupil's consciousness direct­ly in connection with the concepts they express. Mastery of the language means formulating one's thought within the for­eign language.

Proceeding from psychological peculiarities of foreign language assimilation, and taking into account the basic pro­cesses of thought, we may come lo the conclusion that in order to master a foreign language pupils must have a lot of practice in hearing, speaking, reading, and writing in the language they study. As to the mother tongue we cannot eliminate it. We should use it as a means of teaching whenever it helps pu­pils in acquiring knowledge necessary for developing habits and skills.

In teaching and learning, the foreign language and the mother tongue are closely connected and influence each other. The pupil can transfer language skills acquired in the native language to those in the target language. For instance, in teaching the English alphabet the teacher need not drill pu­pils in writing such letters as а, с, е and some others which Russian pupils can write because the Russian alphabet includes these letters. In teaching reading and pronunciation, the pupils easily cope with sound-and-letter analysis of words, as they are acquainted with that kind of work from learning the mother tongue. Studies of transfer show, however, that such a psychological phenomenon as transfer is not automatic. Pupils should be taught to transfer. Bright pupils transfer learning more rapidly than slow pupils. Transfer is increased when the situation to which transfer is made is similar to the original learning. A proper utilization of transfer can un­doubtedly increase the effectiveness of learning.

The pupil's mother tongue often interferes with the target language, i. е., the formation of new habits is hindered by-habits already acquired. For instance, pronunciation habits in the mother tongue hinder the development of pronunciation habits in a foreign language. Habits and skills of correct speech, from grammar viewpoint, lead to constant mistakes in the foreign language as the pupils try to transfer the structure of one language to that of the other. In studying French or English Russian-speaking pupils often make mistakes in word-order. We believe that the best way to overcome interference is, on the one hand, some comparison of language phenomena in both languages clearly showing the peculiarities of the foreign language, its distinctive features, its characteristics, and, on the other hand, constant practice in the foreign language that helps to overcome interference in developing pupils' habits and skills in the foreign language.

Consequently, from the analysis of the didactic principle of the conscious approach to foreign language teaching, we may formulate a specific methodological principle which reads as follows:

In teaching a foreign language it is necessary to cope with the mother tongue of pupils.

This means that teaching a foreign language, for example, English to Russian, Chuvash, Bashkir, Arabic-speaking pupils should differ in the arrangement of language material and in the techniques of its presentation and retention. We cannot ignore pupils' native tongue in teaching a foreign language when searching for the shortest and most sound ways to the desired end. Indeed, Russian-speaking pupils and Arabic-speaking pupils have different troubles in learning English. The teacher either helps pupils to make a transfer, for instance, from Russian into English (little explanation, if any, and few exercises are needed in this case), or he gives pupils the necessary explanation and supplies them with exercises, which pupils perform within the target language, without stressing the difference by translation exercises; the latter work rather at comprehension than at forming new habits and skills.

In connection with the analysis of the principle of conscious teaching, it is necessary to dwell upon the forming of habits and skills in a foreign language. All language habits and skills are extremely complex in their nature and are closely connect­ed with conscious activity of students. What are habits? Here are some definitions of habits.

"A habit may be regarded as an instance of learning in which a relatively simple response is made, automatically and fairly frequently, to a relatively simple kind of situa­tion."

„Навыки — это усвоенные и упрочившиеся путем упраж­нений способы действия"

Consequently, a habit may be considered to be a dialecti­cal unity of automatism and consciousness. The psychological basis of habits is conscious associations, their physiological basis is temporary nerve connections, conditioned reflexes, arising as a result of reciprocal actions of first and second signalling system.

As to skills, they are defined as follows:

"A skill might be defined as an economical organization of behaviour achieving an intended effect."'

„Умением называют и самый элементарный уровень выполнения действия, и мастерство человека в данном виде деятельности".

В. V. Belyaev also distinguishes two kinds of skills. He calls them primary skills (первичные умения) and secondary skills (вторичные умения). According to Belyaev, who is known to be a defender of the conscious approach to teaching and learning a foreign language, the process of assimilation may be presented as follows; (1) primary skills supported and directed by theory, i. е., the learner is told what to do and how to do it, he is conscious of the action he is to perform,

(2)habits, i. е., the learner performs the action until it becomes habitual and does not require further attendance; and

(3)secondary skills imply the use of the material in the act of communication.

