The role of the socio-cultural aspect in the study of foreign languages

The specificity of language functioning as a foreign language is that its communicative function provides cross-cultural communication. There is a situation of meeting people who, using the same language, perceive messages differently, because the language structures generated by them are built on the basis of different socio-cultural structures. Socio-cultural factors have recently become the subject of close attention of Methodists, who determine the sociocultural conditions in society by the attitude to the people who speak a foreign language, its culture, society, as well as the system of cultural and social relations adopted in society, etc.

The interdisciplinary nature of the content of the subject "foreign language" has favorable opportunities for creating a sufficiently broad socio-cultural educational space, while the use of a socio-cultural approach in language education allows us to reveal all the components of the concept of the level of functional socio-cultural literacy in a new, deeper and meaningful way. Socio-cultural competence can be achieved at the expense of other disciplines, and such sources of socio-cultural information as literature, mass media, the Internet, and films can serve as a significant complement to the development of socio-cultural competence.

The question of didactic content of socio-cultural competence when teaching a foreign language is rightfully raised. Traditionally, in the scientific literature, competence is considered in terms of: knowledge, skills and abilities. The organization of the educational process in communicative training is cyclical. This means that the learning process is divided into cycles that include several lessons. Each cycle sets a set of goals – cognitive, educational, developmental and educational. But since development, knowledge and education are carried out through communication, the main feature for the allocation of lesson cycles is the educational aspect, which ensures the integrity of the methodological and subject content.

Knowledge of the culture of the country of the studied language is not an end in itself, but only an occasion (means) for a deeper understanding and understanding of their native culture. The main thing in the process of learning is not only the accumulation of information about the country, but also the knowledge of people, their peers, their way of thinking, behavior, and attitude to universal values.

Each academic subject contributes to the creation of the student's holistic view of the world, but from a certain angle. The subject "foreign language" due to its specificity, as a means of communication and knowledge, plays a special role in the formation of a fairly complete picture of the world for students. This is both a linguistic and socio-cultural picture of the world. The specificity of the subject "foreign language" is that the leading components of the content of teaching a foreign language are not the basics of science, but the ways of their activities: teaching different types of speech activity: reading, writing, listening, speaking. Another feature of teaching a foreign language is that speech training is possible only in communication (oral or written). Students who master socio-cultural literacy face a number of quite complex tasks, and it is very important in psychological and pedagogical terms that these tasks become personally significant for them.

During the entire period of learning a foreign language, a communicative competence is formed, which components are: linguistic, sociolinguistic, debatable, strategic, social.

In turn, socio-cultural competence is understood as "a set of knowledge about the country of the language being studied, national and cultural features of social and speech behavior of native speakers and the ability to use such knowledge in the process of communication, following customs, rules of behavior, etiquette, social conditions and stereotypes of behavior of native speakers".

Ability to apply knowledge of national-cultural peculiarities of the target language consists of:

• 1.    Encyclopaedic knowledge (background signs, the realities of the country of studied language, speech and non-speech behavior in situations of oral communication, non-equivalent vocabulary);

• 2.    country-Specific knowledge (natural and climatic conditions, sociopolitical, economic and social features, the main stages of historical and cultural development of the country of the studied language);

• 3.    Knowledge about the culture of the country of the studied language (traditions and customs, life, features of the national character and psychology of the country of the studied language).

The main goal in learning a foreign language is the formation of communicative competence, where all other goals (educational, educational and developmental) are implemented in the process of achieving this main goal. Communicative competence in its modern sense provides for the formation of the ability to interact internationally.

What qualities (properties) of the student's personality should be formed in order for him to be able to participate in intercultural communication in a foreign language? Based on the above, it is possible to determine as an important task of teaching a foreign language the development of such personal qualities necessary for the successful implementation of communication in intercultural communication situations, as:

• -    openness (freedom from prejudice towards people who are representatives of a different culture);

  – tolerance (tolerance);

• -    ability to hear and listen to the interlocutor;

• -    ability to see commonalities and peculiarities caused by national factors;

• -    the ability to understand and accept differences in cultural behavior of the native language and the language of the country being studied;

• -    readiness for practical use of a foreign language as a means of communication with native speakers;

• -    the need to learn a foreign language independently outside of school hours.

The stated position is presented in the diagram regarding the goals of teaching a foreign language. It shows that all the components are interrelated and mutually dependent on each other.

In order for students to properly comprehend the socio-cultural basics, certain requirements are necessary for the teacher:

• -    possession of the sound side of speech that meets the orthoepic norms of the taught language;

• –    the ability to correctly build and perceive foreign language speech by ear;

• -    possession of a lexical stock that allows teaching students to communicate within the topics and situations provided for by the standards of a foreign language;

• –    local knowledge and knowledge of the culture of the taught language.

Based on the above, it should be emphasized once again that the acquisition of a foreign language without familiarization with the culture of the country of the language being studied, with the mentality of people who speak this language, etc.can not be complete. In other words, it is necessary to master not only the language itself, but also the "image of the world" of those who speak it, since representatives of a different culture should not be psychologically "strangers" to us.