Sociocultural competence: concept, structure, methods of development

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:41

Teaching a foreign language is not easy. The student must not only master the grammar and memorize a lot of words, but also get used to understanding the mentality of the interlocutor, the customs and traditions characteristic of his culture. Without this, it is impossible to fully carry on a conversation with foreigners, even perfectly speaking their speech. That is why the Federal State Educational Standard pays special attention to the formation of socio-cultural competence in the study of languages of other peoples. Let's take a closer look at the features of this concept.

The main goal of teaching foreign speech

Coming to school or university and starting to study any subject, a person must clearly understand why he needs it. Without this awareness, he will not make enough effort to master the material.

According to the current educational standard, the goal of teaching languages of other nations is to fully prepare students for potential intercultural communication (communication). That is, to form the knowledge and skills to conduct a conversation with a foreigner and understandnot only what he says, but what he means.

Why is this important? Because of globalization, and especially in the economy. In today's world, in whatever area a person has to work in order to achieve better results, sooner or later he will have to face representatives of other nations. These can be business partners, clients, investors, or simply tourists who just need to explain the way to the nearest supermarket. Not to mention their own vacation trips to countries near and far abroad.

And if the training really took place at the required level, the person who passed it should be able to understand the foreign interlocutor and communicate with him without any problems. All this, of course, provided that the student himself put in enough effort to master the material.

Communicative competence

Knowledge and skills necessary for a full-fledged intercultural dialogue (due to which you can participate in receptive and productive types of speech communication) are called (CC) communicative competence.

Forming it is the main task of every foreign language teacher.

In turn, QC is divided into the following competencies (a range of issues in which the student must be well-informed, have knowledge and experience):

• Linguistic (linguistic).
• Speech (sociolinguistic).
• Sociocultural competence.
• subject.
• Strategic.
• Discursive
• Social.

Enrichment with such knowledge makes it possiblea person, through comparison, to understand the features and shades of not only the national culture of the states of the studied dialect, but also their own country, to delve into universal values.

Sociocultural Competence (SCC)

Socio-cultural competence is a combination of knowledge about the state (in which the target language is spoken), the unique features of the national and speech behavior of its citizens, with the ability to use this data in the communication process (following all the norms of etiquette and rules).

The importance of socio-cultural competence in teaching a foreign language

In the past, when studying the speech of other peoples, the main thing was to form in the child the ability to understand it and speak it. Everything else seemed unimportant.

As a result of this approach, although the student could interpret the shell of the language, he did not feel its "soul". Simply put, he knew how to give a speech, but he didn't know what and with whom.

This is comparable to when a person at a dinner party lays out a dozen different forks and offers to taste fricassee. Theoretically, he knows that these devices can eat this dish, but he doesn’t understand exactly which of all the tools is appropriate to use right now. Given the development of technology, the unfortunate person can try to look for a clue on the Internet, but without understanding the intricacies of French cuisine, he does not know the name of the dish that baffled him. After all, outwardly it is an ordinary rabbit meat stew.

CKK is what it isthe knowledge and skills thanks to which such a person from our example, even if he does not know which fork to choose, will be able to at least recognize the dish in the meat mixture on the plate and quickly ask for clues from the omniscient Google.

A more vivid linguistic example is phraseological units. Since it is impossible to understand the general meaning from their components, when such phrases are used in speech, a foreigner cannot understand what the interlocutor means.

Let's take a look at the titles of some books from the world-famous Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. Its author, Jeff Kinney, often used popular English phraseological units as a title. For example, the seventh book in the series is called The third wheel, which literally translates as "The Third Wheel". However, the true meaning of the phrase is "The Third Extra". To understand this, you need to know the corresponding phraseological unit-analogue in your native language. And this applies to the translation of the titles of the eighth book: Hard Luck ("Heavy luck") - "33 misfortunes".

But the fifth book of the cycle Dog Days ("Dog Days") has no analogue in the Russian language. This is because the phraseological unit means "The hottest days of summer" (usually from July to the first days of September). However, in Russian there is no name for this period, so in order to correctly understand the interlocutor who used this expression, you need to know about this feature of the language.

And a little more attention to this expression. Who exactly speaks it plays a big role. If the phrase I like to watch TV during thedog days - says a man, she conveys the meaning: "On the hottest days of summer, I like to watch TV." However, if the sentence is from a woman, it could mean, "During my period, I like to watch TV." Indeed, in English dog days can sometimes mean the period of menstruation.

Naturally, it is impossible for a person to learn absolutely all the features of a language. But you can adapt to navigate them, to distinguish at least a little dialects, to know which expressions are unacceptable in polite society or in official correspondence, and so on. The formation of the CCM is precisely the ability to recognize the peculiarities of the national mentality in speech and adequately respond to it.

