Professional specialization in higher language education of non-linguistic students: approaches, procedures, techniques and methods

Abstract

Introduction. The article raises the problem of the necessity of organizing conditions for profession-oriented foreign languages training for non-linguistic students in accordance with the requirements of competence-based approach to education. Professional specialization in foreign languages education is considered in terms of educational process approximation to the real communicative experience in specific professional sphere. The goal of the article is screening, selection and analysis of conceptual bases in higher language education for non-linguistic students.Materials and Methods. To achieve the goal the following research methods were used: the study and comparative analysis of pedagogical, psychological, methodological Russian and foreign literature representing the modern views on current concepts in non-major language education; generalization and synthesis of the most relevant for this paper scientific results; conceptual foresight and modeling the language educational process based on the theoretical results of this research.Results. Quantitative analysis of the reviewed studies on specific methods of profession-oriented foreign languages teaching made it possible to select three the most scientifically justified perspectives on this issue. Language for specific purposes (LSP), content and language integrated learning (CLIL) and context-based approach are considered as the means of professional specialization in foreign languages education. As a result of the research we allocated the most essential characteristics of the described procedures and drew a conclusion about the reasonability of their implementation on different stages of the educational process.Discussion and Conclusions. The results of the analysis may be of interest for those who study specific methods of foreign languages teaching for non-linguistic students as well as the problem of international profession-oriented communicative competency formation in higher education. The theoretical results of the study may form the basis of practical use in specific teaching guides and training materials in language classes for various kinds of non-linguistic specialization areas.