Khairullina G.
Senior teacher of Educational Process Psychological and Pedagogical Support Department, Brach of «NCPD«Orleu» Teachers Professional Development Institute, Karaganda, Kazakhstan
NEW APPROACHES TO STUDENTS’ FUNCTIONAL LITERACY DEVELOPMENT
Summary
The present article deals with the influence of language games on students’ functional literacy development. This issue has become essential in Kazakhstan educational system. The ways how to raise students’ functional literacy have been considered. This article will be useful for English teachers delivering lessons in the context of the updated curriculum.
Keyword: updated curriculum, functional literacy, raise functional literacy, language games, creative teaching, creative students
In the focus of Kazakhstan updated system of education is development of functional literacy. It is found to be crucial nowadays, because most Kazakhstan youth go abroad to get education.
«In the middle of 1980 years developed countries have come to the conclusion that it is necessary to refuse the model of education which makes people to remember t numbers, dates, and use so-called functional literacy which will teach us how to apply the knowledge, how to search information, fast reading, to bind large blocks of information in a logical way, and so on», the Minister said.
It is the question how to achieve functional literacy development? How to raise it? Only by making the process of learning more attractive and fascinating. When students not just learn they really enjoy learning, this way their learning will be more useful and developing. Many educators suggest using different effective methods and approaches. Among of them games have been found more attractive.
“Game is one of the first ways of learning which enables new knowledge through experience” [5,14].
In current time the process of teaching becomes challenging because of the requirements to the level of students’ knowledge. Teachers are looking for the ways to make teaching English less boring and more entertaining. It sounds a problem because teachers should raise students literacy and in the same time make teaching less monotonous. Language games are the right way to solve this problem. We shouldn’t deny that children are involved in games from their first days of their life, they play and learn simultaneously. When playing children manage to develop their social and cognitive skills. All children like to play in spite of their age, and they take part in a game with more desire and enthusiasm. Games enable students to be more active and motivate them to be an equal participant of the teaching process. Teaching by games helps teachers to meet all students needs despite their level of knowledge.
Games are recognized to be the most effective way to solve the problems of students’ functional literacy development. Nowadays this issue is found to be crucial. Developing language and communicative competence is the important goal of teaching any language in schools. Within the educational process, literacy is the most important skill enabling the pupils for language communication, learning all other school subjects. The purpose of forming functional literacy is to enable a pupil to participate in exchanges of different information that requires e.g. talking with peers, reading instructions on food packages, understanding directions, writing an application to university, work[2,18]. Definitely, teaching English should encourage the literacy development in an interesting and creative way. Functionally literate person is one who can successfully cope quite well with the demands of everyday life, use his knowledge in practice in order to survive. Functional literacy is essential to a quality lifestyle. If a person is functionally literate then he or she can live independently in our modern world. When students learn by doing things themselves rather than being taught how to do them they become more functionally literate[2,36].
In order to develop a person functionally literate, teachers should enhance stimulating creative thinking using original teaching approaches and teaching resources. If teachers manage to achieve these goals in a language class, it will lead to students being open, curious and critical. Using language games is found to be effective in teaching students in a creative way. Teachers should bring the content of teaching closer to the pupils using “creative teaching”.
Different teaching methods provide developing students literacy in a creative way. Language games are recognized to be the quickest way to activate the process of teaching making the path to knowledge less challenging and entertaining. When playing games, children learn without feeling tired, they are more concentrated on learning and they can’t even imagine that they learn through games. Using language games enables students comprehend the content without any difficulties and much more faster. Learning through games students are not worried about the time, which passes much quicker for them. Through games students are able to acquire abstract contents, such as language contents, more easily. Hence, different stimulating tasks and problem situations will make the lessons much more meaningful and students will be able to solve lesson challenges by playing language games and at the same time not only learn and discover their rules, but also seek other ways and paths which would enable better acquisition of language contents and functional literacy.
The tasks aimed at critical thinking development must stimulate divergent thinking ,which include making mind maps, brainstorming, dramatizations, storytelling, craftwork. Art and Music lessons stimulate students’ creativity give students possibility to use their full potential. At these lessons a friendly atmosphere takes place strengthening the relations between student-student, teacher-student, teacher-students communication.
