LINGUISTIC AND CULTURAL EDUCATION OF THE EURASIAN LINGUISTIC IDENTITY
The model of the Eurasian linguistic identity consists of two fundamental aspects: linguistic and cultural.The necessity to study the Kazakh, Russian and English languages by the younger generation — is being solved in the educational discourse of the university and contributes not only to the preparation of a competitive specialist, but also forms a different mental and cultural field for young people.Significant changes in the sphere of language education in school and university, in turn, contributed to a change in the model of the linguistic identity..
Key words: Eurasian linguistic identity, linguistic and cultural aspects, language education, poly-ethnic community, trilingual policy.
In our opinion, the model of the Eurasian linguistic identity consists of two fundamental aspects: linguistic and cultural. The peculiarity of the Eurasian linguistic identity lies in the fact that it is characterized not by one language, but by several. Consequently, the cultural component of the Eurasian linguistic identity is different than, for example, the Russian linguistic identity by Yu.N. Karaulov.
The linguistic aspect of the Eurasian linguistic identity is at least three languages — state (Kazakh), the language of interethnic communication (Russian) and the language of international communication (English). In addition, the characteristic of the Eurasian linguistic identity, formed in a poly-ethnic society, includes not only the native language (Kazakh, Russian, etc.), but also the language or languages of other ethnic groups living in close proximity and whose contacts are conditioned by joint labor and public activities.
The policy of trilingualism in Kazakhstan — the necessity to study the Kazakh, Russian and English languages by the younger generation — is being solved in the educational discourse of the university and contributes not only to the preparation of a competitive specialist, but also forms a different mental and cultural field for students. In the last decade, significant changes in the sphere of language education in school and university have occurred in the Kazakh society, which could not but affect the mentality and culture of a certain part of the population, primarily young people studying in universities. This, in turn, contributed to a change in the model of the linguistic identity. For example, the number of languages of instruction in universities has expanded — today it is not only Kazakh and Russian, but also English, German, Chinese, and Turkish. Foreign specialists are invited to universities of the country, who take an active part in the formation and functioning of the educational discourse in a foreign language. Specificity of the educational discourse of Kazakhstan of the last decade is conditioned not only by the poly-ethnic nature of the community, but also by the new format of language policy[1].
In addition, in the practice of Kazakh language education, foreign experience in teaching foreign languages is actively used, new technologies and methods are being introduced, the state implements incentives for students and university professors who speak foreign languages — they are provided with foreign internships that make it possible to see life in the country of the studied language «from within «. All this leads to the formation of a new type of linguistic identity in the society, which has different linguistic and cultural characteristics.
Since the learning of a foreign language is carried out in the educational discourse, the teacher of foreign languages plays the leading role in organizing the study of the teaching material in such a way as to give students the opportunity to feel the beauty of the language, in revealing the stylistic features of the word, understanding and accepting the spiritual values of the people, the language which they are studying.In addition, a space of systematic interaction of regional languages and cultures has developed in poly-ethnic Kazakhstan.Kazakh and Russian play a significant role in the language palette of Kazakh languages, which integrate regional linguo-cultural processes.
Today, a new identity is formed in the educational discourse of Kazakhstan, possessing a different set of thoughts and knowledge, which «creates» its picture of the world, based on the unity of the cultural tradition of a huge community called Eurasia. Kazakhstan is a young sovereign state and a new generation has grown up in a relatively short historical period with an entirely different system of spiritual and material values, in the process of formation of which non-native languages take the leading place.
The Concept of the Development of Foreign Language Education in the Republic of Kazakhstan emphasizes that «the transition to a new cultural and educational system of foreign language education does not limit the educational process to linguistic and cultural parameters of the country of the studied language. An important place in the learning process should be the linguistic ethno-culture of the trainee «, and the goals are not» language training «as such, but» foreign language education «, in which the content is not only pragmatic knowledge, skills and abilities, but also the development of the individual by means of a foreign language with a parallel and interrelated study of language and culture «[2].
