Acculturation As A Reflection Of A 'Secondary Linguistic Identity In Intercultural Communication

Abstract

This article aims to reveal the relationship between the secondary linguistic personality and successful acculturation and to show the necessary pedagogical actions to achieve this result. The authors monitor the interaction of enculturation, acculturation, and the impact of these processes on mastering the required competencies. The authors dwell on the concept of a secondary linguistic personality (SLP) built based on the model of a linguistic personality that takes a leading part in intercultural communication. The components, properties, abilities of a secondary linguistic personality, the nature of the phenomenon, and forming factors are defined in the present paper. Possibilities of the considered concept for understanding and implementing the core and preconditions for using the potential of personal development technologies in teaching foreign languages are revealed. The trajectory of the educational process of the subject’s development in terms of language is outlined. The importance of integration of different technologies aimed at the development of cognitive and non-cognitive processes of the personality while learning a foreign language is indicated. The conditions of successful intercultural communication and pedagogical conditions contributing to the development of a secondary linguistic personality are stated. The scientific substantiation of the chosen conditions for the development of intercultural competence of university students as systematization of knowledge and development of conceptual notions of intercultural interaction in the personality’s mind is presented.

Keywords: Acculturation, enculturation, secondary linguistic identity

Introduction

The expansion of the boundaries of intercultural interaction brings to the fore the level of cultural sensitivity of the subject. Culture is a necessary foundation on which social relationships and interactions between the individual and society are built. Any language is both a means for the transmission of thought and a source for its development, as it reflects the development of mentality and contributes to the transmission of cultural inheritance from one generation to another (Khefni, 2019). In the process of enculturation, a person’s mentality, his or her value attitudes towards the world, nature, and other people is formed. An individual experience in the cultural space is generated only from the point of view of his or her cultural background concerning the new one. The connection between mentality and culture has been shown by various authors, particularly Tcherkashina and Novikova (2016), Abramova and Larina (2017) and others. The picture of the world is a form of existence of human consciousness (Fisenko et al., 2019), and a dialectical unity is developed as a result of the interaction of language and culture, imposing a visible mark on the personality as a language speaker (Pobegaylov et al., 2018). However, acculturation is a natural process when entering a foreign culture. It is a central concept in studying a cross-cultural area, which reflects the peculiarities of adaptation to the cultural values of the new society. In the process of acculturation, the necessary competencies for entering a new socio-cultural space are developed, based on the knowledge of the language, a secondary linguistic identity competency, and the knowledge of culture.

Problem Statement

The development of a secondary linguistic personality is one of the key issues in teaching foreign languages. A secondary linguistic personality is a set of competencies that determines one's readiness for intercultural communication and interaction. A secondary linguistic personality includes the ability to decode the language learned on the verbal-semantic level, the ability to understand a native speaker’s ‘linguistic picture of the world’, and the peculiarities of the mentality of this nation. The key factors for the development of the secondary linguistic personality are a developed primary linguistic personality and developed intercultural competence. The primary linguistic identity is an inherent background formed during a lifetime based on the mother tongue and in the speech community in which that language is spoken. Background knowledge and mastery of communicative behaviours make up the foundations of the primary linguistic personality (Tarnopolsky et al., 2021).

Research Questions

The issues of studying the secondary linguistic personality have been viewed by such scientists as Anokhina (2017), Leontiev (1974), Khaleeva (1995), Khalyapina (2006), Shvets (2016), and others.

The ground of linguistic personality is native language and culture, so it is the basis for layering new linguistic, speech, and socio-cultural competencies that allow the level of intercultural interaction to be reached. The linguistic personality is a multilevel formation, as it can differentiate between types of speech and language activities. Related factors and conditions also take an important part in it. In Bogin’s theory of linguistic personality, the linguistic personality acts as a structure, and language guarantees the unity of the structure of linguistic personality (as cited in Saurbaev & Yuchkovskaya, 2015). When modelling linguistic personality and analysing its possible levels, the scientist proceeds from the fact that the levels of the linguistic personality do not coincide with the levels of language models (Saurbaev & Yuchkovskaya, 2015).

