Modern trends in updating the content of school language education in the Republic of Kazakhstan

Significant changes in such areas as technology, communication and science have a significant impact on the world economy, and as a result, on the knowledge and skills that students need to master in order to be successful in the 21st century. The article is devoted to the analysis of modern tendencies in the field of updating the content of the school education of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the subjects «Russian language» and

«Russian literature». A great deal of organizational and methodological work has already been done, in particular, model curricula for subjects, long-term plans, draft textbooks with updated content and guidelines for them, guidelines for criteria assessment, etc. were developed. Among the main significant changes in the study of subjects of the basic secondary school, the author points out approaches to learning (value-oriented, activity-oriented, personality-oriented and communicative), learning goals in the form of expected result, development of functional literacy of students, problem setting of the topic in long-term plans, spiral the principle in the construction of topics in the curriculum, the planning of expected results, the differentiation of training, the introduction of a system of criteria assessment. Updating the content of secondary education will reveal the contribution of the subject to the education of the student as a subject and his teaching, and interpersonal communication. The curriculum is aimed at implementing the principle of unity of upbringing and learning, based on the interconnection and interdependence of educational values and outcomes «on the way out» from the school with a system of learning objectives for subjects. 

One of the directions in reforming modern state policy in the Republic of Kazakhstan at the current stage was called «renewal». The concept of «renewal» supposes a qualitatively better change in something, the replacement of obsolete elements, links leading to improvement while preserving the foundations, the successive transfer of the best elements of the past, the restoration (rebirth) of the destroyed or forgotten. «In other words, updating is the replacement of obsolete elements with new, more modern, relevant ones without replacing the fundamental fundamentals.

At present, Kazakhstan has already done a lot of work aimed at adapting the education system to global challenges. But since this direction of state policy is systematic and phased, this work continues [1].

In 2016, the Center of pedagogical mastership of Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools created Educational programs for advanced training courses for teaching stuff on subjects of the basic secondary school, including «Russian language», «Russian literature». The same year, the teachers of secondary general schools of  the Republic of Kazakhstan and coaches of the MTC and JSC National Center for Professional Development «Orleu» were trained. Since 2017 it is planned to train subject teachers of 5 and 7 grades on a renewed educational program. In addition, huge methodological work has already been done by this time, in particular, standard curriculums on subjects, long-term plans, draft textbooks with updated content and guidelines for them, guidelines on criteria assessment, etc. were developed. Various meetings, seminars, conferences, etc. are held on the implementation of the updated content of education, as well as activities to discuss with the public, the current directions of the state educational policy.

Within the framework of updating the State Compulsory Education Standard of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the current 11-year and 12-year schools, the development of functional literacy of schoolchildren is designated as one of the priority goals of education. At the same time, the result of the development of functional literacy is the mastery of the learning system of key competences that allow young people to apply effectively the acquired knowledge in a practical situation and successfully use it in the process of social adaptation. Key competencies are the requirement of the State for the quality of the personality of the graduate of secondary school in the form of the results of education, stated in the State Educational Standards and Educational Programs.

Among the main drawbacks of the system of secondary education of the state experts identify the following three: 

1. Orientation of the student to the simple assimilation of knowledge in subjects, i.e. getting ready information by him,
2. The subject-object relationship between the teacher and the student, the passive role of the
3. The result of the training is the reproductive level of the student's activity, the evaluation of the number of acquired subject knowledge and skills of students [2].

Thus, these and many other factors influenced the adoption of a political decision to update the content of primary and secondary education in the Republic of Kazakhstan.

But what are the changes in the teaching of language disciplines in secondary school, and how will they affect students and, in general, the quality of education in the country?

