ФОРМИРОВАНИЕ «МЯГКИХ НАВЫКОВ» В ПРОЦЕССЕ ОБУЧЕНИЯ ИНОСТРАННОМУ ЯЗЫКУ СТУДЕНТОВ НЕЯЗЫКОВЫХ ПРОФИЛЕЙ ПОДГОТОВКИ

Abstract

The article substantiates the need of teaching "soft" skills to students of non-linguistic degree courses in accordance with the modern requirements of society. Nowadays possession of academic and professional skills is not enough for a successful career. The economy of the new information technology level makes special demands on university graduates. He/she must be a versatile personality, navigate the information space, be able to find the necessary information and subject it to critical analysis; be ready to work in the context of intercultural interaction. Soft skills are of particular importance. A foreign language as an academic discipline has the certain opportunities for forming and developing “soft” skills which are necessary for the successful mastering of the chosen profession. In this regard it is proposed to include the work on forming soft skills in the foreign language teaching of students of non-linguistic degree courses. Based on the analysis of the concept of “soft” skills and the specifics of professional activity in the chosen areas of training “Social work”, “Psychological and pedagogical education” and “Special (defectological) education”, the author identified two groups of “soft” skills that need to be taught to students in a foreign language classes. These are the skills that contribute to personal development and significant for future professional activities and the skills that characterize relationships with other people. The article proposes a step-by-step method of work on forming of these groups of “soft” skills in the process of a foreign language teaching. The author proposes the following stages: informational and introductory, practical and control. A system of exercises has been selected, the communication situations have been simulated, and topics of project work have been presented for each stage.