Abstract:

The article highlights the theme of research of such sociocultural components as family and marriage in modern English literature for further effective language teaching at university level in Russia. The research has been conducted based on such novels of a well-known British writer Margaret Drabble as “A summer bird-cage”, “The Garrick Year”, “The Millstone”, “Jerusalem the Golden”, “The Waterfall” and “The Realms of Gold”. The study of the topics concerning matrimonial matters in English literature seem to be important for English language and literature classes since such authentic knowledge allows English language teachers to deeply acquaint their students with the socio-cultural and historical features of society of the target language country. Besides, through the family theme the author of the literary work shows some important though hidden processes taking place in the modern society, as well as she may express her own attitude towards them.

The textual study of Drabble’s novels has been carried out based on the comparative-historical method of analysis of her creative works and the literary process in Britain as a whole. This theoretical approach is combined with the literary-historical and literary-critical methods.

The analysis proves that the study of the theme related to family and marriage in English literature is an important socio-cultural component of teaching foreign languages at university. Thus, through the study of literature, students will not only acquire knowledge about the society, everyday life, history and culture of people living in the target language country, but also may have opportunity to comprehend critically and thoughtfully what has been read so as to compare and analyze the social processes taking place in the UK with the similar processes currently occurring in Russia and in other parts of the world.

The results of the study prove the effectiveness of integration of various topics of the day relating to the socio-cultural and historical legacy of the target language country for better language acquisition among the university students. Our findings could be used by researchers, educators and teachers in both scientific and practical teaching contexts. The proposed methods and analysis techniques can be employed for instructional design of seminars on Drabble's and other English writers’ works, and while reading special courses on contemporary English literature at university.

Keywords:

Research, education, foreign language, student, socio-cultural component, English literature, M. Drabble, family, marriage.