ISSN 0798 1015
ISSN 0798 1015
Vol. 39 (Number 43) Year 2018. Page 18
Lyudmila N. SHCHERBATYKH 1
Received: 08/05/2018 • Approved: 23/06/2018
ABSTRACT: The article presents the Program for the formation of linguistically gifted pupils, describes the purpose and objectives, the main methodological approaches, principles and directions of the methodological service to assist young students in studying foreign languages (FL). In this article the author of the research presented the comparative analysis of the stating and forming experiment. It allows considering the technique of the development of linguistically gifted school students’ creativity and originality of thinking. In the course of studying foreign-language culture and pedagogical technology it is necessary to increase pupils’ knowledge of the culture of the country of the newly acquired language, its past and the present. In the article the author also gives the results of the experimental work which prove that the developed technique of the program “Travelling around English-Speaking Countries” influenced linguistically gifted pupils positively. The suggested technology manifested the pupils’ ability to an emotional assessment and empathy. While perceiving the works of the English and American literature the school students try to understand moral and esthetic values of the cultural heritage of the target language country. |
RESUMEN: El artículo presenta el Programa para la formación de alumnos dotados lingüísticamente, describe el propósito y los objetivos, los principales enfoques metodológicos, los principios y las direcciones del servicio metodológico para ayudar a los jóvenes a estudiar idiomas extranjeros (FL). En este artículo, el autor de la investigación presentó el análisis comparativo del experimento de declaración y formación. Permite considerar la técnica del desarrollo de la creatividad y la originalidad de pensamiento de los estudiantes de escuelas dotadas lingüísticamente. En el curso del estudio de la cultura de la lengua extranjera y la tecnología pedagógica, es necesario aumentar el conocimiento de los alumnos sobre la cultura del país de la lengua recién adquirida, su pasado y el presente. En el artículo, el autor también presenta los resultados del trabajo experimental que demuestra que la técnica desarrollada del programa "Viajar alrededor de países de habla inglesa" influyó positivamente en los alumnos dotados lingüísticamente. La tecnología sugerida manifestó la capacidad de los alumnos para una evaluación emocional y empatía. Mientras perciben las obras de la literatura inglesa y estadounidense, los estudiantes de la escuela tratan de comprender los valores morales y estéticos del patrimonio cultural del país de la lengua meta. |
Purpose of the Study: what are the scientific basis and technology of formation of a young linguistically gifted child in the context of additional foreign language education (AFLE) within the implementation of the sustainable development of such pupils’ originality of thinking at the classes of a FL.
Research Questions: 1. To clarify the theoretical basis of the formation of linguistically gifted pupils’ originality of thinking at the classes of a FL. 2. To identify the basic principles, pedagogical conditions and essential characteristics of the methodological service to assist young students in the processes of learning a FL especially in the modern system of AFLE.
- To test experimentally the Program providing the formation of linguistically gifted pupils’ originality of thinking in the educational environment of AFLE. In order to confirm the hypothesis we used the following methods and research tools: аnalytical methods of research (theoretical analysis of philosophical, pedagogical, psychological and methodological literature on research problem, analysis of statistical data), sociometric research methods (questionnaires, tests, survey, interview, expert assessment), observation methods (direct and indirect observation), methods of mathematical statistics.
While giving the definition of originality and creativity of linguistically gifted pupils’ thinking in this work, the author learned different kinds of research done by Vygotsky (1997), Krylova (2006), Podjyakov (2007), Teplov (1961), Elkonin (2001), Kuzin (1998), Nemensky (1999), Smirnov (2004), Shpikalova (2008). The proof was found that the creativity meets the child’s main needs and opportunities.
The process of linguistically gifted pupils’ creative foreign-language activity on the cultural material of the target language country the assumes the creative language tasks aimed at the development of pupils’ abilities. While creatively solving the tasks set forth before them, the school students acquire various samples of the general ways to solve the required tasks and on this basis, they create personal and significant products of their creative foreign-language activity. Their actions should be controlled as they are directed to checking the educational actions with the sample set by the teacher of a foreign language (FL). Linguistically gifted pupils’ actions have to be carefully assessed as they are engaged in the foreign-language activity at different stages (Cooper, 2002; Richard, 1996).