As a result of the analysis of the standard curriculum in subjects «Russian Language» and «Russian Literature» we identified the following main positions:

1. The academic subject «Russian language» in the educational process performs two functions: firstly, it is the subject of study, and secondly, a means of studying other subjects. In connection with the changes in the modern world, the approach to teaching the Russian language is changing. The emphasis is on developing the skills of speech activity (listening, speaking, reading and writing) and functional literacy, which contributes to the successful socialization of students. A new structure of the content of the subject is introduced (see Table 1):

T a b l e   1

Distribution of the content of the curriculum on academic subject «Russian language» by sections of training [3] 

2. Pedagogical approaches. In the new structure of the curriculum, modern innovative pedagogical approaches have been reflected as classical foundations of education, including value-oriented, activityoriented, personality-oriented and communicative approaches. They are used to strengthen the priority of the system of learning objectives and the results of the educational process [3]. 

Organizing the student's activity in self-gaining knowledge. The developers of the program believe that «this approach contributes not only to the gaining subject knowledge, social and communication skills, but also personal qualities that will enable it to realize its own interests, prospects and make constructive decisions. The active cognitive activity of the student acquires a stable character in the conditions of co-creation and support of the teacher as a partner and consultant».

The introduction of personal-oriented education is possible using interactive teaching methods, creating prerequisites for the cooperation of all participants in the educational process, without the possibility for authoritarian relations.

Communicative approach, which is the basis for language learning, in the study of other subjects is considered as the leading principle of the development of students' speech activity through the integration of the language and content of the subject. In short-term planning, the need to identify language tasks in the lessons of other subjects is clearly indicated. Thus, the academic subject «Russian language» in the educational process performs two functions: firstly, it is the subject of study, and secondly, a means of studying other subjects.

3. Learning objectives. The expected results formulated in the curriculum are presented in the form of a learning objectives system. An important feature of the curriculum is their focus on the formation of both subject knowledge and skills and broad spectrum skills, namely functional and creative use, critical thinking, research, use of information and communication technologies, the use of various communication methods, the ability to work in a group and individually, problem solving and decision making. In addition, the content of the educational process for a particular subject is subordinated to the aims of instruction and the personal qualities that are oriented towards the formation of
4. Themes in long-term plans are formulated according to the subject of studying: Russian language in its real functioning in the modern conditions of polyethnic and multilingual Kazakhstan. This approach will help students develop critical thinking skills, problem-solving skills, and self-analysis (see Table 2). 

T a b l e   2

Examples of the formulation of topics in the long-term plans for the subject «Russian language» [3] 

5. The spiral principle of the curriculum. The peculiarity of the spiral educational program, according to Jerome Bruner, is due to the fact that with each new repeating study of the topic its complexity increases [4; 21]. The following table shows an example of the spiral principle of the program on the subject «Russian language» (see Table 3).

T a b l e   3

The system of learning objectives on the subject «Russian language», «Writing» section [3] 

We see that with each new year the learning goals are complicated in accordance with the classification of pedagogical goals proposed by Benjamin Bloom knowledge, understanding, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation. And the last three levels of thinking skills are critical thinking.

The advantages of this type of program, in the opinion of its supporters, are determined by the fact that information is strengthened and strengthened every time the student re-examines the subject matter, the logical development from simplified to complex solutions, students will be able to apply their previous knowledge to subsequent learning objectives.

6. Differentiation of education is a form of organization of educational activity, which takes into account the propensities, interests and abilities of students, but the overall (basic) level of general education is not reduced; It involves the creation of mobile or stable learning groups based on certain characteristics (interests, inclinations, abilities, achieved results) that make it possible to make the content of the training and the demands made on the students significantly different [5]. With a differentiated approach, the educator has the opportunity to take into account the individual needs of the students, so that the learning process is more effective, and the children can reveal their
7. Motivation of students. For the first time, the term «Motivation» was introduced in the subject curriculum. The aim of motivating students is their desire to do everything possible in the Russian language. Students tend to want to study well at school, but some lose motivation and interest. Ideally, students should be internally motivated, so that they have a desire, not a need to learn. Often this can be achieved through learning, active, complex and meaningful, as much as

For older students, in particular, the authors recommend the use of the curriculum much additional information about the motivation so that students can see the practical application of their new knowledge and skills in further education; positively reacted to tasks related to their everyday experience and based on real life situations.