We agree with P. Y. Galperin ³ as to the approach to the problem and distinguish the following stages in teaching a foreign language the pupils should pass through:

(1)the singling out of the structural signals or the "orient­ing points" of a foreign language phenomenon being assimi­lated, followed by their cognition;

(2)the mastering of these "orienting points" by performing operations with the material under study, following a model;

(3)the performing of operations with the material under study without any "props";

(4)the using of the given phenomenon in communication in connection with a set task.

¹ Thane J. M. The Psychology of Learning and Technique of Teach­ing. London, 1965, p. 183.

^г Психология. Пол ред. А. Г. Ковалева, Л. А. Степанова, С. Н. Ша-Солина. М., „Просвещение", 1966, с. 431.

³ Гальперин П. Я. Психология мышления и учение о поэтапном '{ормированни умственных действий. — В сб.: Исследования мышле­ния в советской психологии. М., 1966

 

 

The principle of activity in foreign language teaching is of utmost importance since learning a foreign language should result in mastering the target language which is possible provided the pupil is an active participant in the process. he is involved in language activities throughout the whole course of instruction.

In modern psychology activity is now generally considered to be a main characteristic of cognitive processes. Activity arises under certain conditions. According to the Sets Theory ' the learner should (eel a need lo learn the subject, and have necessary prerequisites created for the satisfaction of this need. The main sources of activity are motivation, desire, and interest.

Young people in our country want to know foreign languages. To illustrate this we may refer to (he entrance examinations of language departments of higher schools where the competi­tion is great; to the growing number of people who wish to study at various foreign language courses; to the desire of parents to send their children to specialized schools, etc. I. F. Komkov gives the following data obtained by means of questionnaires among 3368 pupils of town and village scho­ols. 81 per cent of the pupils want to study a foreign language. About 11 per cent of pupils name it their favourite subject. The greatest desire lo study a foreign language is observed among pupils of the 5th form, i. е., beginners (93 per cent). In other forms there is a tendency to the loss of interest in langu­age learning. This shows that there is something wrong in teaching this subject. The teachers fail to sustain and develop the desire to learn which pupils have when they start the course.

Practice and special observations prove that pupils' inter­est depends on their progress in language learning. If pupils make good progress in hearing, speaking, reading, and writ­ing, they become interested in learning the foreign language. In this connection I. F. Komkov writes: успешное обу­чение, обеспечивающее хорошее усвоение материала, формирует у учащихся активное, положительное отно­шение к изучаемым языкам. Отсюда лишний раз становится очевидной первостепенная роль методов обу­чения".

' The pupil willingly and actively learns the subject if he understands its social and personal "meaningfulness" (значи­мость).

Here are what pupils wrote in their questionnaires. „При изучении иностранного языка узнаем много нового, инте­ресного". „Каждый культурный человек должен знать ино­странный язык". „Люблю разучивать песни на французском языке".

However not all children can realize the necessity for learn­ing a foreign language. The teacher's task is to show them how important a foreign language is to every educated per­son, how people can get new information from various fields of human activity through foreign languages. Besides, the teacher should promote his pupils' interest in studying the language and stimulate their desire to learn.

A decisive condition of stimulating interest in language learning is the pupils' understanding of its specific content, that is, they acquire a second language to be able to use it as a means of communication. For this purpose, from the very first step, the learners should see this, they should perform exercises of natural communicative character. They must feel that the language they study can be used as a means of inter­course, of getting information while hearing, speaking, and reading it. Therefore if the teacher wants to stimulate pupils' interest in the subject he should make them use their knowl­edge for practical needs while talking, reading, doing various exercises of a communicative character which are creative by nature. Hence the methodological principle may be formu­lated as follows:

In teaching a foreign language it is necessary to stim­ulate pupils' activity by involving them in the act of communication in the target language either in its oral (hearing, speaking) or written (reading, writing) form.

If pupils are not involved in the act of communication in the target language and remain on the level of performing drill exercises, they soon lose interest in the subject and become passive at the lessons. One needs a lot of practice in the use of the language to master it. Consequently the problem arises how to enlarge the real time available for each pupil during the class-period to make him an active participant of the les­son, of the work done during the lesson. It is pupils who should work, and not the teacher as is often (lie case

Methodologists and teachers are searching for ways to solve this problem. Some ways may be recommended. They arc as follows:

(a) work in unison, when pupils are told to pronounce a word, a phrase, a sentence, or to read something out in chorus in imitation of the teacher, or a speaker when a tape-recorder is used;

(b)mass work, when pupils are invited to listen to a text, to read a text silently, to do some exercises in written form, in other words, when they learn for themselves, and each does the same work as his classmates;

(c)work in small groups when pupils are divided into four-five groups, and each group receives a special assignment either for reading or speaking; the work results in conversa­tion between group 1 and the class, group 2 and the class, etc-;

(d)work in pairs, when pupils sitting at the same desk have an opportunity to "talk" in the target language: reciting a dialogue they are to learn, doing an ask-and-answer exercise or making up a dialogue of their own;

(e)individual work in programmed instruction, when each pupil can work with the programme he receives either through visual or auditory perception at his own pace.

