Sociocultural identity of Vinnitsa region as a component of cultural landscape of the region (based on the results of field research)

The features of the sociocultural identity of the residents of Vinnitsa region are analyzed through the prism of cultural landscape based on field ethnographic materials collected during expeditions by students of the Faculty of History, Law and Public Administration and educators of the Department of History and Culture of Ukraine of Vinnitsa State Pedagogical University named after M. Kotsyubynsky in 2020. This has been achieved through combining objects of material culture with varieties of worldview manifestations and behavioral practices. The prospects of the research are important both in the scientific and in the public areas emphasizing its applied value. There is the question of the further process of the sociocultural identity of the residents of Vinnitsa region through the prism of decentralization reform, the expressiveness of the own “face” of the region due to active exploitation of distinctive local resources, strengthening the tourist attractiveness and comfort of the region. The outcomes of this study could interest researchers involved in developing methodological tools in the context of rethinking sociocultural identity and (re)planning the cultural landscape in the post-Soviet space.

I am what I am: Exploring the identity construal in Pakistani School EFL Textbooks

This paper aims at exploring how identity is construed in children’s literature and how the powerful legitimize to identify the textbook consumers by exercising their influence. Drawing on Systemic-functional Linguistics (Halliday and Matthiessen, 2014), particularly Genre theory (Martin and Rose, 2008), it examines how English language textbooks used in Pakistan are written to construe, a project, and normalize a particular sociocultural identity. The sociocultural positioning being projected through the textbooks can be norm-conforming, contesting or can suggest otherwise. The majority of the students in Pakistan are mandated to learn state governed textbooks which serve them build up a sociopolitical identity. Therefore, underlying semiotic modalities realizing a perspective are pertinent to be explored in order to unfold discursive strategies for constructing identity. It is widely acknowledged that any educational curriculum is the most effective tool to construct and circulate a reality. Therefore, challenging any literacy pedagogy embedding particular outcomes can help transforming educational practices across the school curriculum (Martin and Rose, 2012). The data comprises Punjab English textbooks for the government schools. The findings suggest that the intriguing intricacies of textbook discourses can be successfully examined through analyzing linguistic patterns and that the textbooks construe sociocultural identity. The findings also provide insightful implications for discourse analysis based on SFL by contributing explorations of identity.

Using ethical assignments as a means of developing the sociocultural identity of primary schoolchildren

Introduction. The relevance of the study is due to the need to include a child of primary school age in positive real socially conditioned relationships, in order to prevent widespread sociocultural infantilism, as well as deformation of the social interests of children. The purpose of this work is to analyze the features of ethical tasks as a humanistic component of a human nature studies' character in the educational process of primary school, and to establish the influence of ethical tasks on the development of the socio-cultural identity of primary schoolchildren. Materials and methods. In the course of the empirical study, the authors conducted a diagnosis of the sociocultural identity of a person for 580 students in 2-4 grades during classroom sessions. The parameters and characteristics were studied among the respondents using a set of valid diagnostic techniques: the "Unfinished sentences" technique by N.E. Shchurkova, the "Value Orientations" method (O.I. Motkov, T.A. Ogneva), the "Our Relations" method (L.M. Fridman). The reliability of the obtained data was checked using Student's method. Research results. The content was replenished by means of ethical values, problems, its axiological and social orientation was strengthened, tasks, questions, situations that form the humanistic worldview and socio-cultural orientation of the student's personality were included. Based on a comparative analysis of the empirical data, statistical analysis, a positive trend and an increase in the values of indicators according to the cognitive-semantic criterion were established (p < 0.05); according to the emotional-value criterion (p < 0.05), according to the activity criterion (p < 0.05). The data indicate a positive increase in all aspects of sociocultural identity. Conclusions. The obtained results confirm the hypothesis that with the continuous and consistent use of ethical tasks, social and cultural states ("becoming") are formed and are fixed in the qualities and characteristics of the individual. The obtained results can be used to enrich school curricula with a humanistic component, as well as to design long-term interdisciplinary social and educational programs for children and youngsters.

