Determining Descriptors of Professional Foreign Language Competence for Law-setting Specialists

Abstract

Abstract Nowadays the main task of foreign language teaching in a higher education institution is to train professional communication, to develop special foreign language and personal competences. A foreign language is considered as a tool of professional life-long learning and development. However, special foreign language competencies of lawyers-to-be cannot be regarded as a set of competencies that are trained in the course of a general foreign language studying at a higher education institution. The purpose of this paper is to determine descriptors of foreign language learners’ communicative behavior in accordance with their profession inter alia law and legislation. As both the professional and linguistic competences are formed on the basis of communicative language competences cultivated in the process of learning a foreign language of the profession, the descriptors of general language competencies are added by the professional language competencies of lawyer-mediators working in a professional setting. Research data and findings are resulted from the teaching experience of Foreign Languages department, Institute of Law, Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia.