Untitled

saxelmwifo enis swavlebis sakiTxebi:
problemebi da gamowvevebi
Issues of State Language Teaching;
Problems and Challenges
on developing four language skills was a hindering factor in the future transition to bilingual education. For
many subject teachers it caused a resistance – both communicative approach and the four skills seemed to focus
only on language teaching, thus neglecting the subject, which on its own has a very different methodology.
Those are language activities, not thinking activities. In this case the Brumfit model and the functional
approach would have been much more optimal.
Brumfit’s model illustrates how the teacher can facilitate the process of a second language acquisition.
According to Brumfit, second language instruction involves three stages: conversation, comprehension, and
extended writing. Conversation develops a basic level of communicative proficiency; comprehension focuses
on the understanding of oral and written texts; writing develops learner’s ability to compose texts for public
audiences. Brumfit deliberately ignores the traditional distinction between listening, speaking, reading, and
writing; these interactive skills can be taught simultaneously when proper consideration is given to the students’
developmental level. However, oral language is emphasized during introductory stages, and literacy
becomes increasingly important during the later ones. The model is consistent with the well-known distinction
between receptive and productive language; the oral or written texts produced by a particular individual are
less complex and accurate than those he is able to understand. During the comprehension stage a student acquires
knowledge appropriate for his age and grade level without engaging in formal writing. The linguistic
and cognitive abilities he gains through reading and listening prepare him for advances academic tasks that
acquire receptive as well as productive skills. During each stage, language interacts with cognition, and comprehension
with production. Moreover oral and written language interact with each other; the phonological,
syntactic and semantic rules that govern the system of the target language are applied by speakers as well as
writers, and utilized by their audiences in order to understand the information they receive (Cantoni-Harvey).
Brumfit’s model includes the teaching of communicative as well as academic skills. Since it integrates
language with content, it seems particularly relevant to the multilingual education and subject and language
integrated teaching. Even though Brumfit modelled the development of language acquisition in a horizontal
dimension, it can be easily adapted to every lesson when observing – what students have to understand from
the content, what they will learn in mutual communication, and what must they be able to express verbally or
in writing.
Also the principles and elements of the direct and audio-lingual method, and the natural approach is a resource,
which could be nicely used again teaching other subjects through Georgian.
The basic for the functional approach in Latvia was realized within the framework of the project, which
was intended for developing basic school education standard and program for minorities. (2001). The goals for
Latvian language as a subject standard were formulated in the bilingual education context.
“When implementing the curricula for ethnic minorities, a qualitatively new attitude develops
towards the teaching – learning process of the Latvian language. The Latvian language in the schools
for ethnic minorities is not only a subject, but also a means for acquiring other subjects. The language
skills required both for everyday communication and the teaching – learning process can be developed
in the course of learning the Latvian language. In addition, during the learning of other subjects
students have the possibility to make use of and improve the skills acquired in Latvian language and
literature lessons”.
In order to develop a theoretically justified and functional acquisition programme there was research and
classification of communicative functions of language and exponents done in the beginning. In the research
of communicative functions of the Latvian language, the classifications of the English linguist Halliday
(1973), Van Ek and Trim "Threshold Level 1990" (1993) and Latvian "Latviešu valodas prasmes līmenis"
(1997) were preserved, but components of each group were carefully adjusted to the system of the Latvian
language. After assessing these variants, six basic functions of communicative systems were included in the
Latvian language education program. They were adjusted according to the level of students' language development,
knowledge and needs. They are the functions of denomination, contact establishment, information
exchange, expression of attitude and emotion, instructing and imagination.
The project experts carefully planned their work in order to have all function groups represented at various
stages of language learning. For this purpose it was necessary to examine grammar themes, speech topics
and texts applied in textbooks for different age groups. On the whole, communicative functions embrace all
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