This article considers an interrelated orientation toward strengthening the methodological basis of teaching foreign languages through linguistic and didactical data, which allows implementing the interdisciplinary and communicative mechanisms in the language acquisition process while teaching ESP in higher educational institutions.
Keywords: linguodidactics, language acquisition process, communication purposes, ESP teaching, mechanisms, language proficiency.
The process of mastering the language in educational settings is the subject of interest of psychologists, psycholinguists, methodologists, specialists in the field of theoretical linguistics. From this point of view, when there is an approach to the interpretation of this process only from the standpoint of a particular discipline, it means that it is impossible to get a complete idea of the mechanisms for mastering the language for educational purposes. To do this, linguodidactics, being an integrative science, «is designed to give both a description of the mechanisms for mastering the language, and the specific management of these mechanisms in the learning environment» [4, p.257–263].
The core of the concept developed by W.Reinicke is an idea of the existence of three independent and at the same time interrelated scientific disciplines that make up the theory of teaching foreign languages: 1) the theory of mastering the language, or linguodidactics; 2) didactics of a foreign language; 3) methods of teaching a particular language, or a private technique [4, p.257–263].
The generality of the above-mentioned scientific disciplines is due to the fact that at the center of their research is the ability of a person to use a language code for communication purposes. The advancement of a person's ability to carry out speech communication to the rank of the central category of the above sciences is very progressive, since only in this case one can say that the linguistic personality becomes the subject of interest of scientists dealing with multidimensional problems of teaching foreign languages.
Speaking about the specifics of the scientific areas that make up the theory of teaching foreign languages, we note that it (the specificity) is related to the different attitudes of each of them to the main category of research — the ability to communicate with each other. Thus, linguodidactics allows to reveal some problems related to the analysis, management and modeling of language acquisition processes. In this case, we are talking about the description and explanation of the mechanisms and internal structurally-forming processes of mastering the language, both native and foreign. For a specialist dealing with didactic issues, the ability to communicate with a voice acts as a strategic learning goal, while the subject of a private technique is the process of transferring and assimilating (learning) the ability to communicate in the language of study, taking into account the specific learning conditions, in this case in the conditions of higher educational institutions.
Since the methodologist deals with the formation of the ability to communicate in the language of study, he must have knowledge of the specifics of the process of mastering this ability. However, the methodology itself does not form such knowledge, it takes them from other areas of knowledge, and especially from didactics. The latter is a science about the general laws of teaching to any language, without exception [2, p.23].
Thus, linguodidactics involves the interaction of several independent and at the same time interrelated scientific disciplines: methodology, linguistics, pedagogy, psychology, psycholinguistics. Therefore, it is a linguistic base for teaching foreign languages in connection with the listed scientific disciplines. It can be said that the relationship between linguodidactics and these scientific disciplines is the relation between theory and practice.
Recognizing the importance of carrying out linguodidactical research, one cannot but note the inaccuracy of linking linguodidactics exclusively with linguistics. Despite the fact that it is the linguistic factor that makes up the specifics of the methodology of teaching foreign languages, one cannot fail to take into account the multi-functionality and multifacetedness of the process of teaching the subject of ESP in higher educational institutions.
The methodological approach to teaching English language as ESP is influenced by many factors — such as: social order, basic goals and methods of teaching, specific technologies and techniques, dominant linguistic theories and so on.
The interdisciplinary linguodidactical approach to the analysis of these problems is based on the data of the philosophy of language, linguistics, psychology, the theory of intercultural communication, the theory of mastery of the second language, psycholinguistics, etc. However, linguodidactics is not a substantiation of a particular language method. Being one of the branches of methodological science, «... which substantiates the substantive components of education, teaching, learning in their inseparable connection with the nature of language and the nature of communication as a social phenomenon that determines the activity essence of speech products, based on the mechanisms of social interaction of individuals» [1, p.478]. Thus, linguodidactics acts as a methodological aspect of the theory of ESP teaching.
This means that this science is called upon to develop the basics of the ESP teaching methodology in relation to the various desired outcomes of this process. It allows revealing the objective laws according to which the model of teaching foreign languages should be built, in the center of which there is a bilingual (polylingual) and bicultural (multicultural) language personality of the student, taking into account the specificity and direction of future professional activity.
Linguodidactics as a science is designed to comprehend and describe the linguistic cognitive structure of a linguistic personality, to justify the conditions and patterns of its development as a desirable result in the teaching and learning of a foreign language, and to study specificity as an object of mastering / teaching (language, linguistic picture of the world of the carrier of the language). And the interaction of all subjects of this process, the nature of errors (linguistic, linguistic-cultural and, more broadly, culturological) and the mechanism for their elimination.
The study of the peculiarities of learning and mastering a language in the context of multilingualism, the individual and cultural characteristics of students, their age specificity, factors determining the completeness / incompleteness of language proficiency, etc., is of great promise. [5, p. 399–410].
Consequently, the relevance of linguodidactical studies is due to the need to create an objective scientific basis for assessing the effectiveness of teaching methods and their further development, methods based on, first of all, the idea of the formation of language competence.
Moreover, the modern system of teaching foreign languages is characterized by the fact that, firstly, practical acquisition of foreign languages has become an urgent need for the various strata of the society, and, secondly, the general pedagogical context creates favorable conditions for differentiation of teaching foreign languages. The new socio-economic and political situation requires the implementation of a language policy in the society and in the field of foreign-language education aimed at satisfying both public and personal needs in relation to foreign languages.
Therefore, analysis of practice and theory of teaching leads to the conclusion that it is impossible to solve this or that research problem within the framework of one approach, it is necessary to use the provisions of modern approaches to solve pedagogical problems in a comprehensive way. In the modern didactics of higher education, the innovative methodological and linguistic approaches to organizing the language teaching and learning processes should be implemented, particularly at non-language universities.
References:
- Gumperz J. J., Gumperz J. C. A Postscript: Style and Identity in Interactional Sociolinguistics. — Berlin, New York, 2007. — P. 478.
- Jarvis S., Pavlenko A. Crosslinguistic Influence in Language and Cognition. — New York, London, 2008. — P. 23.
- Laurilland D. Rethinking University Teaching: A Framework for the Effective Use of Educational Technology. — London, 2002.
- Reinecke W. Zur Theorie des Fremdsprachenerwerbs — einmethodologischer Ansatz. — Мoscow: Academy, 1983. — pp. 257–263.
- Zhang Z. C. Towards an Integrated Approach to Teaching Business English: A Chinese Experience // English for Specific Purposes, 2007. — No. 26. — pp. 399–410.
