Language. A means of connection between Human Being and Spiritual World

An attempt of anthroposophic approach

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Creating free thinking environment with students through learning languages and  expansive learning

The problems which we’ve been fixing in the University lecture rooms are interconnected and can be summarized as follows:

1. passive attitude to learning - unwillingness to think, generate ideas (in any language), which is partly due to due to lack of expansive learning, insufficient reading practice (not as a class task but as a developed habit), partly to fear of being judged - be peers or teachers, sticking to visuals i.e.readiness to receive information without further proceeding more than processing and generating,  partly to using AI not only for doing their writing tasks, but even for getting ideas for presentations and projects

2. vague value of education - focus on gaining very narrow discrete professional skills rather than real learning, which results in collecting certificates on having these skills obtained from various courses, consultants etc. By the way, the word «skill» has lost its acute meaning, therefore, the skills to be gained have also become something very uncertain and abstract.

3. Formalization and bureaucratization of education (rigid electronic platforms providing rigid procedure of «earning» your diploma - every minor fact of contribution is transferred into points and has weight. In this case education is getting limited to gaining points to get a diploma, tasks are done for the reason of gaining additional points (that’s why most tasks are done «with their left foot» - «левой пяткой»).

4. losing listening abilities and as a result - abilities to hold communication - partially it is connected with the passivity and also a trend of using AI for doing tasks. They might be very good at delivering presentations, giving individual answers but they are absolutely disinterested in contributions of others getting absolutely switched off. 

       Another reason is broken connection with the real meaning of the word / word partnership / phrase / text, which lead to language units getting more and more abstract while therefore gaining meta-meanings, i.e. not the real meaning but implied. This means that the meaning of the phrase will depend on the ability of the speaker to specify or hide the meaning, on the ability of the listener to extract it, on the situational context of the conversation, on the culture of the interlocutors etc. Then in the reality, the listener will mostly perceive not the real meaning of the phrase but his / her own expectations strongly connected with the environment.

       Therefore, until we have developed sufficient attention to the situation of speaking, the participants of the conversation and the real meaning, we might turn up in quite a vulnerable situation. 

       This brings us to unwillingness to get involved in discussion - group discussion - tendency to to these tasks individually and deliver individual results, as discussion requires interest and attention to both the text, the participants and the situation of of the conversation. 

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