Proof that this is indeed very, very important is the Russian translation of Kinney's book Dog Days - "A Dog's Life". Whoever worked on the adaptation of this work made a mistake in its very title. The Ukrainian translation of "Vacation psu pid hvist" also did not please with accuracy.

There is a lack of awareness of the authors about the cultural characteristics of English. But this was not an essay from the "pass and forget" series, but a popular story about a schoolboy, which is read by thousands of children.

In order for domestic specialists to make as few such mistakes as possible in the future, the modern educational standard for learning foreign languages places great emphasis on the formation of sociocultural knowledge.

A little about mentality

CCM cannot be considered without paying attention to the phenomenon at a comprehensive levelresearch in which the competence and specializes. Namely, on the mentality.

In simple words, this is the soul of the people, which distinguishes it from others, makes it unique and inimitable. This is not just a combination of all the cultural features of a certain ethnic group, but also its religious views, value systems and preferences.

Initially, this concept arose in historical science, as it made it possible to better understand the prerequisites for certain events. With the development of psychology and sociology, the study of mentality has become an important component in conducting research.

Today this phenomenon is adopted by linguistics and pedagogy. Studying it helps to explore the history of a particular people, its characteristics.

As part of the formation of socio-cultural competence based on the study of mentality, it is especially important to protect students from prejudices. Sometimes they are mistaken for the truth. As a result, it is not possible to properly establish intercultural communication.

Many of these stamps - a consequence of the cold war. Propaganda of the USSR and the USA (as two of its most active participants) tried to paint the image of the enemy in as black colors as possible. And although this confrontation is in the past, many still perceive the mentality of the Americans through the prism of Soviet propaganda. And vice versa.

For example, it is still believed that housewives in the US do not know how to cook. This misconception is largely generated by numerous TV series and films. Their heroes eat almost all the time in cafes or restaurants, and keep them in the refrigeratoronly semi-finished products.

The truth is that this lifestyle is more often led by residents of megacities, who really find it easier to buy something than to make it with their own hands. While the inhabitants of small towns and villages, engaged in agriculture, know how to cook a lot and well. And if we talk about canning, then they are not inferior to many immigrants from the USSR. Americans massively roll up not only jams, juices, salads, but also semi-finished products (sauces, lecho, corn, olives, peeled carrots and potatoes), ready meals (soups, cereals, meatballs).

Naturally, such thriftiness is typical for farmers who grow all these products or animals for meat. Children of the urban jungle prefer to buy all this in supermarkets. Living in small apartments, they simply do not have a place to store a lot of food "in reserve", and even more so to preserve them. This is justified by the fact that the cost of housing in megacities is fabulous, while suburban apartments, and entire houses, are more affordable. The main reason is the underdeveloped economy of these settlements. In search of work, their residents have to sell their houses for nothing, and moving to larger cities, huddled in tiny apartments.

Does it really differ from the common perception of Americans as longing for fat lazybones? And what will happen if a person, oriented to false mental clichés about the inhabitants of the United States, comes to work in this country or cooperates with companies from there? How much wood will he break before he realizes that those who live here are not likehe thought earlier. But with such prejudice, even knowing their language at the level of William Shakespeare or Edgar Poe, it will be difficult to establish communication.

That is why the modern standard of teaching each foreign language pays so much attention to the formation of CCM within the framework of communicative competence. So the key to the full development of foreign speech is the mentality (in simple words, the prism through which a native speaker perceives the world). Is he the only one? Let's find out.

CCM Aspects

The factor discussed in the previous paragraph is, in fact, the cornerstone that underlies sociocultural competence. But there are other equally important aspects. Without them, only knowledge about the mentality and structure of the language will not help.

Four aspects of CCM stand out.

• Communication experience (the ability to choose the style of behavior and speech according to the interlocutor, the ability to quickly adapt when getting into a spontaneous linguistic situation).
• Sociocultural data (mentality).
• Personal attitude to the facts of the culture of the people speaking the language being studied.
• Knowledge of the basic ways of using speech (the ability to differentiate common vocabulary, dialectisms and jargon, the ability to distinguish between situations in which they can / cannot be used).

Personal traits that contribute to CCM development

In order for all four aspects of sociocultural competence to be developed at a sufficient level, students must have not only deep intellectual knowledge andskills of their use, but also personal qualities. You cannot establish a dialogue with a representative of another culture without being able to communicate normally with your compatriots.

Therefore, in parallel with the formation of teachings and skills in the development of QCM, it is important for students to educate such qualities as:

• open to communication;
• lack of prejudice;
• politeness;
• respect for representatives of another linguistic and cultural community;
• tolerance.

