Methods For Schoolchildren Speech-Cognitive Activity Improving Within The Framework Of Textual Authenticity

Abstract

The article is devoted to the description of methods for schoolchildren speech-thought processes improving in the Russian language and literature classes framework. The article presents a study of the causes of the appearance of communicative barriers in the process of educational dialogue and analysis of the conditions for the formation of a holistic personality, able to express and prove their point of view correctly. Particular attention is paid to describing the benefits of authentic text as a fundamental basis for the development of speech skills, because, firstly, authentic texts reflect the real needs and emotional mood of modern youth through their approach to the surrounding reality and the interests of a particular individual; secondly, authentic texts create a communicative attitude for revealing their nuanced meanings through the prism of a new look that is far from a “battered” cliche; thirdly, authentic texts set up the student to comprehend (or rethink) the surrounding reality and structure a new image in consciousness; fourthly, authentic texts orient the student’s thoughts to a given setting; fifthly, authentic texts form the prerequisites for capturing the author’s intention (sometimes even meaning) and reproduction of the personally marked position.

Keywords: Speech developmentauthentic textprovocation discussionspeech-cognitive activity

Introduction

The modern educational space and society as a whole impose stringent requirements on the process of both university and school education, its methodological methods. In this regard, the main task of linguists-practitioners is the search for new approaches and teaching methods to form a communicative personality capable of language expression. In our opinion, this is possible if the mentor goes beyond the classical linear view of linguistic education and expands its methodological and methodological boundaries, offering a new look at the hierarchical layers of linguistic knowledge (Gural, 2012).

Problem Statement

The relevance of the proposed work is due to a decrease in the linguistic literacy of young people and the "loosening" conditions of their ideological ideals.  In this regard, it is necessary to find such a method of teaching speech and thought activity that will meet several conditions. First, this method must meet the requirements of the State Standard for Russian Language and Literature. Secondly, this method should not suppress the learner linguistic personality, having the right to openly express their position, even if it does not correlate with the ideas of others.

The following justifies the expediency of developing schoolchildren’s speech based on authentic artistic texts – authentic texts better contribute to the activation of speech and thought activity and the formation of a person who is successful in a communicative plan.

The methodology used by us is implemented through the model of language teaching as a complex self-developing system. This approach creates recipients' understanding of the holistic linguistic picture of the world and develops the ability and skills to independently produce text, taking into account the requirements of the modern educational system.

As a material for the methodological analysis, a fragment of the lesson is proposed, which aims to activate communicative incentives in improving the speech-cognitive activity of school students.

Research Questions

In this research we relied on the methodology of classical and modern pedagogy and psychology. Such famous scientists as L. S. Vygotsky, A. N. Leontiev, A. A. Leontiev, N. I. Zhinkin, A. R. Luria, I. A. Zimnaya, T. A. Ladyzhenskaya, L. P. Sychugova, L. A. Khodyakova, and others widely considered speech activity in their works. These scientists come to the conclusion that improving the skills of speech development and thinking of students occurs only in the process of active speech activity. This requires that the educational process has the character of co-creation, cooperation and a trusting environment in the classroom formed the desire of students to carry out independent creative speech activity, implement ideas and formulate statements, without fear of being misunderstood, rejected or ridiculed on the way to overcome communication barriers.

Purpose of the Study

This study has the following goals:

1) to identify the conditions for the emergence of communication barriers among students of educational institutions;

2) to describe the priority of authentic texts as a basic material in eliminating linguistic gaps in the knowledge of modern schoolchildren;

3) to offer for methodological consideration a discussion-provocation as a method of improving speech-thinking processes in the framework of classes in Russian language and literature.

Research Methods

Scientists of the sciences related to linguistics are similar in the opinion that he has a particular monopoly on being a representative of thinking, a means of establishing social connections, an instrument to achieve the goal through a profound influence on the recipient. From the angle of this vision of the nature of language in modern linguistics, such directions as psycholinguistics and suggestive linguistics appear, proving that a language embodied in a figurative shell can influence the human mind, radically change its fate, verbally construct a model of a different life and realize it in reality (Khaimurzina, 2008; Shelestyuk, 2001; Ulanovich, 2010). This knowledge is actively used by doctors, psychologists, parapsychologists, journalists, politicians, creators of advertising. All these people understand that language can act as an auxiliary element that serves as a particular universal code for extracting an information segment from a speech stream and enhancing suggestion aimed at the addressee of the utterance for aesthetic and spiritual influence, the formation of a certain emotional mood.