SOCIOCULTURAL IDENTITY POSTMODERN: PROBLEM OF SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION

Problem setting. The relevance of our study is due to the excessive popularity of the concept of «socio-cultural identity» as a scientific term and tool for studying the postmodern world. As a concept of socio-humanitarian knowledge, it remains one of the most uncertain and at the same time actively used in modern research for theoretical and practical analysis and typology of socio-cultural processes. Understanding the specifics of socio-cultural identity and its formation in postmodern conditions is one of the most relevant and acute topics of modern science, which can provide a full understanding of the essence of this world. Recent research and publications analysis. Representatives of almost all humanities are involved in the discussion about identity. The fundamental development of the concept of sociocultural identity of the postmodern world is contained in the works of J. Habermas, E. Giddens, E. Erickson, A. Etzioni, M. Castells, F. Cassidy, S. Huntington, E. Smith, F. Fukuyama, W. Hesle and etc. Ukrainian researchers have also contributed to understanding the problem of identity. They have a large number of works that are directly or indirectly related to the phenomenon of identity and have such a wide variety of topics that it is not possible to present it exhaustively. A specific feature of their work is the in-depth attention to everything related to the national component of socio-cultural identity. The main result of the accumulation of knowledge about socio-cultural identity by the social sciences and humanities is the understanding that adequate research of this phenomenon is possible only in an interdisciplinary space. The tendency to comprehend identity in science persists and in parallel new directions of research are developing – first of all, it is a study of the social construction of identity in the postmodern era. Paper objective. The purpose of our study is resource of the peculiarities of the transformation of socio-cultural identity as an object and subject of social construction, which has specific features in the postmodern conditions, which has specifics in Ukrainian society. Paper main body. The tendency to study identity in a socio-cultural perspective was formed at the end of the XX century, when it began to be positioned as a set of positive signs of combining oneself with a community based on a common historical past and cultural values. Socio-cultural identity has a personal, individual level and social, group and combines different modifications that depend on its basic criteria - civilization, regional, civic, political, ethnic, national and others. An indisputable sign of the times is the active formation of a hybrid, multiple identity (national, regional, civilizational), when different criteria are used for self-identification, as well as mosaic identity, when self-determination criteria are quickly adjusted according to the new life situation. Postmodern is a historical epoch that begins in the XX cent. and continues to this day, increasingly acquiring such features as dynamism, nonlinearity, ephemerality and conflict-generating development of socio-political processes, exacerbation of territorial, demographic, national, religious, environmental and other problems. Transformational processes of the ending of the XX century led to a weakening of its clarity and the formation of «soft», «fluid» identity, which is associated with the departure into the past of the classical forms of class structure of modern society. The arena of the struggle for identity is politics, various economic, political and social processes that act as mechanisms for constructing socio-cultural identity. The construction of identity is directly based on the problem of social construction of reality. The transformation of socio-cultural identity of the postmodern is due to the following features of the era: pluralization; continuous dynamism, variability that often destroys, devalues, marginalizes traditional basic spiritual values; bifurcation of cultural space; absolutization of freedom and opportunities for individual choice; high level of tolerance; formalization and virtualization of identity, its blurring. Based on this, we identify the leading features of socio-cultural identity of the postmodern: first, personalization, individualization of identity, which is seen as a personal project that allows the individual full self-expression; secondly, flexibility, plasticity, variability. Scientists have repeatedly pointed out the lack of a project of postmodern identity acceptable to Ukrainian society, the need to construct a «new» Ukrainian identity, however, understanding this problem in the context of globalization, called for the uniqueness of the Ukrainian nation. Conclusions of the research. The debate about socio-cultural identity in Ukraine is growing and gaining popularity due to social crises and constant transformations, and, in our opinion, because for a long time (after independence) identity policy was not a priority and the elite did not care about its construction.The Ukrainian elite, trying to build a socio-cultural identity in postmodern society, must use the full potential of cultural space – historical and cultural attractions, language, science (especially the humanities), literature and art, education, museums – to develop a consolidated identification project. The solution to the problem of building a socio-cultural identity in Ukraine can be manifested in two directions – a radical change of identity in accordance with the complete modernization of society in post-Soviet times; – creation of non-conflict (low-conflict) socio-cultural identity on the basis of continuity and preservation of cultural tradition, which could become an effective resource for the development of society

The possibilities of contemporary art in solving the problems of sociocultural identity of schoolchildren in the context of spiritual and moral education

Modern sociocultural characteristics and aspects of a growing person development are distinguished by the contradictory influences on the formation of his identity. The article focuses on the understanding of contemporary art as the content component and pedagogical means in the educational interaction of a teacher and schoolchildren. Possible ways of solving the problems of sociocultural identification of schoolchildren through the mechanism of assigning values to them within the framework of spiritual and moral education are proposed.

Measuring bilingualism: The quest for a “bilingualism quotient”

The study of bilingualism has a history that extends from deciphering ancient multilingual texts to mapping the structure of the multilingual brain. The language experiences of individual bilinguals are equally diverse and characterized by unique contexts of acquisition and use that can shape not only sociocultural identity but also cognitive and neural function. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this variability in scholarly perspectives and language experiences has given rise to a range of methods for defining bilingualism. The goal of this article is to initiate a conversation about the utility of a more unified approach to how we think about, study, and measure bilingualism. Using concrete case studies, we illustrate the value of enhancing communication and streamlining terminology across researchers with different methodologies within questions, different questions within domains, and different domains within scientific inquiry. We specifically consider the utility and feasibility of a bilingualism quotient (BQ) construct, discuss the idea of a BQ relative to the well-established intelligence quotient, and include recommendations for next steps. We conclude that though the variability in language backgrounds and approaches to defining bilingualism presents significant challenges, concerted efforts to systematize and synthesize research across the field may enable the construction of a valid and generalizable index of multilingual experience.

Application of Sociocultural Identity Theory to Education in EFL Textbooks Development

The present study aims to use Sociocultural Identity theory to education with reference to teaching and learning English as a second language in the EFL textbooks development. The findings of this study revealed that there is a need to use the cultural sensitive and context-appropriate materials in the EFL textbooks. It is urgent to teaching materials correspond with the learners’ attitudes, religious opinions and preferences. Because, textbook is not only a commercially accessible reference book which is utilized in a language teaching program, it additionally serves as a significant way to convey political and ideological orientation. Moreover, textbooks decide not only content teaching and learning environments, but also what dominant or valid culture is passed on. Then one goal of textbooks is to serve as a means of facilitating the integration of content about ethnically, racially and culturally diverse individuals. To this end, textbook writers should avoid cultural inequalities and prejudices that learners can absorb in their learning, and have a balanced representation of social / cultural components such as ethnicity, gender, and race.