The using of reading method in the process of foreign students’ language and cultural adaptation in the USA higher educational institutions

Urgency of the research is due to the need to introduce into the Ukrainian foreign students’ training system the relevant methods that promote the development of the necessary linguistic and cultural skills.

Target setting. The analysis and research of foreign experience of conducting the foreign students’ socio-pedagogical support will allow to practically implement the innovative activities that have demonstrated their effectiveness in other countries.

Aсtual scientific researches and issues analysis. The application of the reading method in the adaptation process, as well as the characteristic of the fundamental aspects of the significance of the reading process were studied by P. Burns, B. Roe and E. Ross. The role of reading in the educational and preparatory processes has been the subject of scientific research by W. Ruphley, T. Blair, W. Nichols, E. Bernhardt, K. Koda, K. Lems, L. Miller, T. Soro, J. Hedgcock, D. Ferris, M. Ko, M. Kredátusová, Y. Saito, E. Horwitz, T. Garza. However, the question of the reading method application in the foreign students’ adaptation in the United States and the characteristics of practical activities that carried out within this method is insufficiently studied.

The research objective. To determine the effectiveness of the reading method using during the linguistic and socio-cultural adaptational foreign students’ training in the higher education institutions in the United States.

The statement of basic material. The author analyzes the programs of the USA higher education institutions that use the method of reading in the formation of foreign students’ linguistic and cultural patterns, increase the effectiveness of communication activities and understanding of socio-cultural characteristics of the host country. The characteristics of reading allowed to determine that this method has the features of the process (which is transformed into certain actions that aimed at achieving the delivered goal) and the product (the using of aspects of achieving the goal in a certain sequence, which is necessary for process efficiency). The author considers strategies (descending and ascending) that promote the reading comprehension and are necessary for the linguistic and cultural patterns formation, because only when understanding the textual information, the personality of a foreign student is able to form the necessary elements that will later be applied in practice.

Conclusions. As a result of a study of the application of the reading method in the adaptation process of the USA educational institutions, it was found that reading contributes to the cultural skills formation by separating them from the textual component. It is emphasized that the effectiveness of reading has directly depends on the ability of a foreign student to modify their own strategy of perception of textual information depending on the purpose and direction of the text. The analysis of the experience of applying the method of reading in American educational institutions allows to determine the importance of discussing what was read in the process of group work, which affects at the development of communication skills. As a result, the cultural and linguistic elements are transformed into linguistic and cultural patterns.

Keywords: linguistic and cultural pattern, text element, foreign student, acculturation, descending strategies, ascending strategies.

 

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