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saxelmwifo enis swavlebis sakiTxebi:
problemebi da gamowvevebi
Issues of State Language Teaching;
Problems and Challenges
Russian families and who have not attended Latvian preschool educational institution. These pupils do not
often have Latvian language environment outside school because families mainly watch and listen to programmes
in Russian, read newspapers in Russian and have communication with Russian cultural life, parents
cannot help to do homework because they themselves speak and write with mistakes and have a poor vocabulary.
At the same time there exists a positive contradiction. If only a pupil has a motivation to learn, it is supported
in the family, they themselves cope with the difficulties. According to 48.2% of the surveyed teachers,
if in the first forms minority pupils have a smaller vocabulary compared to majority pupils, sometimes they
even do not perceive or partly perceive the study content, then at the end of basic school the level of language
skills between minority and majority pupils tends to balance. Quite often minority pupils who gradually become
biliguals are also more diligent, their experience about the surrounding world is wider because they not
only use two languages but they have a sense about two or several cultures. (Anspoka, Silina- Jasjukevica,
2006; Austers, Golubeva, Kovaļenko, Strode, 2006).
Teachers consider the acquisition of the Latvian language as the most essential problem at work in multicultural
environment and with bilingual students.
Language is not only an instrument for communication, but also the means of expressing thoughts as well as
the means of thinking, the means of exploration of the world, acquisition of cultural heritage and values;
moreover, it is the means of the individuality’s self-realization in multicultural dialogue. The cultural dialogue
is based on recurrent and habitual system of dispositions and expectations.
According to standards and programmes language learning is not any more aimed just at the development of
communicative skills and the accurate use of grammatical forms of the particular language, but at the same
time at learning the peculiarities of its material and spiritual culture as well as the traits of national behavior.
While speaking or writing students express their attitude, show their values. During the communication process
students reveal the reality of their culture with the help of the language and gain a new experience in the
process of acquisition of cultural heritage. A language as a tool to transmit ideas, establish the aims, tolerate
individual identities and memberships in social communities(Anspoka, 2008).
Language is not only a part how one defines the culture, but language also reflects culture. Target language
cannot be properly understood and acquired without being aware of what one is learning and its cultural roots.
Culture should be included in language learning process as one of fundamental components of language learning.
Culture should be an integral part of any language learning as it makes communication and use of the acquired
language meaningful. Understanding cultural phenomena would enable students to understand the application
of linguistic structures better and vice versa, studying culture and language shows a more clear-cut
organisation of the society (Krasner,1999; Giddens, 2003; Выготский, 1997).
One of the core aspects that are put forward is the ability of the teacher to make a student understand that a
language is a lot more than an abstract system of symbols; to emphasize that a language learning is the way to
get to know a different culture and deepen the knowledge of one’s own roots. The purposeful use of authentic
texts that provide information about cultural patterns and symbols can serve as a means of learning about
standards in culture, behaviour models of verbal and non-verbal communication and help pupils to understand
the meaning of a particular symbol and the context of its application within that culture. At the same time
teachers should not ignore the acquisition of the grammatical system of the learned language. However, its
acquisition could not be separated from the communicative culture acquisition. To maintain the intercultural
dialogue the ability to apply the knowledge of the language use and communication skills to create the appropriate
text in oral as well as in written communication is as equally important as the ability to understand connotation
of words and phrases, consciously choosing such etiquette for behavior and speech that corresponds
to the cultural traditions of the particular ethnic group.
Research shows some pedagogical problems too. Even though about 85% of teachers respect the choice of
students and their parents and take into account that at the same time teacher’s work is becoming more difficult.
To prevent students' assimilation and to maintain their national identity, the issue of the study content becomes
important.
The study content is changing due the aforesaid factors, therefore, national component, native country
and global perception components in their mutual interaction are becoming dominant in terms of the contents.
The education content - the spiritual values is acquired by the student with the help of the teacher. It consists
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