HOMO INNOVATIVE AS AN EDUCATIONAL IDEAL IN THE CONTEXT
OF TRAINING TEACHERS AT NON-LINGUISTIC UNIVERSITIES
M. Evdokimova
National Research University of Electronic Technology (RUSSIAN FEDERATION)
Abstract
The author strives to reveal axiological foundations of training foreign language teachers for nonlinguistic universities through the lens of cultural pluralism, heterogeneous national culture, evolution
of information civilization and innovative economy. The formation and development of a person’s
innovative capacity has proved to be a major educational vector of the general education progress as
well as foreign language teacher training. In this paper the concept of a homo innovative (innovative
person) is put forward as an educational ideal of the modern world. The author demonstrates that the
process of the homo innovative development is bifocal: the professional (practical) aspect related to
the ability to create professional innovations has to be coupled with the culturological aspect related to
the ability of a person to preserve and enrich moral values of the native and global culture. It is proved
that the axiological focus of modern language teacher training could be strengthened by employing the
mechanisms of meaning and value formation which can affect transformation of educational
information into personal meanings and values. These mechanisms actualize the idea of integrating
the cognitive ways of understanding information with the interpretative methods based on personal
semantic attitude to the subject of understanding rooted in the individual values of a person. This
approach is related to the methods of text interpretation as a means of developing personal meanings
that were elaborated within pedagogical hermeneutics.
Keywords: Foreign language teacher training for non-linguistic universities, educational ideal,
pluralism of cultures, culture inhomogeneity, innovative potential of a professional, innovative
personality, homo innovative, mechanisms of meaning formation, interpretative ways of understanding
information, pedagogical hermeneutics.
1
INTRODUCTION
To characterize the state of modern society, various terms are used, including "globalization",
"transition to a post-industrial society", "information civilization", "postmodern", "global network
society", "digitalization", "innovative economy". Many researchers and publicists express concern that
humanity is threatened by the prospects of demographic crises, nuclear wars, environmental and
radioactive disasters, depletion of natural resources, spiritual impoverishment of society, alienation of
individuals and social groups. One of the main attributes of the modern world is considered to be
instability, dynamism, unpredictability of the processes occurring in it.
Since technological and socio-cultural changes often go in opposite directions, it prevents formulation
of clear answers to the fundamental questions concerning the ultimate goal of training at the
University, makes it difficult to design the contours of the education system of today and tomorrow,
including foreign language teacher education. At the same time, it is the social order of the
society/state that constitutes the element of the external environment for an education system
determining the entire system as a whole and its separate structural elements, such as goals,
approaches, principles, content and technologies of education.
This paper attempts to find the most general approaches to the issue of the ultimate goal of higher
education in relation to the training of teachers of foreign languages for non-linguistic universities. To
find the answer to this question it is needed to consider the historical and social context, trends in the
development of culture, development of information civilization, and innovative economy.
2
METHODOLOGY
Through the analysis of relatively recent domestic educational guidelines it is possible to identify the
most significant of them. As it is known, in the 1990s the idea of humanization of education was put on
the agenda. This idea was based on the ideal of a fully developed professional personality. At the
moment, the ideal of humanization is not completely rejected. In 2012 the Federal law of 29.12.2012 N
273-FZ “On education in Russian Federation” was passed. It says: "Higher education aims at training
highly skilled personnel for all basic directions of socially useful activity in accordance with the needs
of society and the state, the needs of the individual in intellectual, cultural and moral development,
deepening and extension of educational, scientific and pedagogical qualifications". Article 3 of the
Federal law on education emphasizes that one of the basic principles of the state policy in the field of
education is its humanistic nature, "the priority of human life and health, human rights and freedoms,
free development of the individual, education of mutual respect, diligence, citizenship, patriotism,
responsibility, legal culture, respect for nature and the environment, rational nature management" [1].
At the same time an alternative economy-centred educational ideal focused on the concept of
"efficient economy" became popular. As a result, mass media and a number of scientific publications
promote the concepts of "personnel for the innovative economy", "workers with high innovative
potential", "training of innovative personnel", etc.
This means that today two educational value dominants, opposite in their essence and content, are
implemented and somehow integrated in the educational context of Russia. Probably this is not
accidental and results from the contradictory nature of modern socio-cultural reality. On the one hand,
humanity must provide a basis for material existence and survival in the face of dwindling natural
resources, which is possible only through innovation. On the other hand, one can say that culture is
experiencing what can be called "exhaustion" as well. And for the spiritual survival of mankind it is
necessary to maintain native and universal culture, preserve and enhance spiritual and moral values.
This contradiction is noticed by I. M. Ilyinsky, who argues that the "product" of education in the 21st
century should, on the one hand, be a "humane person" with an appropriate set of qualities rejecting a
model of life based on the principle of consumption, and, on the other hand, it should be a "market
person" capable of meeting the requirements of free competition, active, enterprising, striving for
success, the main indicator of which is earnings and career [2]. V. M. Rosin writes about the same. He
believes that the new man must be, on the one hand, constructive and creative, because he will have
to constitute a new reality and life, and on the other hand, he must be a man of culture and history [3].
