On the Concept of State Youth Policy of the Republic of Kazakhstan till 2020 “Kazakhstan – 2020: the Way of the Future” the main purpose of education is determined not as a simple set of knowledge and skills, but as a personal, social and professional competence based on them, the ability to independently produce, analyze, and effectively use information, the ability to efficiently live and work in a rapidly changing world. According to one of the main directions of realization of the State Education Development Program for 2005-2010, the implementation of credit accumulation system of education in universities was designed to encourage active autonomous work of learners. Therefore, one of the main tasks of the educational process in the credit accumulation system, when 70 % of time is given to autonomous learning, is strengthening the role of autonomous work of learners, including teacher-guided work. So, the researchers Zhetpisbayeva B.A. and Asanova D.N., arguing sharply increasing role of the autonomy of the learner in the conditions of credit system of education, cite the classification, characterizing the learner in the educational system and including the following groups of skills of autonomous work: skills of planning self-education; preparation of individual plan of independent activities; purposeful work according to the plan; implementation of self-control over the activities; the timely introduction of required corrections; skills of orientation in the scientific and educational information; independent analysis and evaluation of new information; the conduct of the search and selection of information sources depending on the aspect of the study of the problem; vision of a new and promising content of incoming information; the integrated use of sources of information (Internet, television and radio broadcasts, scientific and educational literature, periodicals, etc.); skills of bibliographic work; systematic use of the bibliographical manuals and catalogues; maintaining a register of scientific, educational and other literature on specific issues based on rules of scientific bibliography, etc.; skills of rational and proper hearing and recording lectures; writing topics and the plan of the lecture, recommended literature; the correct perception of the presented information; identifying the main problems, positions and ideas; brief quotes of the main content in the own words; systematic treatment of records, storing and using them for the purposes of self-education; skills to work with a book; familiarization with the book as a whole: with its author, introduction, content, conclusion, illustrations and annotations; singling out the logical structure of the book; a quick, focused read with a pencil in hand, with fixation of the read content in the own words; the attraction of additional benefits for a more complete understanding of the studied material (dictionaries, encyclopedias, reference books); recording of the material in the form of abstracts, summaries; presentation of ideas and arguments of the author briefly and in the own words with references to some quotes; compliance with the rules of appearance of the abstracts (title of paper, author’s name, year and place of publication, the correct citation of material from other sources with a link to the page, articles); recording of the abstract of additional materials from other sources; skills of using Internet resources; searching for the right addresses on the Internet; information processing and so on [3, p. 11-12].
In psychological-pedagogical literature the problem of autonomous work has found the most complete coverage. Its study is the subject of numerous researches: works of Golant E.Y., B.P. Yesipov, P.I. Pitkasistyi, A.V. Usova. Psychological aspects of autonomous work of learners were considered in the works of V.V. Davydov, N.A. Menchinskaya, V.A. Petrovsky, N.F. Talyzina. The problem of formation of skills of independent educational and cognitive activities is paid attention in the works of M.A. Danilov, T.I. Ilyina, B.F. Lomov, A.A. Lublinskaya, O.A. Nilsson, R.B. Sroda. The works of domestic scientists A.A. Adelbaeva, G.K. Aizhanova, S.V. Begalieva, G.E. Alimuhambetova, N.A. Darkhanova, L.F. Zherebyatieva, J.A. Karaev, M. Kurmanov, B.T. Nabiyeva, J.E. Sarsekeeva, H.S. Suleimanov are devoted to various aspects of autonomous work. The problems of introduction of credit accumulation system of education were reflected in the works of Baidenko, S.A. Medvedev, K. Pursiainen, L. Grebnev, B.A. Sazonov [1, 4].
However, both domestic and Russian researchers note that, despite the development of many aspects of autonomous work of learners, in science and practice there is still poor understanding of peculiarities of its organization in the process of modern foreign language education, especially in the conditions of credit accumulation system.
