27THE NECESSITY OF TRAINING SOCIOCULTURAL COMPETENCE OF TEACHERS FOR MENTORING FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNERS IN
THE PROCESS OF EDUCATION
Nigora Shamsitdin kizi Srojidinova
Uzbekistan State University of World Languages sroiidinova@bk.ru
ABSTRACT
The article features the necessity of forming sociocultural competence of future professionals in the sphere of foreign language teaching, qualitative preparation for their professional practice and intercultural communication on a high level is carried out. The most outstanding pedagogical principles and organizational pedagogical conditions of forming sociocultural competence are examined in this article. Great attention is also paid to the components of sociocultural competence in revealing potentials of future teachers.
Keywords: sociocultural competence, qualitative preparation, professional practice, pedagogical principles, organizational pedagogical conditions
INTRODUCTION
Enhancement of intercultural communication along with the development of society and education increases the need in communication among learners. At the same time observations and experience of teachers reveal that learners who have sufficient vocabulary stock and the ability to practice their grammar tend to fail to understand each other while overcoming language barriers. Speakers use necessary remarks and phrases to exchange with information, nevertheless fail to achieve to comprehend each other . It has to be noted that there might be different reasons for this, however, it mainly appears to be the reason of low development of sociocultural competence. Standards of sociocultural competence dictate that one has to acquire social and regional knowledge along with communicative competence. Accordingly , separate attention should be paid to forming the ability of participation in intercultural communication with the help of sociocultural knowledge , and this tends to be the learning process and research of the nations that live in the countries of the target language and the people who live in the territories of one's own country in accordance with their traditions.
LITERATURE REVIEW
It is vital that the research in the sphere is carried out considering all the aspects of language transformation as a means of socio-cultural competence. There has been much research in the sphere , and one can count many methodologists who carry out investigations of the term "sociocultural competence", to note: E.N. Solovova, L.I Korneeva, N.I.Gez, N.D. Galskova and many others. Having considered various definitions conveyed by the scholars one can assume that the term is defined in different ways.
Some scholars suggest that sociocultural competence is the ability of people to live in one territory without any discrepancy, others assume that it is the capacity of getting involved in foreign culture; however, other groups suggest that it tends to be the conventions and morals of behavior in the basis of which lie the ideas of diversity of conscience and recognition of cultural processes. In the context of the question under discussion one has to note that N.D. Galskova, N.I. Gez assume that "sociocultural competence" is the ability that provides possibilities for people for self-development in the framework of the sphere. The development of the ability occurs with the help of interaction between the learning process of foreign codes and the enhancement of cultural experience of people. L. I. Korneeva suggests that the competence is the perception of factors that define culture and affect upon perception, thought, evaluation and actions of surrounding people. This reflects upon intercultural understanding of representatives from different cultures that is based on values and conventions of different cultures.
According to E.N. Solovova sociocultural competence tends to be the means of development of culturally oriented person and presupposes acquiring the knowledge of traditions and their correlation. Sociocultural competence is a vast notion that includes components that can be referred to different categories:
Sociolinguistic - this component can be characterized by language features of different social layers, the representatives of different generations, genders, social groups, dialects and etc.
Culturological component- it features sociocultural , cultural-historical, ethnocultural background , to be more specific it denotes the knowledge of customs of people whose language tends to be in target.
Linguistic -cultural- this component includes lexical units along with socio-cultural semantics and the ability to use them in situations of intercultural communication( for example, greetings and addressing in written and oral speech)
Socio-psychological - the component is characterized by culturally featured scenarios , national-specific models of behavior with the usage of communicative techniques that are accepted in the given culture.
RESULTS
Coming out from all the definitions of the given terminology one can conclude that socio-cultural competence is the investment in upbringing and education that results in respect , comprehension of culture, traditions and language of other people as one's own , moreover, it helps to overcome the fears and disbelief towards other cultures. And only when the barriers are terminated , the process of language learning comes into power.
It is noted that the model of formation of sociocultural competence includes two aspects:
1)Linguistic which is defined as an aspect of learning the language and culture with the help of sociolinguistics- usage of language in various social situations
2) Informative this aspect is characterized with the presence of data on culture , etiquette , traditions of national cuisine, outfit, nonverbal communication, values and traditions , educational system , social institutes and the presence of materials such as placement of the territory, climate , political and economical systems. To note , these aspects are correlated to each other, and to achieve socio-cultural competence considering all the mentioned aspects various approaches in education should be applied.
For instance, technologies of critical thinking , project work, studying in cooperation and technologies that develop teaching, all of them trigger interest for communication in the foreign language and help to increase its subject content. In addition, these technologies help to form critical thinking of learners.
