The cultural component in language education: its implementation in secondary school course books for teaching English in Soviet Ukraine (1930s–1980s)

ABSTRACT

The present article is a result of historical investigation into the cultural aspects of English language education in secondary schools of Ukraine in the 1930s–1980s, when Ukraine was one of the republics of the former Soviet Union. The course books, the school curricula and the articles published in scientific journals during this period built the documentary basis of the examination of the evolution of intercultural and intracultural information in instructional materials over these decades. The article offers insights into the content and character of the texts and tasks included in the English course books and major trends in presenting cultural aspects of language teaching. The article relies on data from 16 English-language textbooks written and published in the Soviet Union following the regularly issued national secondary school curricula. The qualitative and chronological study of the textbooks uses a combination of methods of content analysis (CA), qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), and critical discourse analysis (CDA). We single out stages in the development of the cultural component of English language education, including the character of the cultural messages delivered through them, and the values, attitudes, and behaviour patterns suggested by different discourse forms. We argue that although the obligatory study of one foreign language (English, German, French, Spanish) by every student was officially introduced in the USSR in 1932, this knowledge remained mostly useless because of an almost complete lack of contact of ordinary people with the outer world and, thus, the cultural component of the language education pursued primarily ideological goals.

KEYWORDS:

• Cultural component
• Soviet Ukraine
• English language education
• course book/textbook
• Soviet

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

¹ Michael Byram, “Teaching Culture and Language: Towards an Integrated Model,” in Mediating Languages and Cultures: Towards an Intercultural Theory of Foreign Language Education, ed. M. Byram and D. Buttjes (Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 1990), 17.

² Anthony Howart, A History of English Language Teaching (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1984), 296–7.

³ Michael Byram, Teaching and Assessing Intercultural Communicative Competence (Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 1997), chap. 3, ї.

⁴ Council of Europe, Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), 104–5.

⁵ Olha Misechko, “Formuvannya systemy profesiynoyi pidhotovky vchytelya inozemnoyi movy u pedahohichnykh navchalʹnykh zakladakh Ukrayiny (1900–1964)” [Formation of the System of Professional Training of Foreign Language Teachers in Pedagogical Educational Institutions of Ukraine (1900–1964)] (EdD diss., Kyiv, Institute of Pedagogy of the Academy of Pedagogical Science of Ukraine, 2011).

⁶ Martin Cortazzi and Lixian Jin, “Cultural Mirrors. Materials and Methods in the EFL Classroom,” in Culture in Second Language Teaching and Learning, ed. E. Hinkel (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 204–10.

⁷ Thus, these course books focus primarily on the intracultural awareness of language learners.

⁸ In this case, intercultural awareness is also developed.

⁹ Such course books provide opportunities for the development of both intra- and intercultural awareness.

¹⁰ Audrey Osler and Hugh Starkey, “Citizenship Education and National Identities in France and England: Inclusive or exclusive?”, Oxford Review of Education 27, no. 2 (2001): 287–305.

¹¹ Cortazzi and Jin, 1999.

¹² Claire Kramsh, The Multilingual Subject. What Language Learners Say about their Experience and why it Matters (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009).

¹³ Steven C. Dunnet, Fraida Dubin, and Amy Lezberg, “English Language Teaching from an Intercultural Perspective”, in Culture Bound, ed. J. M. Valdes (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986), 148–61.

¹⁴ Sid Ali Selama and Hamid Amziane, “English Language Teaching for Intercultural Awareness English Language Teaching For Intercultural Awareness In The Algerian Middle School Education:, Textbooks Analysis”, مجلة العلوم الإنسانية. 7, no. 3 (2020), doi: http://10.35395/1728-007-003-103.

¹⁵ Denise Santos, “Learning English as a Foreign Language in Brazilian Elementary Schools: Textbooks and their Lessons about the World and about Learning”, Paradigm 2, no. 5 (2002): 25–38.

¹⁶ Karen Resager, “Cultural References in European Textbooks: An Evaluation of Recent Tendencies,” in Mediating languages and cultures: Towards an intercultural theory of foreign language education, ed. D. Buttjes and M. Byram (Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 1991), 181–92.

¹⁷ Peter Doye, “Images of Britain in German Textbooks for Teaching English”, in As Others See Us: Anglo-German Perceptions, ed. H. Husemann (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1994).

¹⁸ Nobuyuki Hino, “Nationalism and English as an International Language: The History of English Textbooks in Japan”, World Englishes 7, no. 3 (1988): 309–14.

¹⁹ Ahmad Bataineih, “An Evaluation of the Authentic Socio Cultural Elements in the Prescribed English Language Textbooks of the Secondary Schools in Jordan”, An-Najah University Journal for Research 23, no. 1 (2009): 289–324.

