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APPLICATION OF A LOCAL COMPONENT IN DESIGNING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEXTBOOK (BY THE EXAMPLE OF MUROM AN ANCIENT RUSSIAN TOWN)

E. Pankratova

Abstract

Nowadays, it has become evident that teaching a foreign language is ineffective if cultural aspects are ignored. A language being the instrument for cross-cultural communication serves as the medium for culture cognition. The English language is accepted as the language for international cooperation in a wide array of activities including political, social, and educational areas. In such circumstances, the simultaneous teaching of a foreign language and culture focused only on the Anglo-Saxon environment would create an isolating affect and the result is that the native language and culture are disregarded. So teaching a foreign language should also imply teaching the skills to effectively represent the learner’s native language and culture, thus preparing the person as an equal participant of cross-cultural dialogue. The approach to foreign language teaching with the emphasis on local cultural peculiarities of an ancient Russian town – Murom (which was founded in 862) is applied in the research. The research is based on the analysis of methodological literature covering the issues of a foreign language and culture, with the focus on a local component. A modeling method is also used in the research. The local component model as an integral part of the proposed model of a professional culture is considered here. The paper reviews the issues related to the problems of education for the purposes of cross-cultural communication, including cross-cultural competence, correlation of a foreign language and culture, and integration of a local component. The proposed model of a local component based on the national values in their local manifestation is described. The paper concludes that application of the proposed approach will assist to educate more effective participants of cross-cultural communication who are able to represent with dignity their “small motherland” (home town) by means of a foreign language thus promoting bilateral dialogue on equal terms and contributing to the creation of the multicultural world.

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DOI resolver: doi.org/10.5593/sgemsocial2017/34/S13.004

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