Recently, many teachers have been “introducing” into their professional practice the psycholinguistic principles of the method of activating the reserve potentials of a person arising from the theory of speech activity, taking into account the possibilities of using the sphere of the conscious and subconscious in learning. This process is probably because the observation of changes in the modern life of society forces educational institutions to revise their methodological and worldview positions. Priority in training is increasingly given to methods that blur the boundaries between strong and weak participants in the learning process and move away from imposing the ideas of “great personalities”.

Its possession and features of functioning have always based on the analysis of works of fiction, learning the correct understanding of the content capacity of a word. This circumstance is because literature is a means of acquiring knowledge and developing specific skills. At the same time, literature is hidden (or explicitly) reflecting the author’s position, and corrects the reader’s worldview. Currently, this tradition has not lost its relevance. Moreover, as the basis for improving the communicative skills of students by teachers of literature, works are selected that somehow “launch” a program aimed at the reader to evoke certain sensations in its and forming a specific figurative picture in his mind through various shades of the poet’s thoughts and experiences (Nikolenko, Belozerova, Sumina, & Shapovalova, 2018).

In order to achieve high speech activity of schoolchildren, we believe that it is necessary to synthesize the data of classical and modern methods by selecting for a meaningful analysis of texts that are authentic for students. The basis of this approach is the idea that authentic texts, to a greater extent, reflect life realities that satisfy the social needs of young people and correspond to their psychological and age requirements.

Indeed, a literary text, like any actual work of art, can induce its addressee (and in our case, a participant in the educational process) to enter into an internal dialogue with a lyrical hero or with himself. However, the fact that even having enormous ethical and moral-aesthetic potential remains undeniable, the text, unfortunately, does not always “settle” in the head of modern schoolchildren and makes them want to discuss a meaningful background. There are many reasons for this: the level of literary education of the student and his readiness to understand a literary work, the language specificity of a particular text, the relevance of its content for a particular society and person.

The development of monologue skills in an oral or written utterance is one of the goals of teaching speech and thought activity. This training involves the simultaneous formation in students not only of the ability to produce a phrase, but also to properly formulate it. That is, to know the semantic weight of lexemes and constructions, their commonality and differences, compatibility features, scope of use, in order to accurately use grammatical rules (and in phrases in oral utterances). As well as the correct execution of the phrase involves a quick selection of language tools following the situation and in order to synthesize and establish relations with the extra-linguistic environment in a variable situation. The result of such training is the ability to compositionally accurately and with a logical sequence, build its model of a speech utterance.

The teacher forms skills that are so different in character and scope if they use the principle of motivation. Means of motivation are means of encouraging students to productive cognitive activity, to master the content of education actively (Osin & Gordashnikov, 2009). That is, motivation involves the interest of students in the analyzed problem and the creation of a favourable base and speech incentives for active communication. The motivation for educational activity is one of the conditions for increasing efficiency in any speech activity.

In order to identify motives for an active communication between high school students, a survey was conducted. An analysis of the questionnaires showed that the main problems that arouse the desire to discuss them lie in the sphere of youth interests (love, career, hobbies). Consequently, the use of motivation as an inducing factor is directly dependent on the ability of essential topics to satisfy the corresponding needs of the designated age category.

It is known that the teaching of speech and thought activity is based on texts that have their specifics both in terms of formal expression and in terms of language content. However, we believe that the authentic text, the content of which is as close as possible to the surrounding reality and the interests of students, serves as the motivating factor in the "launch" of the speech development program. That is, the semantic filling of the authentic text for analysis is essential, which reflects the life experience of the participant in the educational process, his emotional sphere, status in a particular social group.

Besides, the teacher-mentor should not forget the fact that the activation of the speech-mental activity of a particular subject, his communicative potentials are associated with the mental activity of all participants in communication. Communication includes (among other things) the process of active interaction not only between the learner and the learner, but also between the learners themselves. This makes us say that methodological methods should be chosen from the arsenal of those that favorably affect the general rise in mental performance and cognitive activity of recipients, are correlated with specific goals and with a specific contingent. Learners' understanding of an authentic text always goes through its personality-oriented self-refraction. This feature helps to extract subtle overtones of thought even from a small volume of syntactic construction and to identify the most important ideas, to characterize the emotional-volitional state of the addressee of the utterance, his attitude to ideological filling, to restore facts, details and other elements conveyed by relying on previous experience of those participating in the communication of individuals.