The same dichotomy is reflected in the educational ideals of homo agens (active person) and homo
moralis (moral person) which are opposed by E. I. Passov in relation to foreign language education
[4].
Speaking about the values and ideals of foreign language education, it is necessary to remember that
at the center of the most influential approaches in modern linguodidactics is the concept of culture,
more precisely – cultures: native and foreign language ones. Today it is quite obvious that the concept
of a native culture is rapidly and catastrophically eroded. On the one hand, native culture as a kind of
unified system of values, beliefs, traditions, ethical and aesthetic standards and language shared by
all or the vast majority of representatives of the Russian linguistic and cultural community split into
many different subcultures. There is a destruction of values and moral norms, violation of unity and
solidarity of society. Instead, numerous opposing communities with their own values, morals and
languages arise. On the other hand, as a result of the processes of globalization, informatization and
radical changes in the communication space, a blurring of boundaries between cultures, their
integration, strengthening of similarities, elimination of differences between them can be observed.
This leads to the leveling of cultures and complicates the acquisition of cultural identity by the
individual. In this regard, the researchers put forward a problem of the emergence of cross-culture as
a fundamentally new kind of culture in the context of globalization. "Cross-culture is a fusion of
different cultures that have specific features and contradict each other in some way due to historical
conditions. In the manifestations of cross-culture there is something that requires from us not merely
"optimal" or "improved", but exclusively innovative solutions and actions, without which modern society
cannot exist" [5, p.14].
In a situation where pluralism of cultures and heterogeneity of a native culture are observed
simultaneously, many principles of linguodidactics, based on the ideas of a dialogue between a native
and a foreign language culture, require rethinking, revision and clarification. Besides, with the above in
mind, it is necessary to answer the question of what exactly the above mentioned "innovative
solutions" should be, in what direction a society should develop in order not to lose focus on the
fundamental spiritual and moral values of homo moralis in the conditions of globalization and
emergence of cross-culture in order to be able to overcome socio-cultural and intercultural cataclysms.
Ya. S. Turbovskoy sees the answer to this question in "the focused use of formative possibilities of
human culture in the organic unity of the humanistic and the best that there is in every national culture"
[5, p.18]. According to Ya. S. Turbovskoy, it should be "the system of forming a readiness of the
personality to withstand low-grade and aggressive manifestation of total cross-culture" [ibid].
Developing such kind of personality requires adequate and effective psychological and pedagogical
mechanisms of meaning formation in the educational process of higher school. Future professionals
should be able to take a meaningful value-semantic position, to integrate humanitarian meanings and
values into professional activities and to resist destructive socio-cultural processes.
In addition to the above understanding of the innovative development of society, which requires the
ability not only to preserve but also to enrich spiritual and moral values, there is another, probably
more common understanding of innovative development which is associated with technical innovation
in the field of material production. It is no secret that the formation of innovative economy is
considered as the leading global trend of recent social development. Innovation is usually understood
as the final result of innovative activity, embodied in the form of a new or improved product introduced
on the market, a new or improved technological process used in practice, or a new approach to social
services [6].
In this context, the need for training innovative personnel, that is, looking for effective ways of
developing an ability to innovate among graduates of any university, arises on the agenda.
In a broad sense, the term "innovative personnel" refers to the employees with high innovative
potential, called innovators. An innovator in modern production is a creative worker able to adapt to
the rapidly changing conditions of post-industrial society. He/She is characterized by innovative mode
of thinking and behavior, which is reflected in the following qualities: high professional expertise,
readiness to constantly improve the level of one’s education and skills; creativity manifesting itself in a
sense of the new, ability to see the shortcomings and find ways of eliminating them; ability to master
the latest technological tools, methods and forms of labor organization, high technical and
technological culture; certain psychological and moral qualities, such as adaptability, flexibility of
thinking, imagination, integrity, and diligence [7].
Earlier we formulated the requirements for the professional able to innovate, described the nature and
structure of the innovative capacity of a professional as part of the innovative potential of the
personality. We also proved that it is possible to improve the system of teaching foreign languages in
the context of training the innovative staff, and proposed methods and types of learning tasks aimed at
developing some components of the innovation potential in the process of teaching foreign languages
to future specialists in the field of engineering and technology [8].
3
RESULTS
Turning to the issue of training a foreign language teacher for non-linguistic universities, it should be
noted that the task of training innovative personnel within the framework of profession-oriented
teaching of foreign languages in higher education of any profile cannot be solved if a teacher himself
does not possess high innovative potential.
From our point of view, the formation of innovative potential of a professional should become a core
axiological vector, one of the main goals in training foreign language teachers for non-linguistic
universities. We strongly believe that the axiological guidelines for training modern teachers of foreign
languages should be isomorphic to the axiological guidelines for training their future students. In other
words, future teachers should be taught in the same way as they should teach their students.
Speaking about training foreign language teachers for secondary schools, N. V. Baryshnikov states
that we need a creative and innovative foreign language teacher of the new generation, whose
education requires an innovative approach [9].