Attempts to understand the problem of autonomy were made in the 18th century in the philosophical works of J.J. Rousseau and I. Pestalozzi, where the importance of shaping a child’s independence in learning and education was stressed. [5, 9] In modern scientific works this topic is presented quite extensively. There is still no single developed definition in theoretical works on the issue of the nature of autonomous work, because the definition of this concept is multifaceted and dynamic; its meaning varies depending on changes in modern science and education and can be considered from different points of view. Different approaches to the essence of autonomous work of learners lead to different interpretations, considering it either as a form of organization (extracurricular work of learners) or as a teaching method (the use of autonomous work in the classroom), or as a learning tool (system of tasks for classroom and extracurricular work). Scientists Golant E.I., Esipov B.P., Michelson R.M., Pidkasistyj P.I. define the essence of autonomous work through a description of either ways of evaluation its implementation, or forms of organization of lessons. Of course, the effectiveness of autonomous work of learners in the learning process largely depends on the conditions of its organization, content and nature of knowledge, logic of their presentation, source of knowledge, the relationship of current and assumed knowledge in the content of this autonomous work, the quality of results achieved by the learner in the course of this work, etc. Golant E. Y. describes the following essential features of an autonomous work: the presence of a specific learning task consisting of several actions, its fulfillment without direct supervision of the teacher, and without evaluation of each activity by the teacher. [3, p. 16]
E.Y. Golant, without defining this concept, stresses that in the theoretical analysis of the problem the autonomy of learners as an inborn capacity should not be identified with the autonomy of learners as a condition for training the necessary skill. He views expression of autonomy of learners in three directions: 1) technical and organizational autonomy; 2) autonomy of practical activities of learners; 3) autonomy in the process of cognitive activity. Next, Golant E.Y. separates out the last activity into two ones: the first is expressed in oral and written performances and the second is connected with physical labor.
B.P. Esipov notes that the autonomous work of learners included in the learning process is the work which is performed without direct participation of the teacher, but at his direction and in a specially provided time; in this, learners consciously seek to achieve the task goals, using their efforts and expressing the result of mental or physical (or both together) action in some form. However, in the opinion of Pitkasistyi P.I., the weaknesses of this concept cannot be ignored. First, in the interpretation of B.P. Yesipov the essence of autonomous work does not sufficiently represent a significant sign, the creative work of the learner, which, in the structure of cognitive activity, is an essential internal symptom of procedural and productive (effective) sides of independent activity of learners. Second, in the concept there is the lack of reflection of the question of procedural and logical-content unity of each type of independent activities.
In educational practice all these under-recognized points generate formalism in using various types of autonomous work and boring, monotonous activity of learners [3, p. 20].
These weaknesses of the concept Yesipov B.P. were taken into account in its time by Dairy N.G. Filling a gap in the understanding and disclosure the essence of autonomous work, he allocates the following features: a) the learner does it on his own without any direct assistance; b) he really relies on his own knowledge, skills, beliefs, life experiences, world view, he actually uses them when considering the question and decides it on his own, expressing personal attitude, expressing his own arguments, showing initiative, creativity; c) the content of the work, educational and logical, is important, meaningful, and therefore enriches the learner, causes stress thinking and its development [2, p. 415].
Evidence of this autonomous work is: a) setting the essence of the phenomenon by learners on the basis of factual material; b) in addition to this, the identification of the actual material; its collection on their own; с) autonomоus application of one or other logical operations specified by the teacher; d) autonomous selection of these operations when receiving tasks from the teacher; d) self-understanding of the problem and autonomous task setting etc.
