Peculiarities of Diverse Audiences and Some Issues of Language Teaching

Abstract

Teaching Georgian as a second language implies the use of generally known and proven
methods of teaching a foreign language. However, there is no universal method of language
teaching. In all cases, it is necessary to take into account the specificity of the target language
and the interests, goals, motivation, abilities and background knowledge of the language
learning group.
In recent years, the number of Georgian language learners from different countries has
increased considerably. These are Turks, Turkmens, Kazakhs, Poles... This process was
accelerated even more during the Russia-Ukraine war. In Georgia, especially in Batumi, many
Ukrainians and Russians of different ages have expressed their desire to learn the Georgian
language. Most of those listed (and not only) want to continue their studies at Batumi State
University.
Learning the Georgian language requires a special approach in a diverse audience, who do not
understand each other, have different cultures, religions and beliefs. Such an audience is
characterized by peculiarities. Managing a different audience requires much more work,
responsibility and consideration of the group's interests on the part of the teacher. It is quite
difficult for the teacher to convey the material to each student of a linguistically mixed group
without distracting any of them.
It is known that the learner of a new language perceives and remembers the information
received best by sight.
When explaining new material to a diverse audience, it is useful to use visual aids for
presentation, which significantly helps the listening and understanding of information. In the
Georgian university space, the most common of them are slide show, blackboard, flipchart and
handout.
Among the presentation aids, we consider handouts to be the most acceptable form of
presentation aids for ethnically mixed groups who are users of different languages and sit in the
same audience at the initial stage of language learning.