²⁰ K. Adaskou, Donard Britten and B. Fahsi, “Design Decisions on the Cultural Content of a Secondary English Course for Morocco”, Elt Journal 44, no. 1 (1990): 3–10.

²¹ Sayed Kazim Shah, Mumtaz Ahmed and Rashid Mahmood, “Representation of Target Culture in the ELT Textbooks in Pakistan: Evaluation of ‘Oxford Progressive English’ for Cultural Relevance”, Journal of Education and Practice 5 (2014): 89–101.

²² Blair Bateman and Marilena Mattos, “An Analysis of the Cultural Content of Six Portuguese Textbooks”, Portuguese Language Journal 2 (2006), http://www.latam.ufl.edu/portugueselanguagejournal/Textbooks.pdf.

²³ Servet Çelik, “Cultural Perspectives of Turkish ELT Coursebooks: Do Standardized Teaching Texts Incorporate Intercultural Features?”, Education in Science 38 (2013): 336–351; Suayb Arslan, “An Analysis of Two Turkish EFL Books in Terms of Cultural Aspect”, Procedia- Social and Behavioural Sciences 232 (2016): 218–19; and Arif Sarıçobana and Özkan Kırmızı, “An Analysis of Turkish EFL Coursebooks in Terms of Intercultural Communicative Elements”, International Journal of Curriculum and Instruction 12, no. 2 (2020): 226–44.

²⁴ Wolfgang Pauels and Thomas Fox, “The Representation of the USA in EFL Textbooks in the Soviet Union and Russia”, American Studies International 42, no. 1 (2004): 92–122. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41280038; and Olha Misechko, “Sotsiokulturnyy vymir radyanskykh shkilnykh pidruchnykiv z anhliyskoyi movy: retrospektyvnyy analiz” [Sociocultural Dimension of Soviet School Textbooks on the English Language: A Retrospective Analysis], Inozemni movy v suchasniy shkoli (Foreign languages in the modern school) 2 (2015): 26–34.

²⁵ Tamara Lytnyova, “Tsilovyy component navchannya inozemnykh mov u konteksti rozvytku zmistu natsionalnoyi zahalnoyi serednoyi osvity (30-ti roky XX – pochatok XXI stolittya)” [The Objectives of Teaching Foreign Languages in the Context of the Development of the Content of National General Secondary Education (30s of the 20th Century – the Beginning of the 21st Century)] (PhD diss., Zhytomyr, Zhytomyr State University, 2009); and Olha Misechko, “Formuvannya systemy profesiynoyi pidhotovky vchytelya inozemnoyi movy u pedahohichnykh navchalnykh zakladakh Ukrayiny (1900–1964)” [Formation of the System of Professional Training of Foreign Language Teachers in Pedagogical Educational Institutions of Ukraine (1900–1964)] (EdD diss., Kyiv, Institute of Pedagogy of the Academy of Pedagogical Science of Ukraine, 2011).

²⁶ Primary and secondary school programmes: Collection (Kharkiv: Radyanska shkola, 1934), 26.

²⁷ Ibid.

²⁸ Secondary School Programmes. Foreign Languages (V–X grades) (Kyiv: Radyanska shkola, 1938), 6.

²⁹ Ibid.

³⁰ Irina Alekseyevna Gruzinskaya, Metodika prepodavania angliyskogo yazyka [Methodology of Teaching the English Language] (Moscow: Uchpedgiz, 1938), 103.

³¹ In Figure 2 you can find examples of English textbooks and instructional materials edited in the USSR in 1930–1945.

³² Igor Rakhmanov and Dmitriy Schcherba, “Osnovnyje princypy otbora leksicheskogo minimuma dlia sredney shkoly” [Main Principles of the Selection of Lexical Minimum for the Secondary School], in Innostranny yazyk v shkole [Foreign language in school], ed. M.V. Sergiyevskiy (Moscow: Gosuchpedgiz, 1946), 4–7.

³³ Ibid.

³⁴ Pro polipshennya vykladannya inozemnykh mov u serednikh shkolakh Ukrayinsʹkoyi 566 RSR. Postanova № 2038 Rady Ministriv URSR vid 31 zhovtnya 1947 r. Zbirnyk nakaziv ta rozporyadzhenʹ Ministerstva osvity Ukrayinsʹkoyi RSR, 1947. № 17−18, 2–3 [On Improving the Teaching of Foreign Languages in Secondary Schools of the Ukrainian 566 SSR. Resolution No. 2038 of the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR dated 31 October 1947. Collection of orders of the Ministry of Education of the Ukrainian SSR, 1947. No. 17−18, 2−3.]

³⁵ Olga Khanova, English for the 4th Form (3rd Year of Studying, for Schools with Some Subjects Taught in English) (Moscow: Uchpedgiz, 1954), 95–6.

