Gitana Irnienė
Reflection on Language Teaching Process from Critical Thinking Perspectives
Reflection on Language Teaching Process from Critical Thinking Perspectives
Gitana Irnienė
Institute of Foreign Languages
Vilnius University
The scope of the report is the two-year educational period (from the third to the sixth semester), focusing on its goal and the steps to be taken to achieve it. The language teaching process is directly linked to the knowledge of a culture and of the way of thinking, thus, to understand and use linguistic information, it is necessary not only to memorize vocabulary, and phrases but also to know psychosocial factors:
– to know what is meant by a phrase or omission of words,
– to understand the customary way to talk about certain people, things, or events,
– to have a background on how representatives of various professions and social circles exchange information in a certain language,
– to be able to discern the meaning of information in day-to-day language and that of mass media.
Starting with the translation and contrasting as the main methods, the students gradually pass on to the text analysis. At the beginning, they are offered a simple scheme: 1 – to name characters and the event, 2 – to describe a context, and 3 – to specify the applied value. While in the course of Spanish for specific purposes taught in the 6th semester, various mass media texts and broadcasting material are used. The analysis is complemented by defining the purpose of the text: to inform or entertain, and the understanding of the context is expanded by considering the specifics of the media: its mission, vision, and the possible profile of the user. When examining the interview, special attention is paid to the formulation of the question, as well as the organisation of the text.
Keywords: perspective, contrasting, analysis scheme, stages of learning, context expansion
Gitana Irnienė is a lecturer at the Institute of Foreign Languages, Faculty of Philology, Vilnius University. She currently teaches Modern Spanish, Morphology, and Spanish for Specific Purposes, with experience ranging from elementary to intermediate levels. Her interests extend to the translation of books and films, as well as language editing in both literary and scientific texts. Having spent seven years living and studying in Spain, she gained first-hand experience in the usage of the language. In her teaching, she emphasizes both the practical and theoretical aspects of the language, ensuring students can apply their skills in various professional fields.