DISCUSSION
It would be beneficial if students worked more on projects and explained their realization by the end of the course. Learners choose the subjects they prefer and start working on it. As a result they will acquire the ability to differentiate primary sources from secondary ones, build logical order, analyze and compare, make conclusions and most importantly transfer necessary information to each other and comprehend it in a proper way. Moreover, it is preferable if learners make research of the countries and places they live in and use authentic materials such as thematic texts, literary pieces of texts, songs, dialogues and monologues , interviews , audio-
scripts and others. In the framework of the research traditional methods of teaching at the universities have been looked through , and we made inclusions that new materials and approaches present effective algorithm of techniques to motivate and trigger interests of students to learn foreign languages , they also create situations of success where students try to present their best results . Another noticeable impact in forming sociocultural competence is put by out-of-class activities, festivals, competitions and conferences where students take part with great willingness, as these events create high-yield environment for them to present their best by going through the process of communication in a foreign language. Another effective contest would be the contest of videos on various thematical topics with the usage of the target language, from one point it would help to display creativity and effort of learners to prepare the videos , and from the other point it would be beneficial for the audience as they watch the video on the peculiarities of all the aspects of the language that is being learnt.
Another effective idea would be to organize theatrical contests . Participants would have much opportunity to get acquainted with foreign authors, history of different countries, their traditions as well as develop their creativeness and linguistic abilities.
Undoubtedly, all of the aspects counted above will help to motivate and improve sociocultural competence of students, but at the same time there might evolve another factor that will prevent the improvement , and this factor is inability of teachers to crop and coordinate socio-cultural competence of students. This factor reveals necessity of professional development of competent and high qualified staff with the knowledge of foreign languages, as well as the need to find appropriate methods and techniques to carry out the task. We assume that the key element in the development of competent professionals in the tendencies of high schools is the formation of socio-cultural competence of final -year students, as it appears to be the basis , fundaments of effective and adequate usage of their future professions as teachers. In addition to this psychological and pedagogical literature should also be aimed at forming all the competencies that will be required during teaching process. Future teachers should learn to practice their practical skills of communication and improve personal resources. It is obvious that appropriate theoretical and methodological approaches also present effectiveness in training future teachers for their professional performance. Systematic approach can be used as an inclusive technique in forming sociolinguistic competence, however, it might not be enough if used alone in the process of teaching oral foreign language interaction in high
schools. To achieve more effectiveness other approaches such as personal oriented approach and competence forming approaches can also be found helpful. The method of choosing approaches should be based on the principle of orientation and the principle of activization of learner's action. Future professionals should be taught to organize the educational process according to intercultural communication models including sociocultural knowledge and models of behavior. To revise the materials and practice it communicative games can also be applied, as they help to trigger interests, form the ability to express their own viewpoint and prove them with arguments and respect others' opinions . The method of usage of authentic texts that contain language image of the world and form the understanding of other cultures can also be used in the process of teachers' training. Moreover, the events in the texts feature discursive world or the dynamic system of meanings, which is interpreted by the users of the information under the influence of wide spectrum of extralinguistic factors. We are convinced that private pedagogical principles, principle of order and visuality should also be taken into consideration while teaching socio-linguistic competence. Along with it teachers should also be guided by the rules of native language usage, communicative orientation of education , intercultural relations and teaching in the framework of different nations' dialogue. It is noted that one of the most effective pedagogical background for forming socio-cultural competence of teachers is the application of module system of education and active usage of culturological aspects in the process of language teaching.
The fullest index of pedagogical conditions for forming sociocultural competence of future foreign language teachers includes the following . First of all ,forming the knowledge of students in the sphere of culture, national realia, customs and traditions of the target country, as well as considering the norms of etiquette and behavior of the representatives of the country in the professional sphere. In the second place, forming the knowledge of students about cultural peculiarities and the history of one's own country. In the third place, forming the skills of everyday intercultural communication of both professional and common usage, and also the ability to present one's own country in the international communication. Another point, is orientation on the development of foreign language teachers' observation skills, experience and orientation of values. The ability of self-evaluation in the context of competence development and its monitoring in its dynamics is also pivotal. And the last but not the least orientation of educational process on the development of adequate comprehension by students of foreign culture and comprehension of other cultural identities should be included in the process of studying.
CONCLUSION
Concluding all the things that were mentioned it can be noted that the process of forming key sociocultural knowledge, skills and abilities the development of which prove the capacity and readiness of future teachers of foreign languages for intercultural communication on a high level cannot proceed effectively without keeping pedagogical conditions. Thus, in the process of forming sociocultural competence of future teachers the main role is fulfilled by pedagogical conditions of educational processes , as they solve not only general teaching problems , but also a row of private tasks that respond for communicative orientation and also education in the context of dialogues between nations, and sociocultural competence presupposes readiness and the ability to live and interact in the modern multicultural world. The absence of experience in teaching and acquiring sociocultural competence makes it difficult to interact and comprehend the representatives of other nationalities.
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