Language training courses as a form of interaction between the university and business

Abstract

Today, universities are quite actively establishing various forms of interaction with business, including in the field of establishing language training courses within the framework of education transfer. Here the author presents a unique experience of business interaction in the person of the Moscow Law firm and the Center for Innovative Educational and Language Strategies of the Department of English and Professional Communication of the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation. This research aims to study the experience of designing and implementing online language training courses «English for lawyers» for lawyers practicing international law. As it is an on-going project, the author presents the first results of the study (May – June 2023). The development of educational tracks of the course determined the reference to the ideas of personality oriented and CLIL approaches. When verifying the content of education, the author relied on the initial language proficiency level of the students and on the author’s experience in teaching Legal English, in addition, on author’s developments, materials from authentic textbooks, legal websites and newspapers, court archives available on court websites, etc. The task set by the client – the development of communication skills in the field of Legal English – largely determined the choice of teaching methods. Here the author provides parts of classes based on: case method, business and role-playing games, elements of an inverted class, etc. The obtained primary results not only testify to the effectiveness of the work done in the course of interaction between the university and business, but also allow us to foresee promising directions in the given direction, for instance: the opening of new and promising areas of training of bachelor and master students that meet the latest trends in labour market development, etc.