The proposed solution to the problem of learning speech and cognitive activity is learning by highlighting the necessary and sufficient set of lexical and grammatical units. Lexical and grammatical units are selected, taking into account the functional and stylistic significance. Motivated definition of meaning-speech authentic situations is the key to successful communication. This fact is because motivation provides great focus, the communicative value of the speech product improves the quality of assimilation of linguistic and moral and aesthetic phenomena, affects the degree of perception of information by students, the development of learning motives and, as a result, enhances the effectiveness of the learning process.

Such a technique, we believe, becomes especially "attractive" in the context of preparing students of secondary schools for passing the Unified State Exam in Russian. The basis of this assumption is the idea that motivation intensifies learning by triggering the psychophysiological processes that accompany speech perception and generation.

We offer for consideration the results of a Russian language lesson, the purpose of which is to improve writing skills in the format of the Unified State Exam. The metaphorical text of the Ukrainian and Israeli Russian-language writer Felix Davidovich Krivin was taken as the base material.

 "Take a look into the distance," Papa suddenly broke the silence, you see: single Leaf is spinning above the ground. The Last Leaf ... Now it is yellow, and once it was green. And then he did not swirl in the wind but sat on his branch next to the young Cherry, whom he loved with all his heart ...

Suddenly his happiness ended. The Cherry suddenly disappeared, and no one can tell where she went. Moreover, now he, haggard, yellowed with grief, is still waiting for his Cherry to return ... My Leaf. My Monogamous. He remained faithful to the end of his life ...

The subject of the text is quite simple: fidelity, love, happiness, avoiding reality ... At first glance, the definition of the problem also does not cause difficulties. What feelings does a person who has lost his beloved have? What makes us happy? Should people be faithful? Such questions are asked in the text by high school students.

An object worthy of the attention of a practical teacher was a criterion reflecting the student’s position regarding the concept of “fidelity”. Naturally, at first, the whole class agreed that loyalty is a quality of a spiritually rich person who respects himself and his half; a person can always rely on, with whom life will pass under the banner of happiness and love ... However, when in the format of a casual conversation the students were asked whether they consider the actions of the protagonist worthy of imitation, the schoolchildren answered negatively, explaining that only a short-sighted and a self-doubt man will spend his whole life waiting for a long-past past. Moreover, the dialogue in such a meaningful direction was quite lively and allowed adjustments mading the original formulation of the problem. What are the limits of fidelity? We have heard deeply philosophical answers to this question from mature individuals who understand that each situation has its nuances, to which everyone reacts differently. Therefore, if a person says what he truly believes is true, his speech is more likely to be correctly structurally and semantically built.

Of course, the above does not encourage the teacher to encourage “speech madness.” In essence, this is only one way to create a communicative situation, to involve the student in it to develop his speech. In the process of speech production, the communicative situation determines the communication itself, determines the topic of the conversation, its structure, allows for the systematic selection of the most likely communicative acts and thus rationalizes the educational and speech material, as well as to determine the appropriate system of effective educational actions.

In this regard, the basic text, its images, performing many functions, in the first place, should serve as a specific speech intention, the need for a speech act aimed at solving a problem situation, since human activity is characterized by qualities such as the desire for a comprehensive analysis and comparison with the surrounding reality of their linguistic picture.

In this regard, an essential methodological task is the selection of texts relevant to the modern student, designed not only to improve the formed skills and abilities but also to aesthetically influence him as a person, to expand his vision of the world.

Based on this, we can argue that verbal learning thinking based on authentic texts allows the student forming an awareness of his existence in this world, openly expressing his thoughts, not tied to a third-party value system, carrying out analytical work by interpreting a particular situation.

As experience shows, this gives more positive results than with the traditional technique, i.e. the effectiveness of educational activities depends on how fully the teacher takes into account the individual interest of students in a particular problem in the educational process.

Naturally, in order for the speech production to start, it is necessary (except for textual support) to have a specific communicative situation, i.e. the presence of a set of conditions of activity and the conditions of the course of the situation in which speech actions appear to be the most necessary, optimal, possible and preferred in comparison with other means for the successful implementation of this activity. Realizing the communicative function, the teacher acts not only as a teacher but also as a communication partner.

The practical embodiment of what has been said can be carried out, for example, within the context of a situationally conditioned discussion-provocation as a method of scholarly communication, combining, on the one hand, the semantic component of provocation as a deliberate challenge, incitement (Ushakov, 1940) and, on the other hand, a pedagogical interpretation of the discussion, representing a purposeful and orderly exchange of ideas, judgments, opinions in a group for the sake of the search for truth.