Linguistic personality has phonetic, lexical, and grammatical knowledge, a system of knowledge about the world, and pragmatic potential, which are expressed in communication needs.

The process of linguistic identity development is closely related to the process of enculturation since a language develops in culture, and a person’s enculturation is revealed through a language. Mastering the regulations, values, and patterns of behaviour accepted in culture makes a strong foundation for the development of socio-cultural and intercultural competencies. Enculturation contributes to a person’s mentality development, internalizing the values of one’s culture and society, and developing attitudes to different social manifestations and to people in general. As for cultural values, while learning the realities of the culture reflected in the language, the linguistic personality assimilates the national character, patterns of speech, and non-verbal behaviour, which allows developing skills to influence the participants of communication.

Thus, the linguistic personality is nothing but a social phenomenon in which the individual aspect is expressed, as an internal attitude towards language developed through the definition of personal linguistic meanings. In acquiring the cultural stratum, a personality passes through the prism of its perception all the accumulated linguistic experiences and all the linguistic diversity, which have been created by generations, bringing in individual linguistic features. As Yudina (2012) notes, the concept of the linguistic personality has moved beyond linguistics into the extra-linguistic field.

Purpose of the Studу

The purpose of this article is to find out the relationship between the secondary linguistic personality and the acculturation process and show the necessary pedagogical actions and best conditions to achieve this result.

The main adaptation indicator is the initial level of language proficiency (language skills, ability to maintain every day and learning communication). Thus, the correlation between the number of proficient and non-proficient speakers and the level of language proficiency should be taken into account.

Research Methods

As part of the study, we used modelling and observation methods.

Findings

The model of the secondary linguistic personality is based on the category of linguistic personality. This is the core in which the knowledge of a foreign language is collected, consisting of mastering the verbal-semantic code of the language learned and a new picture of the world. The most important component of communicative competence is the socio-cultural component. New socio-cultural knowledge allows a person to enter intercultural interaction. According to Khaleeva (1995), when decoding foreign-language speakers, the recipient passes foreign language speaking through his thesaurus trying to correlate the new image with the available scripts in his linguistic picture of the world. A high level of foreign language proficiency in the profession in all its functional aspects (communicative, cognitive, cultural) is a prerequisite for international cooperation in education, science, economy and other social fields by itself (Levitan & Yugova, 2018).

While the linguistic personality is responsible for producing all kinds of speech activities and the ability to choose from the available behavioural scenarios, the necessary pattern for realizing communicative intention in different social conditions of interaction, the secondary linguistic personality comes out to such personality qualities as autonomy, creativity, the ability to include in the new reality, world processes and to show tolerance and empathy.

The secondary linguistic personality is the best model, the achievement of which is nearly possible in the context of a higher educational institution, as well as it is impossible to master a language to a full extent, including a native one. Regarding the latter, Leontiev (1974) wrote that "there is no upper limit to the level of native language proficiency; rather, this limit lies beyond our pedagogical capabilities, somewhere in the area of individual stylistics of artistic or oratorical speech" (p. 115). Nevertheless, setting the secondary linguistic personality as the goal of the attainable concept, opens up variations of language proficiency levels in different social contexts, which can be correlated with numerous versions and models of foreign language teaching.

In intercultural interaction, the assimilation of values of a new society, i.e., acculturation, is of great importance. Acculturation involves selecting the required constructs from the available scenarios of personal behaviour required for successful intercultural interaction. Acculturation is a natural stage that a person goes through while entering a foreign socio-cultural environment. New rules, standards, values are the key notions of the new space necessary for successful intercultural interaction. Expanding the boundaries of a person’s cognition, finding common grounds in the cultures in contact encourages a personality to respond positively to new challenges. In this case, learning a foreign language is closely connected with learning a new culture, i.e., the development of a secondary linguistic personality parallels learning the mentality of representatives of a new socio-cultural environment.