It should be noted out that the contents and structure of educational material as an important condition for the success of training does not specify the process and the structure of learning activities, as the didactics, involved in the problem of autonomous work, are often inclined to consider. In fact, as Pidkasistyi P.I. notes, if the content and structure of training material makes a system, then in order to make this system function, it necessary to find those properties that arise as products of qualitatively distinctive interactions of the learner and the display of facts, phenomena, events in the system of educational material content, i.e. to extract components of autonomous work as micro-systems of learning. Such components in an autonomous activity, according to Pitkasistyi P.I. are: a learner, acting as a subject of activity, and real objects, phenomena, events or displaying them iconic models, as an object. Alleged links between the subject and object in this system are generated on the basis of their interaction, and act themselves only in the presence of conceptual task. In this regard, in the structure of an autonomous work as a means of engaging learners in the autonomous activity it is necessary by morphological and genetic analysis to discern its “genetic cell”, which is essentially kind of a trigger of any cognitive activity and autonomy of the learner. Any training problem or a cognitive task can act as such “a genetic cell”, as the core of any autonomous work. [6, p. 128]. This follows primarily from the fact that the educational material, as it is evidenced by numerous psychological studies, may be included in the structure of educational activity of learners only in the form of a system of educational tasks, the choice of which is determined by the characteristics of the object of cognition and the structure of the cognitive activity of the learner. The task, in the revelation of the essence of autonomous work and, especially, in the classification of types of autonomous work, thus has become a means of logical and psychological organization of the material, which is carried out in order to ensure a certain structure of learning activities.
Only such approach to the consideration of the nature and role of autonomous work of learners, as Pidkasistyi P.I. notes, allows to remove the antithesis between external conditionality of autonomous work in educational process and its internal essence, which leads to the development and optimal expression of genuine learner’s cognitive activity and autonomy, development of the learner’s cognitive abilities. [5, p. 608]. The task identified in each type and form of autonomous work (if it is accepted by the learner) allows involving learners into controlled cognitive activity, i. e. gives them a certain mental activity of different structures, which is governed by the perceived goal. Thus, the above review of literature shows the activity approach to the investigated issues when autonomous work is understood not as a form of organization of lessons and not as a teaching method, but rather as a means of engaging learners in independent cognitive activity, a means of logical and psychological organization. And as any other means, autonomous work, without the presence of a clearly formulated task, remains at best neutral in relation to the nature of cognitive activity. Educators have repeatedly made efforts for description and systematization of various types of autonomous work. In the background of certain achievements in the theory and practice of higher education the lack of scientifically well-founded system of autonomous work is revealed. It should be noted out that most didactics and methodologists in justification of the classification of autonomous work base on either the degree of autonomy of the learner, which is, incidentally, determined by external signs, or on didactic purpose of autonomous work.
According to the classification of Malkin I.I., the types of autonomous work include reproductive, educational- heuristic, cognitive-practical, creative. [7]
The classification of Pitkasistyi P.I. in the selection of the types of autonomous work is similar to the classification of Malkin I.I. He offers the following types of autonomous work: reproducing, reconstructive-variable, heuristic, and creative. [6, p. 229]. According to this classification the first type of work allows to perform tasks modeled on the sample and provide learners with the ability to perform the specified sequence of actions, to recognize obtained information in repeated perceptions. The second type allows forming the skills of reproduction of learned information from memory, on the basis of reproduction and partly on an independent search for solutions to common problems. The task of the third type allows learners to learn to solve non-typical heuristic tasks on the basis of the previous experience. The fourth type of tasks is aimed at creative activity when learners are able to penetrate deeply into the nature of the objects concerned to establish new facts, to transform them. Thus, in the selected classifications, the authors try to show a gradual increase of difficulties, which in turn allows each learner to move to a higher level of performance of autonomous work.