³⁶ Ibid.

³⁷ Olga Khanova, English for the 3rd Form (2nd Year of Studying, for Schools with Some Subjects Taught in English) (Moscow: Uchpedgiz, 1953).

³⁸ Ibid., 141–2, 155–6.

³⁹ Igor Rakhmanov, Metodika obuchenia nemetskomu yazyku v VIII–X klassakh [Methods of Teaching the German Language in forms 8–10] (Moscow, 1956).

⁴⁰ “Obespechit’ shkoly polnotsennymi uchebnikami [To Provide Schools with High-Grade Textbooks]”, in Inostrannyje yazyki v shkole [Foreign languages in school], no. 4 (1961): 36.

⁴¹ Apollon Weise and Boris Zarubin, English. Textbook for the 10^th Form (Moscow: Uchpedgiz, 1960).

⁴² Apollon Weise and Boris Zarubin, English. Textbook for the 9th Form (Moscow: Uchpedgiz, 1963).

⁴³ Olga Khanova, English for the 3rd Form (2^nd Year of Studying, for Schools with Some Subjects Taught in English) (Moscow: Uchpedgiz, 1953).

⁴⁴ Yuliy Borisov and Larisa Borisova, English. Book Two. Textbook for the 3rd Form of Schools with Some Subjects Taught in English (Moscow: Prosveshchenie, 1968).

⁴⁵ Vladimir Kharitonov, Y. Chembulatov, and T. Pereverseva, English. Textbook for the 6^th form. 5^th Year of Studying English. Translation of the 2nd Russian edition into Ukrainian (Kyiv: Radians’ka shkola, 1966).

⁴⁶ E. Shubin, “Printsipy postroyeniya shkol’nykh uchebnikov inostrannykh yazykov [Principles of Construction of School Textbooks of Foreign Languages]”, Inostrannyje yazyki v shkole [Foreign languages in school] 4 (1961): 44–56.

⁴⁷ Yevgeniy Vereshchagin and Vitaliy Kostomarov, Yazyk i kul’tura. Lingvostranovedeniye v prepodavanii russkogo yazyka kak inostrannogo [Language and culture. Language-and-country study in teaching Russian as a foreign language] (Moscow: Moscow State University, 1973).

⁴⁸ Anatoliy Starkov, “Uchebnik angliyskogo yazyka dlia 9 klassa [English Coursebook for the IX Form]” in Inostrannyje yazyki v shkole [Foreign Languages in School] 3 (1973): 53.

⁴⁹ Anatoliy Starkov and Richard Dixon, 7th Form English. Pupil’s Book (Moscow: Prosveshchenie, 1972).

⁵⁰ Anatoliy Starkov and Richard Dixon, 8th Form English. Pupil’s Book (Moscow: Prosveshchenie, 1972).

⁵¹ Anatoliy Starkov and Richard Dixon, 9th Form English. Pupil’s Book (Moscow: Prosveshchenie, 1972).

⁵² Anatoliy Starkov and Richard Dixon, 10th Form English. Pupil’s Book (Moscow: Prosveshchenie, 1974).

⁵³ Anatoliy Starkov, Richard Dixon, and Boris Ostrovsky, Tenth Form English. Pupil’s Book and Reader (Moscow: Prosveshchenie, 1986).

⁵⁴ Anatoliy Starkov, Richard Dixon, and Boris Ostrovsky, Eleventh Form English. Pupil’s Book and Reader (Moscow: Prosveshchenie, 1986).

⁵⁵ See note 53 above.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Olha Misechko

Olha Misechko is a full professor at the Department of Foreign Languages for Sciences at Ivan Franko National University of Lviv (Lviv, Ukraine). She holds a PhD degree in theory and history of pedagogy and an EdD degree in theory and methodology of professional training. She teaches English for Special Purposes and conducts research on the history of foreign-language education and foreign-language teachers’ training, the methodology of teaching English, intercultural communication, and the use of English as a lingua franca. She was Dean of the Faculty of Foreign Languages of the Zhytomyr Ivan Franko State University and Head of the Department of Foreign Languages of the Lviv Institute of Economics and Tourism. orcid.org/ 0000-0002-6425-1322.

Tamara Lytniova

Tamara Lytniova is an associate professor at the Department of Foreign Languages and Modern Teaching Techniques at Zhytomyr Ivan Franko State University (Zhytomyr, Ukraine). She holds a PhD degree in theory and history of education. She teaches ESP and the Methodology of Teaching English and conducts research on the history of foreign-language education and language-teaching methodology. She is currently the Head of the Department of Foreign Languages and Modern Teaching Techniques at the Zhytomyr Ivan Franko State University. orcid.org/0000-0001-5150-467X.