Researchers of the problems of education admit that over the past years it has been experiencing a state of crisis, which manifests itself in the discrepancy between the results of education and the demands of society and specific individuals. The idea of the need to modernize education on the basis of humanization and innovative technologies is becoming more widespread.
A significant role in the humanization of higher education and the formation of a specialist in a new formation belongs to foreign language education.
Leading experts in the field of language and intercultural communication consider language education as an important reserve of socio-economic transformations in the country; the main tool for successful human life in a multicultural and multilingual community of people; factor of cultural and intellectual development and upbringing of an individual possessing planetary thinking; note the need to bring language policy to the new realities of society, the importance of developing a new educational technology. In this regard, the problem of improving the quality of teaching a foreign language in the educational system of a higher technical school is of particular interest.
Currently, a social order has been formed for a deep knowledge of a foreign language by citizens of our republic, there are such pronounced trends in foreign language education as the growth of the status of a foreign language (primarily English), the strengthening of the motivation for its study, the functional focus of language learning. The state educational standard of higher professional education requires taking into account professional specifics when teaching a foreign language, its focus on the implementation of the tasks of the future professional activity of graduates. Nevertheless, language teaching taking into account the professional orientation still remains unsatisfactory, and the level of professional foreign competence of graduates is low, not in line with modern requirements of society and the labor market, as evidenced by the results of studies of the state of teaching a foreign language in non-language universities, data from production, an acute shortage of specialists who have a certain register of foreign-language knowledge necessary for professional communication.
The main reasons for the insufficiently high quality of teaching a foreign language, taking into account the professional specifics of a non-linguistic university, are not only a small number of hours allocated for studying a foreign language, the lack of special training for foreign language teachers for non-linguistic faculties of universities, the low level of language education in secondary schools, but also the insufficient development of the methodology of teaching a foreign language in integrative connection with vocational training.
A specialist must know the language (s) at a level that allows him to actively and freely use it in the field of professional activity. To achieve a positive result, it is very important that the study of the language be not just in-depth, but acquire a professional status. In the practice of teaching in a non-linguistic university, the concept of “professional foreign language” (a foreign language for special purposes) is increasingly used, new approaches and teaching technologies are being developed. However, the effectiveness of training is largely determined by the scientific rationale for innovation. A significant role in the scientific justification belongs to historical and logical analysis, which allows you to evaluate the development of methodological thought, take into account the best foreign and domestic experience, understand current trends and identify development prospects.
The main form of teaching a professional foreign language was and are special courses. The work of various ESP courses offered by many foreign language schools are aimed at teaching professional English. The main features characterizing special courses as a form of training are uniformity of the student population; developing a training program based on an analysis of the communicative needs of students; limiting learning goals to the pragmatic needs of students; short-term and intensive training.
Such courses are organized for persons with practical experience or undergoing training in one specialty. The course combines individual lessons and practice in small groups. Sometimes, by agreement, a whole group of students comes to study — employees of one organization (the so-called “closed group”). Learning and teaching languages for special purposes (Languages for Specific Purposes) has been one of the priority areas in domestic and foreign linguistics and methods of teaching foreign languages for several decades.
Nevertheless, it can be noted that the trends in teaching foreign languages in non-linguistic universities are consistent with the trends in vocational education and training. The main provisions include the following: orientation to international requirements and standards, professional orientation, development of independence, self-education skills, and the use of active methods in the formation of foreign language communicative competence, the use of information technology and technical training, and the provision of additional educational services.
Great prospects open up with the introduction of a competence-activity approach, which allows replacing the system of compulsory formation of knowledge, skills and abilities with a set of competencies (a set of competencies) that students will form on the basis of updated content and in the process of their activity in mastering such content. The introduction of this approach into the higher education system will allow students to form abilities to carry out various types of activities, including communicative ones, to effectively form a “secondary linguistic personality” of a university graduate who is ready for professional intercultural communication.
Providing integrative links between language training and professional, the formation of communicative competence in the context of future professional activity allows you to increase the level of motivation, creates the conditions for real communication in the professional sphere, for the knowledge and development of foreign experience.
Obviously, teaching a professional foreign language from the standpoint of the competence-activity approach must be carried out through certain types of activities, which is unthinkable without the participation of specialists in specialized and graduating departments. The participation of teachers of specialized and graduating departments in the organization of training, including in conducting classes in the discipline «Professional foreign language”, ensures the transition from professionally oriented training to professional and meets modern educational trends — focusing on the practical needs of society, its social order and personal needs, contributes to the rapid adaptation of a university graduate to the requirements and conditions of real professional activity.
Thus, the technology for teaching a professional foreign language developed at university, relying on the best foreign and domestic experience, has been prepared by the whole course of development of professionally oriented teaching methods, language teaching technology for special purposes and takes into account modern trends.
The authors see the improvement of teaching a professional foreign language in its optimization on the basis of the principles of competency-based, active and communicative approaches in education and training, in the development of an effective teaching model based on system research: the formation of the goals and content of training in terms of a competency-based approach; determination of effective methods and forms of training, development of adequate control of results, design and creation of training tools.
Only a comprehensive solution to the above problems will allow us to develop an effective technology for teaching a professional foreign language, achieve a positive result in resolving the contradictions between the trends of humanization and humanization of higher education and the lack of scientific justification for the formation of a didactic system of special linguistic training for a specialist, between high requirements for professional foreign language competence of a specialist on the part of employers and low in its real level.
Reference:
- Solovova E. N. Methods of teaching foreign languages. Basic course of lectures. M.: Education, 2008.
- Schukin A. N. Foreign Language Teaching Methods: Course lectures. M., 2002.
