Abstract
One of the most important tasks of higher educational institutions is the training of specialists to be able to adapt to changes in their professional life. At the end of the twentieth and the beginning of the 21st centuries, some methods for developing foreign language competence, needed for their future professional activity, were created by teachers. However, the effectiveness of these methods has not been studied. This fact has aroused the authors’ interest and generated the idea about the necessity to conduct scientific research in order to identify the most effective methods of teaching foreign languages for special purposes. Methods: The given research paper is based on the analysis of Russian and foreign scholars’ scientific works covering the problem of teaching foreign languages for special purposes to the students of humanitarian professions, as well as on the basis of the results from questioning students of bachelor degree programs who study foreign languages for special purposes in the field of humanitarian professions, and also of the results from questioning teachers specializing in teaching foreign languages for special purposes. Results: In the students’ opinion, the most effective methods of teaching foreign languages for special purposes in the field of humanitarian professions are the following: discussion, ICT (information and communication technologies), and SCRUM (framework that helps teams work together, encourages team to learn through on a problem). According to the interviewed teachers’ opinion, the most effective methods are discussion, ICT, and round table. The “dilemma” method is the least effective according to the students. As for the teachers, the less effective method is CLIL (content and language integrated learning). Conclusions: The study showed some common views among teachers and students concerning the effectiveness of methods of teaching foreign languages for professional purposes, such as discussion and ICT. The effectiveness of the discussion method is explained by the fact that it allows the integration of students’ knowledge from different areas when solving a problem and provides an opportunity to apply language knowledge and skills into practice. This contributes to forming students’ ability to think clearly, to perceive information critically, to highlight the main idea and find the means and arguments to confirm and substantiate it, and, consequently, to improve the understanding of any theoretical material. The use of ICT in the educational process allows the efficiency of the educational process itself to be improved significantly and leads to new approaches and organizational forms of educational work. In fact, while preparing educational programs and creating didactic materials, special attention should be given to the implementation of ICT methods and discussions in educational activities. Nevertheless, the respondents’ subjective opinion should not reduce the scientific value and effectiveness of other methods of teaching a foreign language for professional purposes. The authors of the paper believe that methods that have not found much support from students and teachers should be studied more thoroughly and carefully. To this end, it could be recommended to organize special training seminars that would allow teachers to be informed of new methods of teaching foreign languages for professional purposes, of their particularities, and to help their active implementation in the learning process.
Highlights
Modernity, as a complex philosophical concept, has no clear boundaries and is quite relative.Our contemporaries are united by the change of the state system that occurred in the nineties, which caused the collapse of the old ideals and values, left an imprint on people’s minds, and changed their way of thinking and life
We revealed that some scientific papers dedicated to the study of foreign language for special purposes (LSP) teaching methods provide descriptions of their main characteristics and proved their effectiveness from the authors’ subjective point of view [2,3]
At the second stage of the study, the authors considered productive methods of teaching foreign language for special purposes used in higher educational system in Russia
Summary
As a complex philosophical concept, has no clear boundaries and is quite relative.Our contemporaries are united by the change of the state system that occurred in the nineties, which caused the collapse of the old ideals and values, left an imprint on people’s minds, and changed their way of thinking and life. With the fall of the so called “iron curtain”, the need for specialists having oral communication skills has considerably grown. In this regard, new requirements for methods of teaching foreign languages for special purposes necessitated the development of students’ listening and speaking skills. Changes in the tasks of professional education coincided with the establishment of the Institute of Productive Learning in Leningrad in 1992. This made it possible to develop new competences on the basis of the ideas brought into pedagogy by a team of Leningrad teachers, whose opinions were shared by their foreign colleagues.
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