At the same time, it is important to convey to the student the idea of the equality of all participants in sociocultural interaction. It is important for the student to learn that politeness and openness of dialogue should come from both sides. And showing attention and respect for a foreign culture, he has the right to expect a response even if he is just a guest in a foreign country.

Moreover, it is especially important to teach a person to respond correctly to insults or quarrels. This does not mean teaching the profanity of the language being studied and suggesting what this or that carrier of linguistic culture may be offended by. Not! It is necessary to teach in time to recognize the brewing conflict, or at least smooth out the existing one, according to accepted customs and traditions.

Ideally, the student should be presented with an algorithm of behavior not only in positive speech situations, but also in negative ones. It is especially important to pay attention to the unique features of the language and culture being studied in this matter. Otherwise, the competence will be incompletely formed.

StructureCCM

In addition to the above aspects, the structure of sociocultural competence consists of a number of components that ensure its versatility.

• Linguistic and regional studies. It includes the study of words, expressions and whole sentences with sociocultural semantics. In addition, it is important to form and be able to use them correctly and in a timely manner in the process of communication.
• The sociolinguistic component provides knowledge about the distinctive linguistic traditions of different age, social or community groups.
• Sociopsychological. This element of the structure of the CCM is focused on behaviors characteristic of a particular ethnic community.
• Culturological component is a body of knowledge about the socio-cultural, ethno-cultural, as well as historical and cultural background.

CCM Development Methods

When it comes to the socio-cultural component of communicative competence, the ideal method is immersion in the linguistic environment. Simply put, staying in a country where the target language is spoken.

The best option would be not a one-time visit, but periodic visits to such a state. For example, once or twice a year for several weeks.

Such trips would make it possible to study the language more closely at the everyday level, taking into account real speech situations. And their frequency would teach you to notice the changes taking place in the country, affecting its citizens.

Unfortunately, the reality of the post-Soviet space is such that not only not every student can afford to participate inactivities of the sociocultural program for language learning, but it is not always possible for teachers themselves to travel abroad. Therefore, most often the CCM has to be formed in other ways.

One of the most promising ways to date is the project work method. Its essence lies in the distribution of individual tasks among students. Each student receives a project, for which he will have to show independence, looking for a way to achieve the goal set for him by the teacher.

Tasks can be:

• report;
• preparing a scene/performance;
• organization and holding of some national holiday of the country where they speak the language being studied;
• presentation on some topic;
• a small scientific paper on a specific linguistic issue.

The task assigned to the student should be formulated in such a way that its implementation requires a deep study of the mentality and language culture. Thus, this method will not only contribute to the development of QCM, but will also teach the basics of research work, including its techniques and the algorithm for their use.

The project work method also develops skills that will be useful to each person in the future in the process of socio-cultural adaptation when visiting foreign countries. The ability to quickly navigate and find the necessary information, as well as to present it in an accessible way, formed in this way, will help out more than once.

You should also use the communicative method. Its essence is thatthe student learns to interact with others using only the means of a foreign language. This method of teaching for the development of CCM is especially successful in the case when the teacher is a native speaker or there is an opportunity to periodically organize meetings with such a person. In this case, in addition to the ability to recognize "live" speech, it will be possible to ask in more detail about life and culture.

The communicative method is very good at developing socio-cultural competence, if within its framework, correspondence between students and native speakers is established. This project can be organized through the leadership of educational institutions. It does not require special expenses, but at the same time it will help both parties to learn about the culture of each other's countries, to study in practice the rules of correspondence in force in a particular language.

Although such communication can be arranged without the help of a teacher on any Internet forum on foreign languages, it is better if it is supervised by an educational institution. In this case, there will be confidence that the interlocutors are who they say they are. It is optimal to select persons involved in communication of the same age, gender, interests. Then it will be much more interesting for them to correspond with each other.

Teacher Requirements

In conclusion, let's pay attention to the fact that the formation of the QCM largely depends on the skill of the teacher. After all, he is not able to transfer knowledge or form skills if he himself does not possess them. Therefore, the teacher must meet a number of requirements.

• To be able to correctly pronounce the words of the language with the maximumlack of accent.
• Competently build and perceive foreign speech by ear.
• Its vocabulary must be extensive enough to be able to teach behavior in different speech situations.
• Have up-to-date knowledge of the culture of the language being taught.

And the most important requirement that a teacher needs to meet in order for his students to be ready for intercultural dialogue is constant work on himself. After all, only a dead language is unchanged. The living is changing: evolving or regressing. It absorbs all historical and cultural events taking place in the country/countries where it is spoken.

Therefore, the teacher must follow the transformation of the language he teaches, not only with regards to grammar and vocabulary, but also the traditions of its use. And he needs to instill this skill in his students.