Both aspects are interrelated, interdependent, because «language is a treasury, a storeroom for knowledge, a treasury of culture. It keeps cultural values — in vocabulary, in grammar, in idioms, in proverbs, sayings, in folklore, in artistic and scientific literature, in the forms of written and spoken language. Language is a transmitter, a carrier of culture, it conveys the treasures of the national culture that is stored in it, from generation to generation. Language is an instrument, a tool of culture. It forms the identity of the man, through the vision of the world, the mentality, attitude to people, etc., imposed on him by the language and laid down in the language, that is, through the culture of the people using this language as a means of communication «[3, p. 14-15].
At present, a global cultural space or, in other words, a global culture.is developing in the world. The emergence of a global culture takes place on the basis of cultural values that are important for individual ethnic groups and, at the same time, universally valid for all world cultures. As the century of globalization and integration in all spheres of social and political life showed many problems of peaceful coexistence of languages, cultures and finally, states.
The mentality of students studying foreign / non-native languages as a specialty reflects the specific features of a certain type of culture, a peculiar thought developed by the speakers of a given culture, since mentality always depends on culture, moreover, its content is determined by culture. All this leads to profound psychological changes in the minds of students, because they get new ideas about themselves and people of other cultures whose languages they study and in whose languages they read and communicate. Information in a foreign language «at first hand» forms aidentity with another I-concept, other experiences and attitudes that determine his overall vision of the world.
In 2003, A.P. Berdichevsky, one of the researchers of the European language situation, wrote:
“ In modern Europe Educationis understood as a self-awareness of civilization, that is, mastering the basics of philosophy, science and the most important works of art and literature. Thus, the main task of education is the formation and development of the identity, but not through the accumulation of certain facts, but through the assimilation of a certain content, primarily through reading. The most important thing in the concept of education in Europe is that an educated identity is a product of his culture, which allows him to be tolerant. Tolerance of an educated identity is understood here not only as forced tolerance, but also as recognition of another world view as equal in rights, awareness of one’s own boundaries, recognition of another identity and culture as a necessary condition for enriching one’s own existence in the modern world in which a gradual rapprochement of different peoples is taking place. The concept of culture in this concept is characterized by four aspects:
— all cultures are heterogeneous, multifaceted and include elements of several cultures at once;
— cultures do not represent something static; — cultures cover the entire space of human existence;
— all cultures are fundamentally equivalent «[4].
Knowledge of only one foreign language is accepted by most people as a norm, but even primitive peoples, for example, Indians in the Brazilian jungle, are said to be fluent in at least three languages, and many of them speak four or five languages. Multilingualism is the norm for most of the small European nations. According to the German scholar E. Apeltauer, in Denmark only 40% do not speak any foreign language, only 28% of the population in the Netherlands. At the same time, more than 22% of the population speak several languages, and in the Netherlands more than 44%. Today, a policy of multilingualism is also cultivated in Kazakhstan.
Teaching foreign-language communication is considered today by methodologists as a purposeful process of influencing value orientations, social attitudes, stereotypes of thinking and identity of behavior on the basis of cultural values of the speakers of a foreign language, their social priorities. As you know, language is a way of knowledgeexistence. Studying a foreign language, a person gets new knowledge not only about the structure of this language, its phonetic, lexical, grammatical system, but also information about people, native speakers of the language, their life, character, culture, mentality, etc.
The cultural aspect of the linguistic identity is multifaceted, but one of the main characteristics is the speech culture.
According to S.N. Ikonnikova, in recent decades, there has been a gradual disappearance of national features and traditions, the emergence of new cultural hybrids, devoid of ethnic and historical identity and uniqueness, the displacement of national ethnic forms is far from a complete list of the consequences of the scenario of «cultural homogenization» of society [2].
A.A. Buchek, arguing that «the psychological analysis of society as a multiethnic comes from the notion that many people in the modern world do not belong to the same ethnic group but are members of two or more communities, carriers of several cultures that» lock «on each other in a variety of combinations, while being in a constant dynamic movement. A poly-ethnical society is thereby a society of social diversity as scientists believe, it is fundamentally volatile. As a result of interaction in a multiethnic environment, a personality faces the multidimensionality and diversity of the cultural environment, with different cultural and specific views of the world, and he faces two key identity-significant problems: the preservation of his ethnic identity and socialization in this environment «[3].
In addition, modern psychological studies emphasize the activity, consciousness and responsibility of the individual in the formation of their own ethnic identity, conditioned by the realization of the «real poly-ethnic nature of the world» and the need to form a «multipolar ethnic consciousness and self-awareness» in this regard.
