Network community: means of intercultural communication in teaching foreign languages

Abstract

The article is an attempt to study the issues relating to the nature, purpose, development, functioning and use of a community in teaching foreign languages in a non-linguistic university by means of telecommunication technologies. To determine specific characteristics of a community, which functions within the context of educational activities while mastering foreign language communication, the authors analyzed the existing scientific research and its interpretation. The result of the analysis is clarification of the strategy of developing a community, as well as of its role and place in the intercultural dialogue. The authors argue that the lack of sufficiently developed skills ensuring the efficiency of students' intercultural interaction in the field of foreign language communication requires the usage of both modern educational tools and up-to-date social, behavioral realias in the methodology of teaching foreign languages. The article describes the specificity of the term “community” and the purpose of developing it. The authors show that, currently, experts in various fields use a community as their main strategy. When teaching foreign languages, the fact that students’ foreign language communication in a network community is a necessary condition of the cross-cultural competence development seems extremely significant