Let us prove what was said by referring to the article by M. I. Bazalishvili “The businessman is 12 years old,” published in the newspaper Arguments and Facts ” (No. 5, 2015).

Pete is 12 years old. Two years ago, he dropped out of school, deciding that he had already lost much time, and it was time to make money. Upon learning that her son stopped going to school, Petina's mother cried for a long time. Nevertheless, after some time, Petya bought her with her money French perfumes and boots, which mother could only dream of, and she calmed down.

Petya caught fish and sold it in the market, sold newspapers, washed cars.

TV and books did not interest Petya. Petya has few friends. Thinking that children of his age have no purpose in life, Peter is friends with boys who are older than him. Furthermore, this is probably not friendship but shared interests. He doesn't like girls either: he thinks they are empty.

The other day I met Petya again. Looking nervously at his watch, he caught a taxi in the street. A twelve-year-old boy already realized that time is money (Such different destinies. …, 1995)].

The following can serve as provocative theses to this text:

1) "Studying at school is a waste of time";

2) "Reading books is an empty lesson";

3) "Many modern adolescents have no purpose in life";

4) "Time is money."

In the process of discussing the substantive side of the indicated statements, students either agree with it or object to it, arguing by arguing that some provisions are proof of their innocence.

During the discussion-provocation, the teacher deliberately aggravates the debate, continually refers to the personal experience of schoolchildren. The teacher points out the contradictions between their arguments, thereby making the participants in the discussion doubt their own opinions and look for new arguments.

The features of the discussion-provocation are the variety of speech stimuli, the frequent change of roles of the speaker and the listener, the ease of developing communication, the personally noted character of the disclosure of the problem. In this regard, the target setting of the described type of classes should be aimed at creating for students a real incentive that encourages polemical expression and realizes the following tasks:

1) mastery of the methods of discussion, i.e. the ability not only to justify, argue but also to defend their point of view, rejecting the arguments of opponents;

2) the formation of logical thinking;

3) the formation of communicative competencies.

Naturally, the teacher in the discussion-provocation acts as a leader (sometimes as an outside listener), whose goal is not to muffle the speech mood, but to develop, involving in the conversation more and more sides of the selected issue, highlighting the details of the overall picture, emphasizing a figuratively significant section of speech (Nikolenko, Zakharchuk, Babakova, & Morenko, 2019).

Of great importance in the organization of educational communication are the personal qualities of the teacher. He should be attentive to any point of view, avoid subjective assessments of the informative background of any statement, prohibiting directions and never show neglect of the student's conclusions. This approach is based on the fact that the strength of a particular speech motivation is determined by the nature of the leading communicant (teacher), his intellectual and linguistic abilities, acting skills that help to "push aside" his priorities and look at the situation through the eyes of the interlocutor, and the purposeful and meaningful focus on the object of expression is The most important characteristic of academic speech. If a student sees a mentor in front of him and not a person who "instils the thoughts of "great minds," he will openly express his point of view, since the relations existing between the interlocutors determine both the subject of the communicative act and the form of speech behaviour. Because of the colour of speech in each case, communication depends on the one who speaks and on the one to whom the speech is addressed.

Speech interaction should be as relaxed as possible, but fully mobilizing the learner's attention and prompting him to independent initiative speech action. Naturally, the leading role in creating a specific motive for communication is played by provocative phrases or texts presented verbally or in writing, which subsequently forms the situation for communication.

The "trusting relations between the teacher and the student established in the lesson contribute to the appearance of frank statements reflecting personal experiences, and the teacher's task is to help correctly formulate original judgments" (Belozerova, 2018, par. 7, p. 27). In this case, the mentor is required emotional stability along with the ability to play reincarnation and empathic contact. Besides, he should be self-critical, flexible in communication, able to have an impressive effect and show firmness and softness (depending on the situation), have authority, confidence in his knowledge, to a certain degree of resourcefulness, and not be afraid of complicated issues that arise unforeseen during discussions provocations. Authoritarian character traits make contact with the class difficult; excessive emotional expansiveness, inconsistency and instability lead to the same results. In controversial issues and emerging conflict situations, the position of the teacher should be neutral, allowing establishing a constructive dialogue in the learning process.

It should also be remembered that a study group is a collective of individuals. Therefore, the teacher should select material, taking into account the interests of each student. As mentioned above, if the student is not interested in the problem presented, then the creation of a natural communicative situation will not be an incentive for the emergence of polemic dialogue. Taking into account individual characteristics makes the learning process manageable, since in this case motivation factors are involved, leading to increased efficiency and quality of classes.