There is an opinion that there are two mindsets in the Kazakh socio-cultural space: the western and the eastern, which have their own specifics. The Western type of mentality is seen as the carrier of the culture of the dynamic, activist principle, oriented to the transformation of external reality (extravert form); the eastern type of mentality has a more traditionalist kind of culture aimed at a contemplative, adaptive attitude toward the world, nature, man (introvert form) [4]. In our opinion, there is a confrontation between these two types of mentalityin Kazakhstan societytoday. The fact of signing the Bologna Declaration was a kind of act of acceptance of the Western type of mentality. But, at the same time, we are still trying to preserve the eastern type of mentality, although we understand that it is already impossible today.
The poly-ethnic nature of the modern world in general and Kazakhstan, in particular, is due to the world processes of interpenetration of cultures and traditions of ethnic communities inhabiting Kazakhstan and other countries, the unification of people’s way of life in various regions of the planet, migration processes, etc. All these circumstances lead to the understanding the changes which take place not only in the minds of people, but also in the multicultural and poly-ethnic educational discourse of the university.
Specificity of the educational discourse of Kazakhstan of the last decade is conditioned not only by the poly-ethnic nature of the community, but also by the new format of language policy: the necessity to study three languages in the educational process of the school and university: Kazakh,
Russian and English.
According to the materials of the study conducted in Almaty universities, 55.5% of students of KazATC (Kazakh Academy of Transport and Communications named after M. Tynyshpaev) are fluent in Kazakh, 60% of students of KazNU (Kazakh National University named after Al-Farabi (KazNU)), Russian language — 60% of students of KazATC, 60% of students of KazNU, 77.7% of students of 11 classes of secondary school № 141 in Almaty.
The situation with a foreign language is as follows: — it is considered that they can communicate on it: 20% of KazATC students and 25.5% of KazNU students who graduated from Russian schools. Among those who graduated from the Kazakh language school, up to 10% of all students interviewed can speak a foreign language. This indicator is higher for students in school No. 141 in Almaty, 25% of whom note that they can communicate in a foreign language (mostly English, more rarely Turkish); difficulties in communicating in a foreign language: about 80% of all interviewed students and 75% of schoolchildren [5]. We presented the results of their research in our Table 1:
Table 1. – Speaking languageabilities in universities and schools in Almaty
Name of the
university Fluency Kazakh in Fluency in Russian Fluency in foreign language a
KazATC (Kazakh
Academy of Transport and Communications named
after M. Tynyshpaev) 55,5% 60 % 20%
KazNU (Kazakh National University named after Al-Farabi 60% 60 % 25,5 %
11 grade students of secondary school № 141 in Almaty (Kazakhs) — 77,7 % 25 %
School graduates with the Kazakh language of
instruction — — 10%
[Note: done by the authors]
It should be noted that at present there are tangible changes in the attitude of students and university teachers towards the English language. At universities, English courses are available for both teachers and students; the number of students and teachers of non-linguistic disciplines increases, and English is taught in various language centers. In the universities there are professors, teaching disciplines of the natural science course in English.
The European credit system of education, introduced today in Kazakh universities, puts the student in front of the necessity for active participation in the process of obtaining knowledge and forming skills, as both anthropocentric and activity-based approaches in modern pedagogy require. Modern methods of teaching foreign languages also suggest that the student is perceived as an active subject not only educational, but primarily spiritual activity, since the study of languages is first of all communication with the cultural values of other people, with history, literature, art, this the discovery by each identity of a new concept sphere. Contacting with another lingvoculture expands the horizons of the young man’s outlook, encourages him to analyze not only the linguistic phenomena of his native and foreign language, but also makes his soul work. Young people realize that today, the world, more than ever, needs kindness, understanding and solution of common planetary problems together. This understanding gives rise to a tolerant and respectful attitude to representatives of other cultures, helps to recognize oneself as part of a global culture.
