Teachers can play an essential role in helping students to learn and apply a moral-reasoning process. They can help their students know what their values are, believe in these values as an integral part of who they are, and live their life in alignment with these values. Society is best served when teachers teach and create, and students develop character and moral virtues.
Key words: trustworthy manner, nurture mutual trust and respect, being good and doing right,behaving ethically, creators of character and moral virtues.
Преподаватели могут играть важную роль в процессе использования нравственного мышления. Они могут помочь своим студентам узнать свои достоинства, поверить в эти ценности как в неотъемлемую часть самих себя и прожить свою жизнь ориентируясь на них. Обществу приносят больше пользы, когда преподаватели обучают и творят, а студенты развивают характер и нравственные качества.
Ключевые слова: поведение, заслуживающее доверия, воспитание взаимного доверия и уважения, быть праведным и действовать справедливо, вести себя этически, формирователи характера и нравственных качеств.
Nothing can be more useful than for the public and the teaching profession to understand their respective functions. The teacher needs to understand public opinion and the social order, as much as the public needs to comprehend the nature of expert educational service. It will take time to draw the boundary lines that will be conducive to respect, restraint, and efficiency in those concerned; but a beginning can be made upon fundamental matters, and nothing so touches the foundations of our educational thought as a discussion of the moral principles in education.Grading in a high school English class is an activity replete with moral issues. Determining what is right or wrong in any given situation is a complex task when one considers the multitude of issues that may be involved. Consideration for the common good along with that of the individual, the desire to both encourage effort and reward achievement while promoting improvement and further development.
The important thing we need to do is recover the belief that there is a transcendent, unchanging moral order, and restore it once more to a central place in the educational process. High schools are responsible for guiding students in the step by step developmental process, and moral development or learning moral and cultural values is a step in the process of greater development. Therefore, it can be seen partly as high schools’ responsibility to educate students in morality. The Government and the Ministry of Education of Turkmenistan pay much attention to moral education of youth, which is the future of our Motherland. Especially to bring up our youth in national way of modern and latest achievements of education and science is the main way of development. In order to achieve the aim we have to focus our attention on more moral education in high school curricula, the development of clear guidelines for teachers so they can understand how to be character educators the creation of a social and cultural atmosphere that supports moral behavior by having parents, schools, highschools, public organization, the media and all members of society working together to establish a positive environment.
A virtue is socially valued, while a moral virtue, such as honesty, is morally valued. According to Lickona, high schools and teachers should educate for character, especially through teaching respect and responsibility. As teachers interact with students, it is vital for them to serve as role models of character by making professional judgments and decisions based on societal and moral virtues.
A person of character has the wisdom to know right from wrong; is honest, trustworthy, fair, respectful, and responsible; admits and learns from mistakes; and commits to living according to these principles. Lickona suggests that character is a universal phenomenon descriptive of people who possess the courage and conviction to live by moral virtues. Character encompasses being good and doing right, while behaving unethically is the antithesis of displaying character. Whenever students get caught up in the emotion of a game and intentionally harm another person or cheat to win, they are not being good or doing right. [4]
Teachers should emphasize the importance of exercising self-control and restraint when challenged and responding appropriately
According to Gough, the ultimate goal of character development occurs when each person reaches the point where doing «good» becomes automatic or habitual. Like learning English through sustained teaching-or-practice, morally appropriate actions become natural and consistent. Students need to imitate teachers who are effortlessly honest, trusting, fair, respectful, and responsible in their actions. [2,18–20,23].
It is clear that recent research on character development in English teaching demonstrated that the organized moral education activity context is ripe for positive moral growth. Furthermore, evidence indicates that unless character development is directly addressed, the moral maturation process will not likely occur. Therefore, a teacher of English, educator has the responsibility and opportunity to create situations that will enhance the character development ofstudents in their care.
The theoretical construct of this article is that teachers can and should serve as role models who teach character and moral virtues (Kohlberg, 1981; Lickona, 1991; Noddings, 1992). Teacher’s integrity is the bedrock value; it discusses the virtues of honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility; and it provides applications that can guide the actions of teachers as they serve as creators of character and moral virtues being a perfect example and gives recommendations for students how to live a life of character based on moral virtues [3].
Since teachers are creators of character and moral virtuestheir influence, instruction, and potential learning that occurs at school, high school will be life-changing.
Honesty.Teachers display honesty by telling the truth and acting in an honorable way. Examples of honesty among teachers include complying with federal, state, and district rules and policies; and evaluating the work of students based on established grading rubrics. Honesty includes fulfilling promises and commitments, such as maintaining the confidentiality of student records. Honesty also includes as teachers fulfill their professional responsibilities.
Trust. An honest person can be trusted. Trust is the belief in others that develops whenever people fulfill their promises and commitments. When a teacher establishes and upholds class expectations—such as providing and following guidelines for written assignments—students learn that they can trust their teacher. The emergence of mutual trust is a vanguard of education.
Trust replaces apprehension or fear with confidence and openness. When students trust their teachers, an inevitable mistake is transformed from being a fear of failure into an opportunity to learn. For example, teachers can build trust by providing assistance or spotting when a student is learning a difficult situations-dilemmas or learning how to behave themselves. The teacher should also encourage students to keep trying, to make progress, to make right chose. Trust builds self-confidence in students as they learn to depend on their teachers to help them grow and develop.