The most important feature of an innovative personality is freedom from stereotypes, ability to go
beyond the accepted standards, independence of judgment, developed thinking and creativity, ability
to apply a known solution to a certain type of problem in a new possible situation of professional
activity. In addition to the above, modern social realities of higher school, coupled with the increasing
degree of its openness to society significantly transform the structure of teaching activity, requiring a
university teacher prepared to cope with the new, integrative functions going beyond the boundaries
of pedagogical activity itself. Among the new functions of the teachers is their ability to communicate
with representatives of various social structures, government institutions, the media, and to take an
active position in the management of educational organization.
At the same time, teachers should be able to apply a repertoire of modern general pedagogical
technologies and methods, such as project-based learning, problem-based learning, collaborative
learning, reflexive learning, research-based learning, etc. [10].
To successfully implement the required functions, along with their traditional competencies, teachers
must to some degree acquire competencies of a researcher, a system analyst, a computer designer,
a manager, an economist, an information technology specialist, a marketer, etc.
The way of developing such competences consists in modeling the subject and social (educational)
contexts that would stimulate innovative activity of students, opening the possibility of an integrative
vision of professional issues in a multidimensional perspective, activating their creative search for
paradoxical, atypical ways of solving professional problems.
Summarizing the above, it can be argued that the modern educational ideal, including the field of
foreign language education, should be homo innovative (innovative person). Innovation should be
understood in two ways: on the one hand – in the spiritual (cultural) sense, and on the other hand – in
the professional (practical) sense. In the cultural sense innovation is the ability and willingness to
preserve and develop a native and global culture, to preserve and enhance spiritual and moral values,
and in the professional (practical) sense it is the ability and willingness to create new things in the
professional sphere. It should be noted that the educational ideal of homo innovative does not
contradict the educational ideals of homo agens and homo moralis, integrating them as its
components.
It is obvious that the adoption of homo innovative as a modern educational ideal in relation to training
teachers of foreign languages for non-linguistic universities requires a search for an appropriate
content, as well as methods and technologies of its implementation in the educational process of the
university.
It seems highly productive to demand that modern linguodidactic education should be aimed not so
much at knowledge, as at thought; not so much at the transfer of information, as at the formation of
human culture. In the conditions of rapid and uncontrollable growth of information flows, dynamic
development of equipment and technology, a modern teacher needs to know the answer not only to
the question "how?", but primarily to the questions "what?", "why?", and "for what?". Therefore, the
attributes of education should be acts constituting, above all, individual meanings, as well as
expressing the value categories of culture [11].
Thus, it is required to strengthen the value-semantic orientation in the process of training modern
teachers of foreign languages for the universities of non-linguistic profile. A productive way of solving
this task is to apply the mechanisms of meaning formation and providing transformation of educational
information into personal meanings. These mechanisms are based on the idea of supplementing the
cognitive ways of understanding information with the interpretative methods based on a personalsemantic relation to the subject of understanding based on the individual values [12]. This approach
uses the methods of the text interpretation as a means of developing personal meanings rooted in
pedagogical hermeneutics. In contrast to the idea of "transmission of culture", hermeneutics is the
theory and practice of understanding and interpretation of the humanitarian phenomena and
knowledge embodied in texts [13]. The implementation of the ideas of pedagogical hermeneutics in
the process of linguodidactic education needs "applied techniques of interpretation" (A. F. Zakirova's
term).
Such techniques should be based not only on the mental activity in the process of analyzing the
subject content of the texts, but also on the interpretation of humanitarian meanings that reflect the
value aspects of professional activity. Actualization of the humanitarian meanings of the text should
take place in the form of a multidimensional hermeneutic dialogue, which allows revealing the
meanings in relationship of personal, socio-cultural, subject and professional contexts.
Transformation of educational information into personal meanings in order to form homo innovative
needs a system of innovative educational technologies that create an innovative educational
environment. Such technologies include problem lectures, lectures-press conferences, lectures
together, individual and collective interdisciplinary research projects, professional trainings, etc.
These technologies stimulate creative interpretation of the studied issues and personal attitude to
the professional activity.
4
CONCLUSIONS
In summary, the paper puts forward the concept of homo innovative as an educational ideal of the
modern world. The author considers formation and development of a person’s innovative capacity to
be a major trend of the education in general, and foreign language teacher training in particular.
Innovation should be understood in two ways: on the one hand – in the spiritual (cultural) sense, and
on the other hand – in the professional (practical) sense. In the cultural sense, innovation is the ability
and willingness to preserve and develop one’s native and global culture, to preserve and enrich the
spiritual and moral values, while in the professional and practical sense, it is the ability and willingness
to create new things in the professional sphere. These two competencies form the two vectors of
training innovative teachers. To combine these two vectors it is necessary to provide students with the
educational environment allowing them to participate in a multidimensional hermeneutic dialogue
revealing the meanings of personal, socio-cultural, subject and professional contexts in their
relationship. Developing innovative potential of a professional within the framework of professionoriented teaching of foreign languages in higher education of any profile is possible if only a teacher
himself is an innovative person. Having adopted homo innovative as a modern educational ideal, the
paper outlines the appropriate content, as well as methods and technologies, aimed at developing
innovative teachers of foreign languages for non-linguistic universities.
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