However, today, foreign language teachers are increasingly confronted with the fact that many students are unfamiliar with even the most famous names in the world classical literature, not to mention modern literature, and we are talking about students who have a fairly high average score of the certificate. Teachers of secondary schools note the lack of «thirst» for reading from future students at school. So, out of 30 high school students, potential applicants, only five answered yes to the question «Do you read fiction?». It is sad, but true: the majority of high school students are not interested in reading as a pastime today, because the modern entertainment industry provides them with a wide range of opportunities to «kill» time: video, cinema, disco, Internet, etc. Some students admit that they began reading fiction only when they became students of the faculty of foreign languages, but this literature is in a foreign language, not in the native language, which should become the first source of knowledge about the world and people in the process of the formation of the person’s linguistic identity. In the practice of teaching, we also met students who have no idea of who said the lines «At the seashore the oak is green, the golden chain on the oak tree is … ..».
Thus, the first serious acquaintance of many students of the Faculty of Foreign Languages with the text of fiction occurs rather late – at the age of 18-19, and this text is not in the native language, but in a foreign language. Students of the first and second year, studying English, admit that the names of English writers with world renown before entering university were unknown to them. In the educational process, during the period of study at the faculty, they read the works of S. Maugham, F.S. Fitzgerald, A. Christie, D. E. Steinbeck, O. Wilde, A. ConanDoyle, E. Hemingway, G. Green, and others. The acquaintance with German writers also occurs only in the context of the curriculum of the specialty — it turns out that many students never heard the names of Goethe, Heine, Schiller, not to mention the writers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
Only a few students are familiar with some names, not by hearsay, but they were lucky, maybe thanks to parents or a teacher of literature, or identity’s interest, to read at least some works of classical Russian, Kazakh and modern literature. We do not in any way accuse the school of the situation — apparently, it is an objective reality of modern civilization.
Perhaps, today we underestimate the importance of those texts, which were passed by young people, students, future specialists. But the fact that these gaps are already affecting their perception of the world, their judgments and actions is obvious. Probably, today’s student must «get» information already in the conditions of studying at the university, and teachers of Kazakh, Russian and English can help and support him in this. It is necessary to find today «texts of contact» between the teacher and the student, otherwise mutual understanding, interaction and mutual enrichment in the educational process will not take place — after all, both should speak the same language — the language of the intellect.
Rather Soviet and American cartoons and Hollywood films but not Russian and not Kazakh literature can be attributed today to texts known to most modern students since childhood, as shown by the results of the questioning of students. Therefore, by virtue of the foregoing, it is quite difficult to single out the precedent texts in the student’s environment of the 1-2 courses of the Faculty of Foreign Languages. The modern generation of students has grown up in a single mass culture, so it is not surprising that the student’s speech is a modern «newspeak», consisting of youth slang, fashionable words, Anglicism, etc. And speech, as we know, is a mirror image of the human thought processes.
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http://www.baiterek.kz/index.php?Journal=38page=95
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Kazakhstan Almaty, 2010 // Electronic resource [Access mode]: http://do.gendocs.ru/docs/index180418.html
8 Altynbekova O.B. Dynamics of the Ethno-Linguistic Situation in the Sphere of Secondary Vocational Education in Kazakhstan // Language and Tolerance. Collection of materials of the International Scientific and Theoretical Conference «Language and Tolerance».Akhanov’s readings on May 17-18. — Almaty, 2007. — P.55-64.
Н.С. Жумагулова, О. В. Нещадим
Еуразиялық лингвистикалық тұлғаның моделі екі негізгі аспектіден тұрады:
лингвистикалық және мәдениеттану. Еуразиялық лингвистикалық тұлғаның лингвистикалық қыры кем дегенде үш тіл — мемлекеттік (қазақ), ұлтаралық қарымқатынас тілі (орыс) және халықаралық қатынас тілі (ағылшын тілі) болып табылады. Қазақстанда үш тілдесу саясаты университеттің білім беру дискурсінде шешіледі және бәсекеге қабілетті маман даярлауға ғана емес, сондай-ақ студенттерде өзге менталды және мәдени саланы қалыптастырады.
Н. С. Жумагулова, О. В. Нещадим
Модель евразийской языковой личности состоит из двух основополагающих аспектов: лингвистического и культурологического. Лингвистический аспект евразийской языковой личности составляют, как минимум, три языка – государственный (казахский), язык межнационального общения (русский) и язык международного общения (английский). Проводимая в Казахстане политика трехъязычия решается в учебном дискурсе вуза и способствует не только подготовке конкурентоспособного специалиста, но и формирует у студентов иное ментальное и культурное поле.