There are two types of acculturation:

Psychological acculturation is a process in which groups of people from different cultures come into direct and prolonged contact, the effect of which is to change elements of the original culture of one or both groups. The result may be an acceptance or rejection of a new culture (the term is from the early 1990s).

Acculturation stress is defined as when people adapting to a different culture cannot easily change their behavioural patterns, and they experience serious conflicts in the acculturation process.

Thus, both enculturation and acculturation are closely related to the cultural background of the linguistic personality, which is a reason for successful cultural interaction. The higher an individual’s level of cultural sensitivity is, the more flexible a person will be in adjusting to the new culture, and the acculturation process will be more successful (Grebennikova, 2018). In intercultural communication background knowledge is transmitted, new personality traits are superimposed and socio-cultural experience is developed.

The concept of the secondary linguistic personality provides an opportunity to understand and realize the nature and prerequisites of possibilities of using the opportunities of personal development technologies in teaching foreign languages and to outline the further trajectory of development of the subjects of education in terms of language. A personality is characterized by a set of socially significant characteristics which define him as a society member. Accordingly, education should integrate various technologies aimed at developing its cognitive and non-cognitive processes responsible for emotional and volitional characteristics and other aspects which are reflected in language and are learned through language. Glebenko (2004) presents linguacultural strategies and didactic techniques which can be used in learning.

Cross-cultural communication is a key notion in contemporary interdisciplinary discourse, describing the processes of interaction between different cultures through speech, electronic communication, and writing.

There are 3 types of communication: -verbal, paraverbal (speed of speech, volume, articulation, voice pitch), and non-verbal (a system of interaction dominated by involuntary, unconscious complexes of movements that express the personal uniqueness of a person).

Factors contributing to prolonged intercultural adaptation are divided into individual and group ones:

1. demographic and personal characteristics: young age, the high communicative potential of an individual, intellectual-will traits, trainability, critical thinking, readiness to change the course of individual development, purposefulness, persistence, responsibility, discipline, self-control, resistance to nervous-psychic overwork, self-regulation of states at work, high level of capacity for work and vitality, creativity.

1.1. motivation, expectations, and life experiences of the individual including acquaintance with the history, culture, and living conditions of a particular country are beneficial.

2. the degree of similarity/differences between cultures, cultural distance, the presence or absence of conflict between the two peoples, the knowledge degree with the culture of the country, equality/inequality of status, presence/absence of common goals in intercultural contacts.

2.1. peculiarities of the foreigner’s culture;

2.2. peculiarities of the host country.

Successful intercultural communication depends on many reasons: the degree of similarity/differences of cultures coming into interaction, the similarity of the mentality of participants of intercultural interaction, as well as the degree of development of their linguistic personality. The process of teaching foreign languages should focus on the development of a foreign socio-cultural image of the countries of the target language, tolerance, mutual respect, values, regulations, and traditions of the new society, as well as potentially conflicting points to be avoided. The focus should be kept on different lexical-grammatical structures that reflect different levels of linguistic identity development.

Conclusion

In conclusion, learning a foreign language is a process of personal development of the subject, the development of a person’s social and personal qualities that contribute to intercultural interaction. Personal development through learning a foreign language takes place on a comparative basis of the picture of the world and understanding of world processes with the new realities and implies comparison of the values of a person’s axiosphere with the values of the new society. This will help one to learn to be more loyal and tolerant to a different way of life, but more critical simultaneously.

To make the incomprehensible in a foreign culture more understandable to foreign language learners, they must learn to perceive it as equally valuable (despite its dissimilarity) and worthy of consideration because of its uniqueness. The components of linguistic personality formation include linguistic competence, language competence, communicative competence, cultural competence (Khalyapina, 2006).

As Levashkina (2005) suggests a verbal text is the most important means of creating an authentic speech environment that allows identifying the communicative competence of a linguistic personality.

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