RespectDeveloping a respectful sense of community within a class is vitally important. This process begins with teachers demonstrating respect for students, regardless of their ethnicity, race, gender, socioeconomic status, or individual characteristics or abilities. Teachers must be unbiased in how they respond to the various levels of skill and ability displayed by their students.Noddings advocated that moral education is based on teachers showing students that they care for them as unique individuals. Teachers who care show respect for their students by being sensitive to and considerate of their feeling. Civility inside and outside the classroom requires that teachers and students show respect for and care about others. Respect is earned through treating others the way you would like to be treated. When teachers treat students with respect, they receive respect in return [5].
ResponsibilityTeachers demonstrate responsibility by being morally accountable for their actions and fulfilling their duties. When teachers create and sustain a positive learning environment and focus on providing educational services to students and society, they are acting responsibly.
Teachers can encourage students to take greater personal and social responsibility for how they treat others, help them learn to respect the rights and feelings of others, show self-discipline through their participation and effort, help others, and then to apply these behaviors in other aspects of their life.
Teaching How to Reason Morally
The starting point for learning to reason morally is to learn moral principles. Principles are universal rules of conduct that identify what kinds of actions, intentions, and motives are valued. These principles are based on moral virtues like honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility. In deciding whether such things as lying, stealing, cheating, and failing to keep promises are unprincipled actions, each individual moves through a three-stage moral-reasoning process.
Moral reasoning is the systematic process of evaluating personal virtues and developing a consistent and impartial set of moral principles by which to live (Lumpkin). The first stage is moral knowing, which is the cognitive phase of learning about moral issues and how to resolve them. The second stage is moral valuing, which is the basis of what individuals believe about themselves and others. The third stage is moral acting, which is how people act based on what they know and value.
We, teachers,can use literature, folk, music, films, songs, proverbs, dilemmas all possible achievements of science in moral education during teaching English. It’s fruitful to use traditional, national material which is known to students and comparing or giving their equivalents in English. We use poems on moral education in English which students can compare in Turkmen. For example, great Turkmen poet, thinkerof the 18th century- Makhtumkuli [1].
Makhtumkuli's Advice
Never speak sharply to a fellow man. When meeting orphans I greet them with a smile
The poor are aided by your courtesy. And, better yet, provide a meal meanwhile.
Stay distant from the sinner if you can. Comfort the sad in gently hopeful style.
Doing your work well needs efficiency. Support the helpless man with constancy…
Some proverbs we use during teaching English, moral education
Galan işe gar ýagar — Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.
Müsürde şa bolandan, öz iliňde gedaý bol — East or west home is best.
Çyn dost kyn günüňde bellidir — A friend in need is a friend indeed.
Ilki pikirlen, soňra gürle — First think then speak.
We use such kind of poems at the English lessons and give tasks like: underline the words on character creating and moral virtues, paraphrase them; give synonyms of underlined words; teacher begins the line students continue; discussing the meaning of the poem; making dilemmas on situations described in the poem; etc.Teachers help students to internalize the moral virtues of honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility by modeling and continually reinforcing what is right and good. For example, whenever teachers admit to their mistakes and correct them, they show that they themselves accept the consequences of their actions. Such modeling of moral valuing helps students learn that teachers not only talk about virtues, but have incorporated these into their day-to-day actions.
Thus, moral education of students in teaching English makes a great contribute in up-bringing of our youth generation of our great growing country. The subject of a foreign language, English, is one of the important subjects. Teaching a foreign language we may create moral values and develop the strength of character.A teacher with character demonstrates that integrity is a prized possession. Teachers with character serve as role models for telling the truth, respecting others, accepting and fulfilling responsibilities, playing fair, earning and returning trust, and living a moral life. They should model the importance of engaging in a lifelong quest to do the harder right, rather than the easier wrong. They can help their students know what their values are, believe in these values as an integral part of who they are, and live their life in alignment with these values. Teachers can play an essential role in helping students learn and apply a moral-reasoning process. Lessons learned inside the classroom and through teacher-student interactions outside of the classroom should be based on virtues. Integrity, honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility should characterize teachers in their relationships with students. Teachers with character deal honestly with students in a trustworthy manner, nurture mutual trust and respect with and among students, treat others respectfully by believing in the inherent dignity of every person, and execute their responsibilities in morally accountable ways. Society is best served when teachers teach and create, and students develop character and moral virtues.
References:
- AzemounY. Pages fromthe life of Makhtumkuli from the book “Songs from the steppes of Central Asia”
- Cough, R. W. (1998). A practical strategy for emphasizing character development in sport and physical education. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance.
- Kohlberg, L. (1981). The philosophy of moral development: Moral stages and the idea of justice. San Francisco: Harper & Row.
- Lickona, T. (1991). Educating for character: How our schools can teach respect and responsibility. New York: Bantam.
- Noddings, N. (1992). The challenge to care in schools: An alternative approach to education. New York: Teachers College.