To interest the student in mastering various speech skills, it is necessary:

 a) Select the base text engaging for him on the problems;

 b) Improve the forms and methods of work in the classroom.

At the same time, the leading importer of monologue and dialogue should be equally taken into account for improving the communicative skills of recipients. Dialogue is associated with the environment, i.e. situational. Work on the monologue is independent, creative and involves the active use of knowledge accumulated during the entire training in various fields of science. By teaching schoolchildren speech actions through discussion-provocation, the mentor carries out not only communicative. Also, the mentor has structurally-organizational and educational functions, as well as correctly chooses the goals and objectives of the lesson, organizes communication, adequately and fairly evaluates speech activity and, instilling a love for the native word, brings up a moral personality. This method helps students to "keep the genetic code in themselves, develop abilities, shape themselves as a creative person, socialize, LIVE!" (Sychugova, Belozerova, Lepikhova, Akinshina, & Sukhanova, 2019, par. 26, p. 4).

The communicative orientation of speech improvement necessarily involves the interaction of oral and written forms of speech. In essence, oral speech determines the content side of the written text (for example, essay-reasoning), removes specific psychological difficulties, gives it great naturalness, provides completeness, accuracy and immediacy in understanding the problem.

The practice of analyzing essays-reasoning of high school students shows that if a student relies on a previously verbally formed own opinion when writing a statement, he quickly selects adequate means that ensure linguistic and stylistic correctness, coherence, integrity and logical consistency.

The proposed approach is carried out in several directions, the main of which is not only bridging specific gaps in knowledge but also widely promoting the development of cognitive abilities of students through the introduction of tasks aimed at substantiating a statement, its argumentation and generalization of conclusions.

Particular attention should be paid to the aspect of evaluating the written work of students aimed at the development of speech and cognitive activity. We believe that the emphasis on the content side, in this case, should be minimal (exceptions are ethically reduced expressions that degrade the honour and dignity of other people) and more aimed at revealing the level of formation of speech, grammar, spelling and punctuation skills. Moreover, any evaluation results should be subject to justification, including explanations of the strengths and weaknesses of the work, its completeness, and verbal form (Shapovalova, 1994). This condition broadens the learning base to a certain extent and helps students manage their activities.

Findings

The conducted research allows us to draw the following conclusions:

1) the inability of modern youth to communicate correctly and at a high level is primarily due to a rethinking of worldview ideals: on the one hand, a person, focusing on the requirements of the surrounding reality, understands that certain conceptual standards are outdated, but within the educational process, he must reproduce the postulates created by great minds many decades ago, without distorting their own opinion; on the other hand, communication by order, the content of which is detached from the personally marked position, is initially focused on failure, since it does not affect the interests of communicants;

2) authentic texts are a high-quality basis for the development of speech skills of modern participants in the educational process, as they move away from the cliched view and reflect the real needs and emotional mood of modern youth through their approximation to the surrounding reality and the interests of a particular individual;

3) discussion-provocation as one of the methods of overcoming communication barriers encourages its participants to polemic, makes them doubt their own opinion and look for new arguments, which forms a communicative competent logical thinking.

Conclusion

All of the above allows concluding that adequately organized educational communication in the lesson provides not only the creation of a favourable climate but also makes it possible to improve the educational process, its individualization and pedagogical effectiveness in developing the student's speech behaviour, the ability to independently search for information, rethinking it and producing its position. After all, a clash of different points of view, helping to find the truth, undoubtedly contributes not only to the deepening of knowledge of schoolchildren but also the formation of their worldview, the education of their culture of verbal communication during a dispute; development of the ability to discuss, and own state point of view, convincingly prove, calmly listen to the opponent's arguments (Teachers' meeting…, 2020).

Practical conclusions lead to the idea that at the best level, authentic pupils prepare high school students for situational communication. Authentic texts have substantial proximity to the interests of the indicated groups and due to their correlation with the conditions of the surrounding reality. That is why authentic texts create the basis for deep thought. Work with authentic texts teaches logically correctly to clothe these thoughts in a material (oral and written) form, stimulate the implementation of communication and the intention to implement it through the production of personally marked syntaxes. The use of authentic texts in the educational process arouses cognitive interest among students, which is accompanied by the activity of the individual, the dynamism and difficulty of thinking. It leads to the formation of new connections and properties, positive qualities of the mind (Ulzytueva, 1992).

A teacher working with high school students needs to be able to manage the moral aspects of communication, create an atmosphere of psychological comfort in the lesson by properly dosing criticisms of the recipient's speech behaviour.

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