The retrospective analysis of the psychological and pedagogical literature enables to claim that practically any educational (language) task can be presented in a creative form. The largest creative potential is contained in such types of tasks as a composition in a FL, inventing language tasks and exercises, drawing up rebuses, puzzles in a FL, writing or translating the poems in a FL (Abdrafikova, 2015; Wittich, 1962).
Linguistically gifted pupils can perform similar creative tasks on the basis of the linguocultural material. However, the teacher of a FL in the additional foreign-language education (AFLE) needs to supplement the submitted list with the tasks, caused by the specific features of the subject “A foreign language”, which are significant for our research. They are as follows:
1) interpretation of a text from fiction;
2) dramatization of the literary works;
3) variation and improvisation of a musical text in a FL (Shcherbatykh, 2014).
The creative activity of linguistically gifted pupils is carried out by means of the creative field method. It is the key one as it promotes the creation of the emotional atmosphere in the group of the gifted pupils in the AFLE system.
There is a direct dependence of the performance of the creative language tasks on the historical and cultural material of the target language country and the extent of the development of emotional and figurative qualities of linguistically gifted pupils. Such tasks help develop the pupils’ associativity, language guess, imagination, figurativeness, language knowledge, skills, and personal achievements in pupils.
Analyzing the stated material it is possible to make the conclusion that at the choice of various ways of communication in FL creativity presents the basis of the development of linguistically gifted pupils’ self-realization in the process of studying a FL (Shcherbatykh, 2013a; Saihong & Santiboon, 2017).
The creativity (originality) of linguistically gifted pupils’ thinking in the context of their humanitarian culture formation is demonstrated in the pupils’ ability to the creative productive foreign-language activity. This criterion reflects the aspiration of linguistically gifted pupils to the creative self-realization. In the course of studying foreign-language culture pupils’ personal endowments are developed. While creating an original personal and significant creative product of foreign-language activity on the linguocultural material students show their talents. Such kinds of tasks can be practiced by a FL teacher. They include a composition of a poem in a FL, fairy tales, the oral or written literary composition-reflection, a translation of some literary work, writing of a summary in a FL, the creation of animated movies in a FL. Various art products are very popular with many school students, for example, a performance, dramatization in a FL, translation and performance of some musical composition in a FL, wall newspapers, etc. (Gardner & Lambert, 1959).
The creativity indicators (the originality of thinking) are caused by pupils’ creative imagination, creative intuition, figurativeness, originality, feeling of novelty, inspiration and initiative. They are manifested in the course of creating bright, emotional artistic images by students on the foreign-language material about the history and culture of the target language country (Galimzyanova et al., 2015).
The quality of the personal and significant creative products of linguistically gifted pupils’ foreign-language activity is defined by the quantity of the creative elements. The degree of the originality, the practical benefits of the use of a foreign-language product are taken into account, too. The relative novelty of the received result is important both for the pupil himself, and for his schoolmates.
The purpose of this technique was to reveal the presence of linguistically gifted school students’ aspirations to the creative or formal ending of the suggested creative tasks. FL Teachers asked the pupils to compose a poem on the suggested subject in a FL, to write the translation of a fragment from the literary work, to present dramatization of a fragment from science fiction, etc. (Stern, 1975; Anwar et al., 2012).
In the course of this work the FL teachers tried to establish which of the pupils coped or did not cope with the specified creative tasks. They also tried to find out the reasons which induced linguistically gifted school students to continue the begun work. The teachers looked for the reasons which interfered with the students’ further independent foreign-language activity.
Processing of the obtained results.
The pupils who did not continue doing the creative tasks got 0 points. The pupils who continued doing them, but did not finish the begun work up to the end got 1 point. Those who did the task got 2 points. The pupils who suggested several options to perform the creative task had 3 points.