The principle of visualization has always been very important for language learning since the gaining of knowledge begins either with sense perception or with what has been formerly perceived, that is, with previous experience. Visu­alization, as it is understood here, may be defined as specially organized demonstration of linguistic material and language behaviour characteristic of the target language with the purpose of helping the pupil in understanding, assimilating, and utilizing this in connection with the task set. Since pupils acquire a second language in artificial conditions and not in real life, as is the case when children assimilate their mother tongue, visualization should be extensively used in foreign language teaching. Through visual presentation of the mate­rial and the pupils' observation of language behaviour of native speakers they acquire the necessary habits and skills in spoken language, namely, in intonation, word usage, and grammar. Visualization allows the teacher to create natural conditions for pupils' oral practice and "free conversation". Visualization can be utilized in teaching various aspects o(the language: phonology, vocabulary, and grammar, and in developing different language skills: hearing, speaking, read­ing, and writing.

The psychologists distinguish various kinds of visuali­zation. For instance, B. V. Belyaev suggests the following classification for visualization. '

In this connection V. A. Artemov writes: „Для класси­фикации существующих и вновь возникающих видов на­глядности при обучении иностранным языкам существенны следующие различающие их признаки:

1)объектная — образная;

2)предметная — изобразительная;

3)перцептивная —- мнемическая;

4)реальная ->- схематическая;

5)однорецепторная — многорецепторная;

6)чистая (синтетическая) — опосредованная (аналити­ческая);

7)комплексно-языковая — аспектно-языковая;

8)театрализованно-поступочная

Например, диафильмы содержат наглядность:

обьектную, изобразительную, перцептивную, реальную (схемати­ческую), однорецепторную (зрительную), синтетическую (аналитическую) и аспектную.

These classifications show that a good deal of research work has been carried out on the problem, and now it is ob­vious that visualization plays an important role in teaching and learning a foreign language since it provides conditions for sense perception of the material and ensures pupils' activ­ity in the target language. „Психологическая особенность и ценность чувственно-наглядного преподнесения материала обучения состоит также в том, что оно мобилизует психи­ческую активность учащихся, а именно: вызывает интерес к занятиям языком, переводит произвольное внимание в непроизвольное. расширяет объем усваиваемого мате­риала, снижает утомление, тренирует творческое во­ображение, мобилизует волю, облегчает весь процесс на­учения" '.

The use of visualization makes foreign language lessons emotionally coloured, gets the pupils interested and awakens their thought. All these provide favourable conditions for the realization of the principle of conscious and active teaching and create natural situations for the use of the language as a means of communication.

Visualization implies an extensive use of audio-visual aids and audio-visual materials throughout the whole course of foreign language teaching for presentation and retention of the linguistic material, and for developing oral and written language, although they are to be used differently depending on the stage of instruction, the age of pupils, their progress in the target language, and other factors.

The extensive use of audio-visual aids and audio-visual materials the teacher of a foreign language has at his disposal nowadays, together with the use of carefully selected and graded linguistic material, create favourable conditions for teaching pupils to understand the foreign language when it is spoken and to speak it themselves. This is the first step when dealing with beginners. Hence the methodological principle may be formulated as follows:

In teaching a foreign language at schools it is necessary to follow the oral approach as it is the one that allows the pupil to deal with the language in its primary func­tion — as a means of communication.

In teaching foreign languages other didactic principles such as the principles of systematic teaching, of consecutiveness, of accessibility, of durability, are used. (See ".Methods of Teaching English in Secondary Schools" by 1. E. Anitchkov, V. N. Saakyants. M. — L., 1966, p. 47-55.)

The foreign language syllabus is the main document which lays down the aims and the content of teaching foreign languages in schools. A school, like any other educational institution, has a curriculum which states the subjects to be studied, the number of hours (periods) allotted to the study of each subject, the sequence in which the subjects are intro­duced.

We have different types of schools which differ in curric­ula. The main three are the ten-year school, the specialized school or the school with a number of subjects taught in the foreign language, and the evening school.

In the ten-year school the foreign language is taught for six years. Pupils begin to study it in the 5th form and finish in the 10th form. The number of hours allotted to the study of the subject is 560 of the essential course and, in addition, about 200 of the optional course in the senior stage (see the syl­labus).

