Fostering language learning strategies through comparative linguistics: future directions for Azerbaijani higher education

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to examine the motivation for using comparative linguistics methods, namely the methodology of the comparative language approach in English classes at Baku State University (BSU), and to show the levels of typological errors among students. In the paper an analysis of related literature was used. Among the sources that contained the key terms of the presented work, 30 were selected in order to describe the issue in the broadest possible way. In addition, for the practical part of the work, elements of comparative linguistics in the study of English among first-year students of the Faculty of Germanic Philology at the BSU were used. Students were divided into 2 groups. One of them studied English based on the tenets of comparative linguistics. The novelty lies in the fact that usually in the linguistic environment such subjects as comparative linguistics are introduced at the senior courses. The results of the study showed that based on the comparative linguistic method in the didactics of teaching a foreign language, bilingual students perceive the acquisition of English based on the comparison of sounds, morphemes, and lexemes at the associative level with their native language (despite the fact that Azerbaijani belongs to another group of languages) and has a systemic flexibility. Initially, one relied on the developed didactic methods of comparative linguistics. The final module showed better results for Group 2. The conclusions indicate that typological errors among BSU students are language “noise”. However, phonological, morphological, lexical, and syntactic errors can be eliminated through comparative didactics in foreign language teaching. It improves the general cognitive and metacognitive applicants’ abilities, strengthens their understanding of their native language, strengthens reading and writing, and develops general communication skills. So, the methodology of the comparative language approach is active, participatory, and motivating.