The formation of students’ national self-awareness in EFL class

© Canadian Center of Science and Education. In the epoch of globalization it is urgently important to draw attention to the problem of the formation of national self-awareness of school students. Numerous researches in the Russian Federation show that there is a tendency of cultural level decreasing, according to which a great many school students are not aware not only of the world's cultural heritage, but have a vague idea of their own (national) culture. The authors examine the role of foreign languages learning in the formation of national self-awareness of students in High schools. Language, as it is, reflects the culture and history of the nation. Therefore it can be declared a unique source in the process of national self-awareness formation of school students. The cross-cultural approach and the cross-cultural comparative approach in teaching EFL let both, teachers and students, consider human problems from the standpoint of two or more cultures that contribute to the comparative-contrastive analysis of native culture phenomena and compare the native culture with the culture of the target language. Drawing on literature of teaching and learning EFL, multicultural studies, as well as personal international teaching and learning experience, the authors examine the teaching and learning techniques focused on these approaches and present the authentic model of the formation of students’ national self-awareness based on the integration of teaching the language and local lore in EFL classes. The paper discusses issues and practices of the studied model and offers general recommendations for High schools faculty

Teaching local lore in EFL class: New approaches

© Author(s).This paper is dedicated to the up-to-date educational problem, that is, the role of local lore in teaching EFL to University students. Although many educators admit that local lore knowledge plays a great role in the development of a well-bred and well-educated personality and meets students’ needs, the problem has not been thoroughly studied. Local lore can also serve as a unique source for implementing various teaching techniques, in particular a project method. In this study a project-based teaching technique was exploited, which allowed to implement the individual approach to the education of students. The materials used in this research are taken from the copyright methodical textbook “Local Lore in EFL Class”. Drawing on literature of teaching and learning EFL as well as personal teaching and learning experience, the authors present the authentic model of teaching local lore in EFL class on the basis of the project-based teaching technique. The paper discusses issues and practices of the studied topic and offers general recommendations for University faculty. These materials can also be used in teaching practice of pre-service teachers

Gender competence of the modern teacher

© by The Author(s). This article discusses improvements in education and modern teacher's gender training in terms of a competencebased approach as a basic strategy of general and vocational education development in Russia. The article substantiates the relevance of teachers' gender training and the necessity to use the gender approach in their professional activities. It also focuses on the basic idea of the gender approach, its goals, importance of the gender approach for successful gender socialization, self-actualization, and self-identity of students. The article presents the results of diagnosing the current state of application of gender mainstreaming in modern school practices and attitudes of teachers and students to this issue. The gender approach requires targeted training for teachers as well as the development of a gender competence seen as a prerequisite for improving the quality of modern teacher training. It is one of the main areas of modernization in teacher education

Experimental study of correction of addictive behavior of teenagers in the Internet environment

This article performs a theoretical justification of problem of teenagers' addictive behavior in Internet environment. The authors of the work represent a multiple number of psychological and pedagogical researches of modern schoolchildren's addictive behavior manifestation. The scientific research includes the careful analysis of domestic and foreign investigators on this problem. Theoretical provisions of research are confirmed with experimental work results. Within a pilot study the authors have managed to realize its purpose of theoretical justification and experimental study of correction of teenagers' addictive behavior in Internet environment

The formation of students’ Foreign language communicative competence during the learning process of the English language through interactive learning technologies (The study on the basis of Kazan Federal University)

© Canadian Center of Science and Education. The relevance of this study is determined by the needs of modern society for qualified specialists, which leads to the necessity of improving the system of higher education. This dictates the need for a high-quality preparation of the teacher of English who is able to act as an active subject of the professional activity and who has high levels of communicative competence. A future teacher of English must be fluent in a foreign language and must demonstrate high foreign language communicative competence. However, not all the students of language faculties and specializations reach this level. Thus, there arises the question about a search for new approaches, methods and means of formation of foreign language communicative competence of future teachers of English at the University. At the same time, the student’s foreign language communicative competence is an integrative personal quality, it is a tone which mediates along with other kinds of personal and professional development competence and defines its effectiveness in greater or lesser degree. Interactive learning within the English language teaching provides a full communication between the students and the formation of skills of solving communicative tasks. The communicative competence defined as a significant component of the key competencies and the result of modern education includes linguistic, discourse, sociolinguistic and sociocultural competences as well as socio-personal interactive component correlated with cooperation and tolerance of the student

