Development of students’ spirituality and morality through allegoric tales when teaching English as a foreign language

Abstract

This paper considers the use of allegoric tales as an effective means of students’ ethic education while learning a foreign language. The social and psychological factors of the popularity of allegoric tales among adults in recent times are analysed. The place and role of allegoric tales in the youth’s spiritual and moral development are determined. They help pedagogical correction of the young people’s social behaviour, offer role models, promote positive interpersonal relationships, social skills, relieve stress and teach to resolve conflicts. The criteria for selecting allegoric tales are determined, the technology of students’ moral development through the use of allegoric tales when learning a foreign language is described, and some specific methods are suggested: the method of educational metamorphoses, philosophical dialogue, solving ethical dilemmas, theatre forum, etc. The efficiency of the proposed technology is proved by the results of the experiment carried out at a non-linguistic university.

Keywords: Moral development, higher school students, allegoric tales, ethic education, non-linguistic university.