At the stating stage of the experimental work, the experimental (EG) and control (CG) groups were made by 315 school students. There were 156 CG pupils and 159 EG pupils from the following educational institutions: lyceum No. 44 of Lipetsk, school “Intelligence” of the town of Usman of the Lipetsk Region. In addition, the students and the teachers of the Usman teacher training college and Yelets State Bunin University took part in this experiment. The organization and carrying out this experiment became possible thanks to the participation of a number of schools of Yelets. They were lyceum No. 5, school No. 10 with profound study of separate subjects, school No. 15, gymnasium No. 11, gymnasium No. 97, the school “Alternative” and also school No. 2 of Zadonsk, the Lipetsk Region, and school No. 2 of the town of Livny, the Oryol Region which participated in this experiment, too. There are classes in all these schools where a foreign language is studied intensively and in which the pupils from various schools of the city and the region were taken after passing the corresponding tests.
The results of the tests held by the technique mentioned above reflected the pupils’ situational cognitive interest at the time of carrying out the stating experiment. The experimental group gained 13 points and the control group gained 12 points.
The testing results reflected the situational cognitive interest at the time of carrying out the stating experiment.
The experimental program “Travelling around English-Speaking Countries” was based on the knowledge of a FL gained by the students in the course of studying the subject. Then the indicator of the creativity consisted of the skills and the abilities of foreign-language activity which were in direct dependence on the language vocabulary. It also included the interest in history and culture of the country of the newly acquired language, a stock of the foreign-language vocabulary, a feeling for language and a guess, verbal thinking, the creative imagination.
To determine the level of formedness of the students’ creative abilities in the context of bringing up their humanitarian culture they were offered the following tasks in a FL (the results are in Table 1). They were directed at:
1) the creative reading of a text from fiction or a poem written by the English or American writer;
2) musical performance of a song in English;
3) dramatization of a fragment or the whole play from the American or English literature.
1. Invent an interesting text or a story in a FL (on the basis of the suggested words of the foreign-language vocabulary) on the subject “Learning a foreign language”.
2. Comment on the proverb “Two heads are better”, “My home is my castle” in English and compose an English limerick.
Applying the methods of the descriptive statistics the author revealed that 16 % of the students of EG and CG showed good language abilities when writing a story in a FL by means of the offered words; 13% of the school students of EG and 14% of CG were successful in the improvisation of an English limerick; 15% of the EG pupils and 13% of the CG pupils suggested their own versions of the comments of the offered proverbs in English.
1. Write all the familiar words on the subject “the Earth”.
The FL teacher put a problem before children, and while finding its solution, they got the language knowledge better and, thus, they learned to think.
What is Environment? What does ecology consist of? The “Earth” is one of the compound words of the concept “Ecology”.
2. Make a chainword on the subject “Food”. Such chainwords can be thought up using all the words on the subject “Ecology”: products of food, personal things, necessities of life, etc.
3. Try to attach the signs to an object of “Ecological state” mentally. At a certain degree of imagination “the cool ecology” turns out of Ecology which is clear, clean, blue, nice, not polluted, not poisoned. And we do not need the gray, dirty infected ecology. A part of lexicon can be fixed by means of the SYNECTICS method. The method of the personal analogy is applied. This method allows school students to imagine themselves as a bird, small fish, sea, ocean, mountain, animal or flower. The principle “Ripples on the water” helps pupils to dream. The pupils are offered to take any long word, for example a “birdhouse” which is written vertically. The pupils have to make a story, but under a condition: the words are not interchanged.
The ability of the word improvisation on the suggested subject in a FL was shown by 66% of the EG pupils; 71% of the CG pupils were good at their creative activity; 9% of the EG pupils and 6% of the CG pupils thought up and made chainwords; 3% of the EG pupils and 2% of the students of CG suggested the greatest number of the words on a certain subject.
1. Transform the illustrations into the offered text or the texts into an illustration. For example, a FL teacher suggests the school students a poem or some prose fragment. The task is to pick up various illustrations to this text. It can be cuttings from journals, cards or pupils’ drawings. Materials can also be found in the Internet or a pupil can issue the presentation by means of Power Point;
2. Make a story on the offered illustrations. It can be the continuation of some history which is recorded in an illustration.
In total 13% of the EG pupils and 15% of the CG pupils coped with this task.
The author established the following results at the initial stage of an experiment. 11% of the EG school students and 12% of the CG students were capable to transfer emotional and figurative qualities. In the course of the creative self-realization on the cultural material of the target language country 31% of the EG pupils asked their teacher to help them. At the same time 32% of the students of CG constantly resorted to the help of their teacher of a FL in the course of doing a creative task; 56% of the EG school students and 61% of the CG school students expressed their emotional and figurative qualities poorly.