Gender characteristics of communicative culture in future teachers

© 2016 Auhadeeva, Yarmakeev and Aukhadeev.Successful interaction of subjects of educational processes depends on the level of teachers’ communicative culture as an integral part of a holistic pedagogical process, as a means and conditions for the implementation of all tasks, functions and professional activities. It determines the social, professional and personal significance of modern teachers’ communicative culture. The article addresses the issues related to the improvement of the quality in the field of teacher education and teacher communicative skills in terms of the competence and gender approaches. Communicative competence is presented as "a metacompetency" and "an integral", concrete expression of communicative culture in the person, which is highly significant in the professional preparation of teachers. Communicative culture of teachers is understood as a qualitative humanistic feature and the highest level of communicative competence. The gender approach, in its turn, is seen as a way of developing a personality, meeting international standards. Gender features of communicative culture in future teachers make it possible to ensure the success of gender socialization and the development of gender stereotypes in students. Thus, the purpose of this study is to define gender characteristics of communicative culture in future teachers as a condition for the effectiveness of their professional activities. The article discusses the results of empirical research (diagnostics) of the actual state and the features of communicative culture manifestations, caused by gender differences in students – future teachers. It also identifies their most important indicators, factors of communicative culture and gender features. We used the method of multivariate regression analysis to process the obtained data. The research results have proved the presence of gender-communication culture of performance in future teachers. If taken into account, it has a significant impact on the professional and personal development of the teacher. The study of gender features of students’ communicative culture is important for determining the strategy and tactics of developing the skills future teachers need to implement gender mainstreaming in education. We see a systemic purposeful formation of communicative culture in future teachers, based on gender characteristics, as a prerequisite for the improvement of the quality in the field of modern teacher education and as one of the main trends in its modernization

Linguo-propaedeutics of ethnic conflicts as a basis for stability in complex polyethnic regions

© 2014, Canadian Center of Science and Education. All rights reserved. The purpose of the suggested article is to analyze the ethno-linguo-conflictogenity of the modern world based on desharmonizing environment of globalization phenomenon in such migrant-capacious and ethnically complex regions, as Tatarstan and Tyumen Region. Today we observe a tendency for blending of dissimilar elements not only in the society, but also in the psychic of a definite person. The authors suggest the ethno-linguo-propaedeutics to solve the stabilization problems in complex polyethnic regions. By the example of the Tatarstan Republic and Tyumen Region, the authors show the definite ways to implement the linguistic and national safety. Separate moments of the studied problem were reflected to some extent in the works of culture experts, sociologists, politologists, philosophers, philologers, psychologists and pedagogues. However, in these materials, the study problems of the linguo-propaedeutics, as a guarantor of state integrity, were either not considered at all, or were presented fragmentarily, without any attempts to analyze it thoroughly. The suggested work presents an attempt to solve these problems in a complex approach. The authors reasonably prove that there is a need in a new approach to analyze the preventive problems of ethnic conflicts, based on linguistic transformation methods of mental space of the linguistic personality. The suggested new construct "poly-linguo-cultural linguistic personality" is developed by the authors based on the analysis of speech behavior of bilinguals in Post-Soviet space, who speak Russian, but many elements in their mental worldview are replaced with the foreign national components, even if the Russian variant is present. The authors, for the first time, suggest a new approach for tolerance formation and prevention of interethnic conflicts; they name it as an ethno-psycho-linguo-propaedeutic approach. The suggested approach covers different levels of competences: it involves the linguistic competence itself, ethnolinguistic and sociolinguistic competences at the linguistic level; it involves psychological and ethnopsychological competences at psychological level; it involves linguo-cross-cultural, culturological and common cultural competences at sociocultural level; it involves communicative, social and pedagogical-propaedeutic competences at the communicative-propaedeutic level. Ethno-linguo-propaedeutic approach suggested and brought into practice by the authors, helps to pass on from the ethnocentrism position to cultural relativism. It opens great horizons for the interested representatives of the whole humanitarian science. The authors suggest using both interactive technologies and vivid training work for linguo-propaedeutics of ethnic conflicts. The achievement of the set aim of modern ethno-linguo-propaedeutics is connected with the solution of the following fundamental tasks: 1) to imagine yourself behind the limits of your own ethnocultural area; 2) to understand and realize the variety of the world, we live in,; 3) to get acquainted with different cultures and forms of ethnosocial contacts in them; 4) to learn to treat ethnocultural variety positively; 5) to form the positive attitude towards the orientations, values, behavioral features of the representatives of another cultures and nations. The authors reasonably consider that the use of combined methods of vital training and interactive mediums provides the maximum effect to prevent the interethnic conflicts in modern youth environment. Active training forms stimulate the activity of linguistic cognition and provide motivation for organization of polycommunicative-ethnocognitive activity of the second linguistic personality. Ethno-psycho-linguo-propaedeutic approach is aimed at mobilization of cognitive reserves of bilinguals to get new knowledge, based on the present base of knowledge, at the development of linguistic, cross-cultural, psychological and speech potentials, competency in organization and conducting of linguistic communication in complex situation of interethnic dialogue