It is also important that in the process of organizing an autonomous work of learners the specificity of the discipline must be taken into account, since in the teaching of a foreign language not the basics of science are taught but the skills through various types of activities. For that reason the features of organization of autonomous work are associated with the following points: the creation of language environment, i.e. the combination of foreign language activities with cognitive activities of learners; parallel development of all types of foreign language activities, such as speaking, reading, writing; revitalization of the work of all memory types (learner must not only learn a certain amount of material and reproduce it, but put it in long-term memory for subsequent reuse and utilization); organizing autonomous work should be associated with knowledge of individual typological peculiarities of learners. Formation of skills of autonomous work of learners when learning a foreign language significantly differs in a number of different criteria from training in other specialties. As any other educational activity this learning process is implemented in certain conditions: the content of education with taking into account characteristics of a foreign language; the use of innovative technologies in the process of independent language learning; linking substantive-procedural preparation and intrapersonal formation of readiness of learners to autonomous work in learning a foreign language. Based on the fact that the language is a major means of human communication, an instrument of formation and expression of thought, it can be concluded that the main challenge when learning a foreign language is mastering the ability to participate in intercultural communication, i.e. the formation of speaking skills related to activities of the intellect of the learner. Due to the fact that foreign language as a school subject is focused primarily not on the acquisition of knowledge but on the formation of activity skills, it is necessary to consider autonomous work on foreign language acquisition as a result of the learner’s own activity, i.e. learning efficiency is determined by the identity of the learner who needs to take responsibility for the results of training. Scientists Zhetpisbayeva B.A. and Asanova D.N. believe that successful implementation of communicative skills and an ability of learners is possible only under appropriate conditions: the creation of an external, “foreign” environment and authentic situations of communication; formation of domestic “foreign language” consciousness, the way of “the world view”, inherent in the target language culture. [3, pp. 34-35] They offer a “milieu” approach to learning a foreign language when it is built on the basis of the same psychological principles as learning the mother tongue with planned rational balance between the conscious and unconscious psychological mechanisms taken into account. The essence of the “milieu” approach to learning foreign language is determined by the specifics of the content, methods, forms, principles and means of realization of complex cognitive, developmental and educational purposes. Such a definition of the structure of the educational environment is consistent with the didactic concept of “secondary language personality”, which contains the value-based, cultural, and personal components, logically mapped to the structure of the educational environment: an educational objective, determining linguistic content, forms the cultural component of a language personality; developmental and educational objectives aim respectively at the formation of personality and value-based components. In the basis of the developed educational language model aimed at the formation and further development of skills of autonomous work of learners in learning a foreign language there is the method of vector modelling by V.A. Yasvin. Basing on the concept of the learner-centered approach and the idea of the “milieu” approach, the authors have analyzed and integrated the following principles of autonomous work of learners in a foreign language in the conditions of credit accumulation system of education:
– principles of organization activities: the development of the target language through the mastery of strategies and techniques of autonomous learning;
– principles of organizing of incentives: the personal meaning of the content of activities, variability, flexibility and mobility of educational programs;
– principles of influence: transformation of external factors of motivation into the inner ones, dominance of indirect effects.
The epicenter of this educational language model is the learner as the poly-lingual person possessing intercultural competence and capable of self-realization in the framework of the dialogue of cultures [3, p. 44].
In the modern pedagogical theory and practice the relevance of application of different technologies in all new areas of pedagogical knowledge is becoming increasingly significant. Modern education system has come close to the introduction of innovative technologies in the educational process on a broad scale. The basis for the development of educational technology in recent years is the principle of humanization of higher education, which has changed ideas about the aims and objectives of pedagogical practice, putting the spotlight on the personality of the learner, on the internal resources of the personality. In this regard, the task of a pedagogical science is the study of the favorable conditions conducive to the self-revelation of personality.
Formation of skills of autonomous work of learners when learning a foreign language significantly differs in a number of different criteria from training in other specialties. As any other educational activity this learning process is implemented in certain conditions: the content of education with taking into account characteristics of a foreign language; the use of innovative technologies in the process of independent language learning; linking substantive-procedural preparation and intrapersonal formation of readiness of learners to autonomous work in learning a foreign language.
The allocated pedagogical conditions of formation of abilities and skills of autonomous work of learners in learning a foreign language allows to coordinate the efforts of teachers most efficiently to fit every discipline into the overall system of training and make the most of independent educational activity of learners more organized and focused.
Библиографическая ссылка
Mustapayeva O. TO THE PROBLEM OF DEVELOPMENT OF AUTONOMOUS LEARNING SKILLS OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN LEARNING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE // European Journal of Natural History. – 2018. – № 2. – С. 62-66;URL: https://world-science.ru/ru/article/view?id=33862 (дата обращения: 22.11.2024).