THE EVOLUTION OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE AIMS IN SECONDARY SCHOOL OF UKRAINE IN THE SOVIET AND POST-SOVIET PERIODS

The purpose of the article is to investigate the contents of the aims of foreign language education in Ukraine and to find out the main tendencies of their development in secondary schools in the Soviet and post-Soviet periods. The necessity of considering the former experience of formulating the aim-centred component of school foreign language education under conditions of contemporary educational transformations is emphasized. The chronological, comparative, historical and system methods of inquiry as well as the method of historical retrospection and the method of comparative and historical analysis have been used. The selection, classification and systematization of historical and pedagogical literature as well as methodological literature have been done. The author's periodization of the stages of the development of foreign language teaching aims in the context of forming education contents in the Soviet and post-Soviet periods is proposed. The changes in defining the aims of foreign language education are analyzed. The problem of correlation of traditional aims of foreign language teaching and innovative communicative competences that are popular in modern language education is raised. These competences build up intercultural competence of language learners. The possibility of correlation of innovative foreign education contents with traditionally recognized aims of foreign language teaching is proved. The expediency of formulating the practical, educational, cultural and developmental aims of foreign language teaching within the competence-based educational paradigm is scientifically substantiated. The constant dynamic development of the aims of foreign language education in the Soviet and post-soviet periods has been demonstrated. It has been stated that despite the constant transformation processes within the education contents the aim-centred component remains the system forming factor of the contents.