Historical and linguistic commentary in the process of studying the Ukrainian language by students of pedagogical faculties

Abstract

The article considers the view that the students of pedagogical higher educational establishments need to understand the facts of modern Ukrainian not only in relation to its functioning (synchronic approach), but also regarding its genesis and development (diachronic approach). In particular, the author discusses the necessity of adding a subject «The Ukrainian Language: Genesis and Functioning» to the curriculums of the specialty «Primary Education» due to the fact that the students should obtain certain linguistic competences. The mentioned subject aims to provide the students, who are going to be primary school teachers, with a thorough understanding of the Ukrainian language developmental history in general and the genesis of common phonetic and morphological phenomena in particular so that they could understand general directions of language system evolution.In addition, the subject will contribute to the broadening of students’ general knowledge, their competences concerning Ukraine, the development of logical thinking, better understanding of their native language essence.The aim of the article is to justify the viability of adding a subject «The Ukrainian Language: Genesis and Functioning» to the curriculums of the specialty «Primary Education» considering the fact that the students of this specialty should obtain certain linguistic competences, that the subject has intellectual and educational resources, and to propose the substantial content for the course.Numerous works of Ukrainian scientists are dedicated to the issues of linguistic training for the specialists in Pedagogy including primary school professionals. Among these works, we should distinguish the studies by M. Vashulenko, V. Sobko, N. Kypychenko, S. Skvortsova, Yu. Vtornikova et al, who analyzed the current approaches to acquire linguistic competences by students, the ways and the means to intensify primary school pupils’ knowledge of Ukrainian. In these works, the authors pay attention to the general issues of the Ukrainian language teaching methods in primary school and to the formation of linguistic and oratory skills for teachers in Ukrainian speaking space, the professional and communicative as well as terminological competences for the future primary school teachers.At the same time, it is worth noting that in Ukrainian linguodidactics there are no works dedicated to the issues of future primary school teachers’ learning of the selected important details about developmental history of phonetic and grammatical systems of Ukrainian, and that is why this paper is of great importance.In the paper, the author highlights the didactic specificity of the subject «The Ukrainian Language: Genesis and Functioning», justifies the importance of historical and linguistic approach to the analysis of modern linguistic facts, suggests the topics and questions for the studying program of the mentioned subject.