Objectives and content of educational policy in teaching foreign languages

It is known that the problems of language policy as an important component of public life in our country are traditionally given much attention. A sensible solution of political and educational problems contributes to the socio-economic and cultural development of society and the creation of a favorable climate in interethnic relations both within the state and within the state. At the same time, it is customary to understand language policy as a set of purposeful and interconnected ideological principles and practical measures taken to solve various language problems in society and the state. We are talking about the conscious impact of the state and society on the existing language system, on the functioning, development and interaction of languages, on their role in the life of the people or peoples. The nature of this interaction is determined by the ideological norms and values prevailing in society, and is expressed in the complex of relevant measures aimed at solving political problems in the field of language education and education of members of this society.

The educational policy in the field of introducing students to a foreign language belongs to the sphere of the language policy of the state and society. The following circumstances speak in favor of this statement. Firstly, due to the inclusion of a foreign language in the school system, the register of languages studied at the school is increasing and, consequently, the range of possible and real communicative contacts between representatives of various foreign-speaking societies. Secondly, teaching a foreign language changes the proportion of different languages and affects the processes of linguistic and personal (including cultural and speech) development of students, their awareness of the interdependence between themselves and all people on the planet in finding solutions to global problems. In addition, teaching a foreign language stimulates the processes of understanding the sociocultural portraits of the country of the studied language and representatives of another linguosocium. Thirdly, the choice of a specific language for teaching / learning at school and, in general, the inclusion of a foreign language in the content of school education are determined largely by the political positions and orientations of a particular society and state. Thus, the problems of schooling a foreign language have a pronounced political sound.

It is from the positions that schooling of a foreign language is either supported and developed, or, on the contrary, is, from a political point of view, undesirable in society. Since the educational policy in relation to a foreign language acts as one of the elements of the language policy as a whole and, therefore, is an integral part of the national policy of any state, it, in its main features, depends on the general principles of the latter. Consequently, the language policy, including in the educational sphere of a foreign language, is aimed at establishing interstate and inter-community contacts, at preventing, regulating and overcoming conflicts that are possible as a result of the suppression or unreasonable exaggeration of the role of certain languages in society. In this sense, we can talk about the political «profitability” of knowledge of languages - languages of neighboring countries, languages of immigrants, languages of international and interethnic communication. As you know, it is from this perspective that language policy is, for example, an important tool for building a unified modern Europe and one of the current areas of work of the Council of Europe.

Of particular importance is the solution of problems of language policy in a multinational state. In the multicultural and multilingual space of the country, the goals and content of the language policy are influenced by such factors as bilingualism / multilingualism, the uniqueness of national and interethnic relations, etc.

School language policy is an integral part of the language policy of the country as a whole. Therefore, it has the features of a common language policy. However, it also has its own specific features, which are determined by the goals and content of the general educational policy pursued by the state at a certain stage of social development. School language policy can be defined as the purposeful and scientifically sound management of the state and society by the functioning and development of the school system in the field of native and non-native languages. Since the language policy in the educational sphere of a foreign language is an integral part of the school language policy, it can be defined as a combination of purposeful and scientifically sound measures to guide the functioning and development of the education system in the field of a foreign language. It most naturally carries the features of both a general language policy and a school language policy. At the same time, she has her own goals and objectives.

The commonality of the country's linguistic policy, school language policy and language educational policy regarding a foreign language is that all of them are strategically aimed at establishing peace and interaction between peoples, and in a multinational country at avoiding and eliminating interethnic conflicts.

The development of multilingualism in the country is possible only as a result of political actions aimed at the practical implementation of the equality of languages. The consequence and tool for the implementation of this goal in the educational sphere should be:

1) strengthening the role and importance of national languages in the education system;

2) the development of national cultures based on the native language;

3) the creation of new and improvement of existing national education systems in the mother tongue;

5) publication of literature, including textbooks, in national languages, etc. It is quite obvious that this work should not be carried out to the detriment of any language and that a foreign language is given its proper place in this system.

A feature of modern educational policy in relation to a foreign language is its focus on creating favorable conditions in the country for different categories of students to study a wide range of foreign languages in order to satisfy social and personal needs in learning these languages. Therefore, the range of interests of educational policy in relation to school education of foreign language includes a number of issues, the solution of which is aimed at creating favorable conditions for the functioning of the language education system. Firstly, these are questions about the choice of a foreign language for studying at school and the language of instruction at school, about the number of languages studied and the sequence of their study, as well as about the age at which students should begin to learn a foreign language. Secondly, we are talking about determining the amount of study time devoted to learning a foreign language in a particular type of educational institution, and about the distribution of this time in a single course. Thirdly, an important issue is the establishment of the status of a foreign language in the general system of school education (compulsory / optional study of one / two / three foreign languages or optional). Fourth, the essential issues falling within the competence of the educational policy regarding a foreign language are the determination of the forms of teaching a foreign language (dividing classes into language groups, the number of students making up one group) and the rationale for the standard in the field of training students in a foreign language and means, providing its objective assessment and certification. In addition, finally, fifth, a special role is played by the solution of problems related to the substantiation of the general strategic orientation of the system of school language education, determined by the methodological basis of the methodological model of teaching a subject.

References:

1. Milrud R. P. Methodology and development of teaching foreign languages // Foreign languages at school. — 1995. — №. 5. — P. 13−18, P. 40.
2. N. I. Gez, M. V. Lyakhovitsky, A. A. Mirolyubov. Methods of teaching foreign languages in high school / M.: Higher school, 1982. — 373 p.