BEHAVIORAL PATTERNS, INCLUDING INTERPRETATIONS OF LABOR, AND THEIR TRANSMISSION THROUGH THE PEDAGOGY OF READING

Abstract

This article analyzes behavioral patterns of workers and peasants of the late 19th – early 20th century in the Kharkiv province on the reading materials of the private Sunday school of Khristina Danilovna Alchevskaya. Separately, the concept of labor is considered and the historical experience of using reading as a tool for transmitting patterns of behavior is revealed. This teaching method is referred to in this article as the pedagogy of reading (or reading pedagogy). The study of the behavioral patterns took place within the framework of the interpretative paradigm. The sample included all the materials of the «Book of Adults» [«Книга взрослыхъ»], two volumes of the collection «What should be read by the people?» [«Что читать народу?»] as well as school teachers’ notes used in the Kharkiv private Sunday school of Khristina Alchevskaya. For the analysis of the empirical data, qualitativ e content analysis and GTM-coding were applied. The results of the study showed that the main behavioral patterns were based on the Christian New Testament ethics and included belief in higher justice, self-sacrifice, relativity of wealth and happiness, as well as condemnation of human vices, such as for example laziness and bragging. Labor was also interpreted within the Christian context and as an integral part of every human life. The teaching method of the pedagogy of reading consisted in the selection of reading materials, their common analysis and group interpretation. The materials were compiled with the appropriate level of complexity, taking into account needs and interests of the target audience. In terms of practical application of the results of this study, the experience of the pedagogy of reading can be applied in modern pedagogy as, for example, for teaching social groups with integration difficulties, e. g. migrants or individuals with deviant behavior. The article may be useful to those interested in history of pedagogy, private Sunday schools, education of the illiterate population, the pedagogy of reading, the development of the concept of labor in the late 19th – early 20th century in the Kharkiv province.