Content of the Tasks of the All-Russian School Olympiad in English: Moral Aspect

Abstract

School subject Olympiads in Russia are among the most important projects in the field of education that receive powerful state support. During the preparation for the Olympiads, participants thoroughly study the curriculum. Meanwhile, successful students often go far beyond the minimum level of knowledge in their subject studies, thus preparing for research activities in higher education. However, the program documents of the Olympiads poorly regulate the instructional framework of the educational and methodological sets created. The purpose of this study is to identify the moral impact of the tasks of the Olympiad in English on schoolchildren, as well as to establish the moral potential of the content of the Olympiad. The author has studied numerous scientific materials of modern Russian researchers reflecting on the prospects of the moral aspects of education, taking into account the specifics of the English language subject. The author concludes that mastering sociocultural competence at the level declared in the Olympiad can impact the ethical education of a person, besides, excessive immersion in the values of English-speaking countries can lead to defying more traditional values. As part of the research, the materials of the Olympiad were studied and the focus was put on sociocultural phenomena that are required to be learned for successful participation in the Olympiad. The article speaks of the need to rethink approaches to the creation of the Olympiad competition materials, including the systematization of topics as part of the study of the socio-cultural characteristics of English-speaking countries.

Keywords

• olympiad
• language assessment
• olympiad preparation
• assessment criteria
• gifted children