In the specialized school pupils learn a foreign language for nine years beginning in the 2nd form and completing the course in the 11th form. The total number of hours allotted to a foreign language is 1500 (see the syllabus).

In the evening school a foreign language is an optional subject and as such it should be taught for three years (in the 9th, 10th and 11th forms). The number of hours allotted to the study of a foreign language is 315 (see the syllabus).

Consequently, in the curriculum one can find where (in what forms) a foreign language is studied, how many periods a week, and the total number of hours that are allotted to its study. The aims and the content of the teaching as well as the method of instruction are stated by the syllabus.

The syllabus, therefore, is a state document which lays down the aims of teaching, the extent of the knowl­edge, habits and skills pupils must acquire, the sequence of topics which constitute the academic content of the sub­ject. The syllabus is an essential document for every teacher, and he is responsible for the fulfilment of its requirements. The teacher cannot make alterations in the syllabus. The sylla­bus is uniform for all the teachers working in schools of the given type.

The syllabus includes: 1. The explanatory note. Here the teacher will find the aims of foreign language teaching in school. He will also find some suggestions as to the approach to teaching oral language, reading, and writing, vocabulary, and grammar. Besides, in the explanatory note he will find some indications about pupils' independent work, homework, i. е., what a home task must consist of and how much time it should taken to be done: how to keep a record of pupils' progress in a foreign language and, finally, how to carry on extra-curric­ular work in a foreign language at school. 2. The syl­labus itself. The teacher will find the requirements for the command of knowledge in English (German, French), i. е., pupils' habits and skills in hearing, speaking, reading, and writing; topics for every form (5, 6, etc.) for speaking and reading, the amount of class periods for every form.

For example: The 5th form. 140 class-periods.

The requirements for the command of knowledge. Speaking and hearing. The pupil must be able:

—to ask questions and to answer questions on a given topic, on the contents of a text read, and on pic­tures;

—to make up a story on a picture;

—to speak about a topic suggested;

—to understand when the teacher speaks about the topics already covered, and the classroom expressions (in the English language) the teacher uses while conduct­ing a lesson;

—to recite rhymes and easy poems. Reading. The pupil must be able:

—to read aloud correctly and understand both fa­miliar and new texts based upon the language material already assimilated;

—to divide the text he has read into sense units; to find the answers to the questions in the text. Writing. The pupil must be able:

—to write questions and answers (within the language material and topic already covered);

—to write dictations (within the material assimilated).

Approximate topics for speaking and reading:

1.School. Coming to school. The description of a classroom. School things. At the foreign language lesson. To be on duty. Going home from school. After classes.

2.At home. A room. My house. My family. Playing in the yard.

3.A town and a village. The description of a street.

Physical culture and sports. Winter and summer sports. The requirements concerning pupils' knowledge of vocabulary and grammar, phonology, rules of reading and spelling.

In the syllabus, therefore, the teacher will find all the instructions concerning the knowledge he must impart to his pupils, the habits and skills he must develop, etc.

The textbook for every form should correspond to the sylla­bus. When the programme requirements are changed, text­books should undergo all necessary changes as well.

Recommended Literature:

Программы 11 летней школы. Иностранные языки.

Программы средней школы. Иностранные языки.

Программа но английскому языку для школ с преподаванием ряда предметов на английском языке. М.. Изд. АПН РСФСР, 1962.

Anitchkov I., Saakyanls V. «Methods of Teaching English in Secon­dary Schools. M.—Л.. „Просвещение". 1966. p. 36—52..

Артемов В. А. Психология обучения иностранным языкам. Раздел „Психология научения иностранным языкам". М-, 1969.

Общая методика обучения иностранным языкам в средней школе. Под ред. А. А. Миролюбова. И. В. Рахманова. В. С. Цетлин. М., 1967, гл. 1.

Методика преподавания иностранных языков за рубежом. Сост. М. М. Васильева, Е. В. Синявская. М., 1967. с. 55-62.

Questions for Discussion:

1.Compare the syllabi for different types of schools as to what they have in common and in what they differ.

There arc three main aims in teaching a foreign language in schools. Name them and say whether you consider them justifiable. Support your statement.

What is (he content of leaching? Do authors whose works you have read interpret it adequately? Give some examples.

4.Compare several approaches to the fundamental principles foreign language teaching should he based upon and name the specific principles which, you think, must be observed in teaching this subject in schools.

5.Are aims, content and principles interrelated? If so, show this interrelation.