Formation of the speech competence in students – future economists to the level of independent English proficiency (B2)

Abstract

Introduction. Proficiency in English is becoming increasingly important in the global economy, especially in business and finance. By studying English, economics students can improve their communication skills, gain access to information, career opportunities, and gain a competitive edge in their academic and professional interests. That is why in the modern system of higher education, the process of teaching a foreign language in a professional direction requires special attention, which involves the preparation of future specialists for the use of a foreign (English) language in specific business areas. An important property for effective intercultural communication is the ability to correctly formulate statements and understand the speech of other people in English. An important property for effective intercultural communication is the ability to correctly formulate statements and understand the speech of other people in English. First of all, communication should be carried out by mastering the English professional vocabulary (EPV). In turn, the possession of EPV is one of the most important components of the formation of speech competence up to level B2 (according to the all-European scale of levels CEFR), which is the main aspect of learning English at a university for students of foreign language professional communicative competence. The purpose of this study is to determine the most effective model for teaching students – future economists English professional vocabulary (EPL) to the level of independent English proficiency (B2) and develop proposals for improving this model. Research methods. 96 2nd year students of the financial faculty of the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation took part in the pedagogical experiment. The study was conducted within 5 months. The main research methods were the method of scientific literature analysis and experimental study of the learning process of students – future economists using three learning models (traditional (classroom learning), distance (electronic), blended). Methods of mathematical statistics used: Kruskal-Wallis H-test and Mann-Whitney U-test. Results. Conducted test tasks (both written and oral) by students of three experimental groups before the methodological experiment showed the absence of statistical significance between the results of performance. This indicated that in the three experimental groups, first-year students are at the same level of mastering the EPV. However, after conducting a methodical experiment, the presence of statistical significance was revealed. This indicated that after the completion of the methodological experiment, the students of the three experimental groups of the first year of study are at different levels of mastering the EVP. Based on the results of the control assignments performed by students, it was found that in all experimental groups there was an increase in all indicators, but the greatest progress was observed in the performance of written and oral tasks in the EG3 group, in which the EPV was trained according to a blended model. Conclusion. Thus, the blended learning model turned out to be the most practical approach to the educational process at the university when learning a foreign language. Calculations have shown that the use of a blended model of EPV training for students of economic specialties ultimately led to the largest increase in the performance of written and oral assignments. To improve the model of blended learning, the authors have developed some improvements, upon implementation of which, the model of blended learning will become more effective in teaching English to the level of independent proficiency (B2) of students – future economists. The prospect of further research may be to determine the most effective ratio of classroom (traditional) and distance (remote) classes in teaching English to reduce the cost of education while increasing the level of foreign language professional communicative competence among students.