Deictic elements as means of text cohesion and coherence in academic discourse

© 2017, Association for Social Studies Educa. All rights reserved. The article presents the results of the research aimed at analyzing some functions and features of deictic elements in academic discourse in English. The material under analysis covers 20 academic texts written by English-speaking linguists. In the article it is proved that in academic discourse deictic elements can operate only within the fixed scheme of deictic coordinates, which has got three main elements: deictic center, deictic element, and antecedent/subsequent element. Out of this scheme deictic elements fail to fulfill referential procedure. All deictic elements in academic discourse are divided into two big groups: conventional deictic elements and endemic ones. The result of the research shows that conventional deictic elements in most cases provide text cohesion (within small text units, such as adjoining sentences); whereas endemic deictic elements tend to serve for text coherence (in larger text units, such as paragraphs, chapters, etc.). Thus, deictic elements can be considered important units providing textbuilding

Rhetoric as an effective tool of overcoming communication barriers in new educational environments

Searching for novel ways of overcoming communication barriers is dictated by new realities and forms of communication that appear in the educational system of the present day in Russia. In this paper, the authors reveal the basic barriers of communication in new educational environments and make an attempt to prove that rhetoric can serve as an effective tool of breaking these barriers. Materials and instruments aiming at the solution of the studied problem are investigated with regard of the communication situation, roles of participants of communication and ways of communication which communicants undertake. The leading research method implemented in this study is an experiment conducted by the authors with the aim in view to prove that knowledge of rhetoric enables both university faculty and students to overcome communication barriers arising in new educational environments. The research allowed the authors to empirically identify the role of teaching rhetoric in class and verify it to be effective while overcoming the barriers of communication. The results of the study can serve as a general guideline for faculty and student body of the university

Folk songs do magic in teaching speech and grammar patterns in EFL class

The authors in searching for new ways and stimuli of teaching vocabulary and grammar to students in EFL class present their own vision of meeting the challenge. In this study it was hypothesized that folk songs significantly stimulate and encourage students to learn more lexis and grammar they encounter in lyrics. In this paper, the authors fairly claim that rhymed speech and grammar patterns help students to learn and reinforce the correct articulation and pronunciation of sounds, accent and rhythm features. Materials and study instruments aiming at the solution of the outlined problem are investigated with regard of the roles that the song genre fulfills. An experiment conducted by the authors with the aim in view to prove that the repeated playback of a song expands students' vocabulary and helps them to better assimilate grammar, was chosen as a leading research method in this study. The research made it possible for the authors to empirically prove that folk songs can do magic in EFL class contributing to the comprehension of the foreign language in the context of culture, transforming a monotonous memorization and reproduction of language material into creative work, solving the problem of multiple repetition of a single model. The findings of the study can serve as a general guideline for university and high school faculty and pre-service teachers