Table 1
The determination of linguistic gifted school students’ creativity
of language thinking by the results of creative tasks
Task №1
Indicators |
Experimental group, % |
Check group, % |
associativity |
16 |
17 |
flexibility |
12 |
10 |
accuracy |
25 |
26 |
originality |
3 |
1 |
Task №2
Indicators |
Experimental group, % |
Check group, % |
associativity |
17 |
16 |
flexibility |
13 |
12 |
accuracy |
25 |
23 |
originality |
2 |
1 |
Task №3
Indicators |
Experimental group, % |
Check group, % |
associativity |
18 |
14 |
flexibility |
10 |
10 |
accuracy |
21 |
26 |
originality |
3 |
3 |
Therefore, at a stage of the stating experiment in the course of doing creative tasks it was found out that linguistically gifted school students’ language skills were combined with imagination. It is explained by the reflection of linguistically gifted pupils’ internal aspirations to the creative self-realization. To create various images, i.e., “personal products” in a FL, linguistically gifted pupils did not have enough certain language knowledge for the performance of the works of fiction. That was essentially shown in the accuracy and originality of the personal and significant creative products of the foreign-language activity created by the linguistically gifted pupils.
To define the linguistically gifted pupils’ creativity in the foreign-language activity on the cultural material several levels were revealed:
1) A high level: 11% of the EG pupils and 10% of the CG pupils demonstrated the expressed aspiration brightly to the creative self-realization on the material of the culture of the newly acquired language. Their originality in the creative performance of the cultural tasks was high. Their translation of the fragments from fiction, dramatization of the plays from the English and American literature, the cultural holidays of the target language countries were good.
2) An above average level: 28% of the EG pupils and 27% of the CG pupils showed an insufficient development of their skills and abilities of the foreign-language activity that affects the students’ accuracy in transferring the artistic images.
3) An average level: 31% of the EG pupils and 29% of the CG students exhibited limited emotional and figurative thinking. They showed their imagination on the basis of the underdeveloped language skills.
4) A low level. (34% of the EG pupils and 31% of the school students of CG had undeveloped skills of the foreign-language activity. They showed an inability to realize a number of their own emotional and figurative qualities in the process of doing different creative cultural tasks.
Following the results of the stating experiment most linguistically gifted CG and EG school students were on the initial (low) and reproductive (average) levels. According to the development of their creative abilities their emotional reaction to the works of the English and American literature was poorly expressed. The school students did not show any feelings and intentions to studying foreign-language material. The pupils had no independent esthetic judgments. The personal sense in the development of the creative productive foreign-language activity on the material of the target language country was not developed. They showed the inability to the spiritual and moral assessment of the works of the English and American literature. While studying the course of choice “Humanitarian tendencies of the English and American literature” none of them were expressed. The chosen group of the pupils was characterized by the limited emotional and figurative thinking. The elementary introspection of the results of their creative foreign-language activity was vivid.
In many respects the obtained results were caused by the previous children’s experience. Their psychological and specific features were not quite developed.
By means of the criteria (knowledge, emotionality, creativity and reflection) revealed by the authors in the research they planned the effective pedagogical conditions and technologies. The authors’ goal was to develop the creative productive foreign-language activity of linguistically gifted school students in the modern system of AFLE in the course of studying a FL. That was the purpose of the forming experiment (Shcherbatykh, 2013b).
On the basis of the obtained data it was possible to claim that the pupils’ ability of EG was created. It was aimed at attracting the available regional geographic, cultural and inter-subject knowledge to the performance of the creative tasks. The linguistically gifted school students’ identified themselves with the representatives of the target language country – the British and Americans ones. In the course of studying the works of the British and American literature, the author tried to approve the pupils’ ability to the introspection, self-checking and self-report on the basis of developed originality of thinking.
Thus, based on the results of the carried-out skilled and experimental work, it is possible to claim that the developed technique of the experimental program “Travelling around English Speaking Countries” made a positive impact on the linguistically gifted school students in the AFLE system.
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1. Chair of Foreign Languages and Methodology of their Teaching, Bunin Yelets Sate University of Russia. shcherbatykhl@list.ru