Criteria for the selection of precedent cultural phenomena for teaching foreign languages

Abstract

Proficiency in a foreign language does not mean that the individuals possess a certain lexicon and grammatical minimum as this is not enough for them to become full participants of the intercultural communication. Foreign language learners can become active and full participants of the intercultural dialogue if they retain a developed secondary linguistic personality. The latter’s development is provided for through the acquisition of the precedent cultural phenomena, which comprise national, socio-cultural and historical information and indicate its availability. The article proposes a system of criteria for the selection of precedent cultural phenomena as a teaching material for the foreign language classes. The paper characterizes the precedent cultural phenomena as a means of secondary linguistic personality formation. It has been established that an individual possessing the secondary linguistic personality is a communicatively active subject that is readily engaged in the intercultural communication and is able to produce appropriate verbal behavior in a given situation of the intercultural communication. Precedent cultural phenomena, which are cognitive structures formed in the native speakers’ mental base relying on their socio-cultural and national-historical experience, contribute to the development of the foreign-language speakers’ worldview and the skills of intercultural communication. It was found that the criteria for selecting a precedent cultural phenomenon are the properties that allow it to be included in the content of teaching as a teaching material. The author suggests the system of the said criteria comprising the basic (informative, nominative, pragmatic and applicable) and optional (programme-related, intercultural-related) criteria. It was assumed that the inclusion of precedent cultural phenomena as a teaching material in the content of the foreign language teaching may make it more effective, ensure the actualization of interdisciplinary relations, and contribute to the development of the secondary linguistic personality and students` intercultural competence.