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12FEATURES OF ADULTS AS A UNIQUE PSYCHOLOGICAL AND AGE GROUP OF STUDENTS IN MASTERING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE Dildora Buranova
Termez state university https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6817435 Abstract. The article is devoted to the description of the uniqueness of adults as a separate psychological and age group of students in mastering a foreign language. In the modern methodology of teaching a foreign language, there are many scientific works devoted to the study of the independence of students at different levels of education, while studying the features of the formation of independence of adults when teaching them a foreign language has received very little attention from researchers. At the same time, adults, like no other group of students, need to form this quality of personality at a high level. In order to determine the importance of taking into account the characteristics of adult learners when mastering a foreign language, one should start by studying the basic principles of the science of andragogy, which the author of the article considers as a section of learning theory aimed at solving issues related to teaching adult learners.
Key words: teaching a foreign language; formation of independence; andragogy; foreign language education for adults; additional education; formation of independence; continuing education.
Аннотация. Статья посвящена описанию особенностей взрослых как отдельной психолого-возрастной группы учащихся в овладении иностранным языком. В современной методике обучения иностранному языку имеется множество научных работ, посвященных изучению самостоятельности учащихся на разных уровнях обучения, при этом изучению особенностей формирования самостоятельности взрослых при обучении их иностранному языку уделяется большое внимание. мало внимания со стороны исследователей. В то же время у взрослых, как ни у какой другой группы школьников, это качество личности необходимо формировать на высоком уровне. Для того чтобы определить важность учета особенностей взрослых обучающихся при овладении иностранным языком, следует начать с изучения основных положений науки андрагогики, которую автор статьи рассматривает как раздел теории обучения, направленный на решение вопросов, связанных с обучением взрослых учащихся.
Ключевые слова: обучение иностранному языку; формирование самостоятельности; андрагогика; обучение иностранным языкам для взрослых; дополнительное образование; формирование самостоятельности; непрерывное образование
INTRODUCTION
The article gives the reasons why andragogy is considered to be a separate branch of pedagogy; describes the psychological and age characteristics of adults that distinguish them from other groups of students; the interdisciplinary concepts of "attention", "memory" and
ОСОБЕННОСТИ ВЗРОСЛЫХ КАК СВОЕОБРАЗНОЙ ПСИХОЛОГО-ВОЗРАСТНОЙ ГРУППЫ УЧАЩИХСЯ В ОВЛАДЕНИИ ИНОСТРАННЫМ
ЯЗЫКОМ
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"thinking" are studied, which acquire a specific color when teaching adults; the requirements that are put forward by linguistic andragogy to the process of teaching a foreign language are given Andragogy as a separate science originated in the 70s of the 20th century, when it received scientific attention from Western scientists (M. Knowles, P. Smith), and then became interesting to Soviet researchers (O. V. Agapova, R. P. Milrud, N. A. Toskina) [2, 11, 12, 15, 16]. However, as early as 1833, this concept was first used in the worksGerman scientist A. Kapp, who devoted his scientific activity to the study of the history of pedagogy. M. Knowles, a well-known scientist in pedagogical circles, wrote a number of works devoted to solving both theoretical and practical problems of teaching adults. The researcher was convinced that the teacher should be able to ensure the transformation of the student in the learning process into a person who is able to demonstrate the use of the acquired knowledge in practice, acting within the framework of an ever-changing education system. In addition, the scientist argues, students need to be prepared for continuous self-learning throughout their lives. So, it is believed that it was Knowles who was responsible for formulating the subject of the study of the science of andragogy [15]. The problem of teaching adults, as well as their self-learning, has become the subject of andragogy. Of course, andragogy is in close connection with the science of pedagogy, while it has a number of its own principles and features that do not contradict pedagogical principles and laws, but are not contained in it, from which we can conclude that andragogy is a logical continuation of pedagogy.
RESEARCH METHOD AND METHODOLOGY
Andragogy is considered to be a separate branch of pedagogy for the following reasons:
• students at the present stage of development of the education system play a leading role in the learning process. Previously, the student was considered a relatively passive participant in the educational process, that is, he did not take part in choosing the content of education. It is especially relevant to talk about the psychological age group of adults, because it is they who try to most consciously participate in choosing the content, forms and terms of the training course;
• a person always strives to play a dominant role in various social processes, according to the provisions of philosophy and psychology, and education and self-study are considered as extremely important aspects of life;
• in the modern world, when using information technologies and tools of online services of the Web 2.0 era, the learning process is organized in a new way, in connection with which many new responsibilities of the teacher and student have modified the traditional educational process;
• children and adults have different types of leading activities, which is why the andragogical model of education is based on principles that are different from pedagogy, which require a clear definition;
• theoretical and practical achievements in the field of psychology and physiology prove that a person can conduct successful educational activities at any conscious stage of his life [3].
An adult is characterized by psychological and age-related features that are different from other groups of students:
• adults are aware of themselves as an independent person who manages the learning process and critically perceives the teacher's leadership function;
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• adults have a large amount of personal, interpersonal and professional experience gained over a long period of time, which forms a specific worldview, through the filter of which any taught material passes;
• the educational process should be aimed at practical significance, that is, adults have a certain pragmatism in their approach to finding a solution to an existing problem;
• adults are focused on the direct use of specific acquired knowledge to solve problems in the context of real life;
• professional, spatio-temporal and social circumstances affect the special emotional perception of learning activities [2, 8].