There are pedagogical methods that can be used to preserve and even increase internal motivation, for example:

• Create interesting and engaging lessons that facilitate and encourage active learning;
• Use age-appropriate resources that will take into account the interests, needs and aspirations of students (including career aspirations);
• Change the content of the lessons so that different approaches to active learning are used (for example, students did not spend much time writing off or recording what the teacher says);
• Encourage student autonomy so that they can explain their success or the failure of their own efforts;
• Give positive feedback and identify individual development goals that will stimulate students' selfesteem and provide them with further development;
• Encourage students to experiment with new methods of teaching and learning (this will improve the relationship between teachers and students, will promote productive feedback and create a friendly learning environment).

The authors of the curriculum pay attention to the fact that in the list of these proposed approaches, encouragement or punishment was not mentioned to motivate students. They are usually used as methods associated with «external» motivation or the requirement to learn. The strategies used to motivate students based on this approach should be treated with caution, as they can reduce internal motivation. In particular, you should avoid rewards (including praise), punishment or feedback that can cause the learner to feel that:

• He is less able to accomplish the task;
• The task should not be completed until the end;
• This requires a limited amount of effort or effort;
• He received fewer

External compensation can be used with advantage in situations where there is a low initial internal motivation. Ideally, you need to set high expectations and use praise to strengthen the learner's sense of selfcompetence. Try to emphasize internal motives (for example, own interests, sympathies in the subject, achievement of personal goals, etc.).

The failure of the student in the study is often due to an unsuccessful attempt to refute the teacher's motivation. Obviously, the vital role of the teacher is to understand many factors that determine whether students are motivated or not to learn anything new [6; 9].

8. The system of criterial assessment. The introduction of the criterial assessment is due to the fact that one of the remarks given by the experts of the countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) was the lack of an understandable and transparent system for assessing students' learning achievements.

The purpose of the system of criterial assessment is to obtain objective information about the learning outcomes of students based on evaluation criteria and to provide it to all interested participants for further improvement of the educational process [5]. Criterial assessment is based on the relationship between teaching, learning and assessment. Evaluation results are used for effective planning and organization of the educational process. Allocate formative and summative evaluation. Formative assessment is conducted continuously, provides feedback between participants in the educational process, and allows for timely correction of the educational process. Summative evaluation is carried out after the study of a block of educational information in a certain period of study is completed, used to provide feedback to students, and to publish quarterly and annual assessments on the subject [3].

Thus, modern innovations in the economy, changes in the labor market necessitate the possession of skills that can enable students to analyze and assess the situation, ideas, information for solving problems, creatively use the available knowledge and experience to gain new knowledge, ideas, and information. Topical are such personal qualities as initiative, curiosity, readiness for change, sociability.

It can be noted that updating the content of secondary education on the subject «Russian language» will reveal the contribution of the academic subject to the education of the student as a subject and his teachings, and interpersonal communication. The curriculum is aimed at implementing the principle of unity of upbringing and learning, based on the interconnection and interdependence of educational values and outcomes «on the way out» from the school with a system of learning objectives for subjects.

The content of the daily educational process on a particular subject is subordinated to the goals of the teaching and is oriented towards the formation in the students of readiness for the creative application of the acquired knowledge, skills and habits in everyday life and at school, the development of perseverance in achieving success, motivates to lifelong learning [5; 4].

The development of personal qualities in unity with broad-based skills is the basis for teaching students basic  values  of  education:  «Kazakhstani  patriotism  and  civic  responsibility»,  «respect», «cooperation», «work and creativity», «openness», «lifelong learning». 

References

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2. Mozhaeva, O.I. (2015). O transliatsii opyta Nazarbaev Intellektualnykh shkol v ramkakh obnovleniia soderzhaniia obshcheho sredneho obrazovaniia [Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools in the frameworks of the renewal of education in general secondary education]. Otkrytaia shkola – Open school, 1(142). Retrieved from http://www.open-school.kz/glavstr/tema_nomera/tema_htm [in Russian].
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