According to scientists-researchers creative teaching motivates students sparking their interests in learning. Creativity itself strongly increases the quality of lessons and makes them much more efficient than the usual lessons which are boring and monotonous. The most important thing with creative teaching is the fact that it raises students’ level of knowledge developing language competences by giving students more possibility to acquire grammar and orthography in more efficient way.
Creative teaching using language games is essential to children, it is recognized as an effective way of teaching literacy in creative manner. Integrating games into their lessons teachers enable students to be aware of the fact that when playing games they learn faster and more easily, they are more motivated and learning becomes less relaxed and less challenged.
While playing students manage to think critically, be creative, speak, show self-respect and self-control, motivation. Games stimulate better motivation and activity, improve attention and concentration, decrease exhaustion and consequently, integrate pupils with various problems into classroom activities in more effective way.
The Croatian scientists made some researches on the use and efficiency of games in junior grades of primary school and they made a conclusion that the most useful games are associations, word games, rebuses, crosswords and mathematical games, when games are more attractive at the beginning or the end of the lesson. When teacher starts the lesson she/he tries to spark students’ interest and involve them in the teaching process [3,20]. The pupils prefer games of associations and competitive games as a warming-up. These kinds of games keep the pupils constantly interested, attentive and willing to help their group as individuals, making them unconsciously think in a critical manner and find solutions. Further research [6,]showed that 80% of teachers regularly use games in their lessons, mostly games for stimulation of language skills of reading and writing. Language games are most often used to teach language expression and then orthography, being played to increase motivation or revise educational contents. According to the research conducted by the Croatian scientists the teachers with fewer years of working experience use a variety of games and more games than teachers with longer teaching experience [6,19].
Language games are recognized as a space independent atmopshere[4,345]. “Games (according to Aladrović Slovaček, 2011) are usually divided into three kinds: functional (acquiring a particular content), symbolical (teaching future roles – e.g. girls play with dolls and so get prepared for their future roles of mothers) and games with rules (social games, e.g. Ludo) [3,22]. Combining these three kinds of games teachers manage to develop different kinds of language games which enable to teach, give students possibility to strengthen the material, motivate students. While playing, children learn and this creates a positive classroom atmosphere, relaxed and free, and therefore students do not regard learning as challenge. Students are more enthusiastic in learning because of the non-monotonous learning.
In conclusion, playing games and learning students are able to skip the obstacles of learning generally have positive attitude. Especially at senior stage when students face to more challenging material. Any stage of learning requires active methods of learning. The realization of language games into the teaching process positively influences not only the classroom environment, but also students’ attitudes, and therefore it is believed that more games in the classroom would positively influence the process of solving functional literacy problems. Positive emotions are crucial issue in the process of teaching. Language games helps to encourage students in learning without being frustrated.
References
- Система школьного образования в РК должнаперейти на модель функциональной грамотности – Е.Сагадиев. https://clck.ru/GcTSe
- Formation of functional literacy of 12-year school students in English. Methodological instructions. – Astana: National academy of education named after Y. Altynsarin NAE, 2013. – 38 p.
- Aladrović Slovaček, K., Ivanković, M., & Srzentić, D. (2014). Jezične igre u nastavnoj praksi [Language games in teaching]. In B. Petrović-Sočo, & A. Višnjić-Jevtić (Eds.), Games in early childhood (pp. 14-23). Zagreb: OMEP Hrvatska and Alfa.
- Đurić, A. (2009). Važnost igre u nastavnom procesu [The importance of playing in teaching]. Školski vjesnik, 3(58), 345-354.
- Nikčević-Milković, A., Rukavina, M., & Galić, M. (2010). Uporaba i korisnost igre u ranome poučavanju u osnovnoj školi [Use and efficiency of playing games in primary school]. Život i škola , 1(25), 108-121.
- Croatian Journal of Education Vol.19; Sp.Ed.No.1/2017, pages:11-25 Original research paper Paper submitted: 8th September 2016 Paper accepted: 24th January 2017 https://doi.org/10.15516/cje.v19i0.2434