RESEARCH RESULTS
The above features make it possible to accurately understand the uniqueness of the psychological-age group of adult students, which is different from the group of school students, students of secondary specialized and higher education. It is worth noting that adults are students with a rather high degree of maturity in physiological, psychological, social and moral terms. Adults are characterized by inner freedom and financial independence, which serves as the basis for independent self-controlled behavior. Thus, it can be argued that adult students are a group of accomplished individuals who are ready and fully capable of carrying out educational activities. This implies the following feature, which consists in the fact that adult students are able to consciously choose to continue their education in adulthood. Psychological and physiological features of adults include self-awareness, self-regulation, economic independence, knowledge of the rights and laws in society, the formation of a system of morality and ethics. Also separates them from the younger age groups of students is the presence of experience in everyday, social and professional spheres of life.
There are various classifications of attention, on the basis of which it is possible to conditionally divide the phenomenon under study into external and internal. External attention is directly related to a person's sensory perception of the reality around him, it is used for the purpose of cognition and transformation of the material being studied. In turn, a person uses internal attention for self-study and self-regulation. There is also a division of attention into individual and group attention. There is also the following classification of attention, with which the author of the article fully agrees within the framework of the methodology of teaching foreign languages:
• involuntary attention, which does not depend on conscious actions;
• voluntary attention, which is realized in activities carried out by a person of his own free will;
• post-voluntary attention carried out on the basis of arbitrary [13].
Attention as a category of technique is endowed with some characteristics, including distribution (the ability to keep more than one object in the field of attention), switchability (the ability to switch attention focus from object to object), concentration (the ability to focus on the main subject), stability (the ability to concentrate on the main subject, giving the additional subject a secondary role for a long time). In the context of the psychological-age group we are considering, let us clarify what kind of attention we should talk about. Since adult learning most often takes place in groups, it is important to focus on group attention. The attention of adults when learning a foreign language is characterized as arbitrary, due to the fact that students must learn useful material; switchable, because a regular change in the types of foreign language
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speech activity makes adults often switch their attention; concentrated, because it is important for students to learn to abstract from the outside world in order to conduct successful educational activities.
DISCUSSION
In addition to attention, a special characteristic that must be taken into account in order to achieve the success of teaching adults a foreign language is memory. Memory is a mental process that includes the processing, consolidation and preservation of the experience gained in the mind of a person. Memory is an important tool for activating the processes of remembering, reproducing (retrieving) and forgetting information. According to the period of retention of knowledge, it is customary to divide memory into long-term, short-term and operational. There is a classification of memory, within which motor, figurative, verbal-logical and emotional memory are distinguished. Based on the type of material preserved in the memory, cognitive and emotional memory are divided.
A person cannot live without the use of memory. Since memory is a form of mental reflection, it is responsible for the functions of memorization, preservation and further reproduction of certain elements of the experience collected by a person. Memorization is the basic step of memory operation. Intentional memorization is singled out (a goal realized by the student); unintentional (carried out regardless of the will of the student). Memorization can have different levels of efficiency based on the needs of the student in the selection of the material being mastered. Preservation is an active process, the purpose of which is to retain, consolidate the mastered information. Playback is the process of outputting material stored in memory. The third important factor that determines the psychological and age characteristics of adults is thinking. The effectiveness of teaching a foreign language to adults depends on thinking. The author of the article considers thinking as a process of cognitive activity, involving the generalization and interpretation of the surrounding reality by a person. Methodists distinguish the following types of thinking as a mental process of perceiving reality, in which reality is generally interpreted in a system of interconnections and relationships:
• visual-figurative thinking;
• visual-effective thinking;
• verbal-logical thinking.
Different adult students have different levels of intellectual development, and therefore thinking should be considered an individual characteristic of each individual adult student who thinks through speech activity. Such learning activities as analysis, comparison and observation are components of the thinking process, and the concept, judgment and inference are forms of thinking.
CONCLUSION
So, when teaching adults a foreign language, it is necessary to take into account the peculiarities of attention, thinking and memory of this psychological and age group. As part of the methodology of teaching foreign languages, it makes sense to consider language andragogy, which is a section of the methodology aimed at studying various ways to effectively manage the process of formation and development of foreign language communicative competence in adult learners [11, 12]. When working with adult students, a foreign language
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teacher must take into account the following requirements that language andragogy puts forward to the teaching process:
• the level of language complexity selected for the foreign language course of the educational program should correspond to how achievable the life goal is for each individual adult student;
• personal significance of the content selected by the teacher for conducting a foreign language lesson. Adults formulate certain requests that meet their personal life trajectory, and therefore the content of training should be selected in accordance with the real needs of adults;
• the focus of the course on the development of adult students mainly of such competencies that they will need in real situations of communication, in other words, the practicality of a foreign language course. Adults have a rather pragmatic approach to receiving educational services in the system of additional education, so it is necessary to ensure that adults receive practice-oriented knowledge in excess of the theoretical part.
REFERENCES
1. Azimov E. G. Dictionary of methodological terms [Text] (theory and practice of teaching languages) / E. G. Azimov, A. N. Shchukin. - St. Petersburg. : Chrysostom, 1999. - 472 p.
2. Milrud, R. P. English for researchers. [Text] Elective course / R. P. Milrud. - M.: Education, 2014.
3. Milrud, R.P. Lessons of language pedagogy: between the past and the future [Electronic resource] / R.P. Milrud - Access mode: http://iyazyki.ru/2014/11/language-pedagogy/.
4. Knowles, M. Self-Directed Learning. [Text] / M. Knowles - Chicago: Follet, 1975.
5. Smith, F. Comprehension and Learning: a Conceptual Framework for Teachers [Text] /
6. 6F. Smith Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1975. - Original from the University of Michigan Digitized Aug 29, 2006. - 277 p.
