Soft skills development in the process of teaching “Tourism” students a foreign language

Abstract

Importance. Soft skills formation as a part of teaching a foreign language to students of the educational direction “Tourism” contributes to communication skills, empathy, creativity and flexibility of thinking, which are necessary in their future professional activities. The purpose of this study is: 1) analysis of the goals of teaching a foreign language and their correlation with the process of developing hard and soft skills; 2) conducting an empirical study to test the possibility of developing soft skills when teaching a foreign language; 3) identification of significant issues related to the interpretation and use of various cultural codes in communication activities. Attention is focused on the fact that behavioral stereotypes can be variably interpreted depending on which linguistic and cultural communities the communicants belong to. It is emphasized that familiarity with the cultural codes of the studied language and trainings on the development of soft skills can significantly improve the decoding and communicative abilities of students in the process of working with the material for creating advertising texts of tourist destinations and excursion programmes.Materials and Methods. The experiment is carried out at Derzhavin Tambov State University with the aim of compiling on its basis fragments of research based on the relevance of the topic, a review of scientific literature (definitions and experimental data published in this field of knowledge), selection of bibliography and results’ analysis of its experimental verification. The experiment is based on the use of foreign languages teaching methods. The criteria for selecting educational material are texts related to the popularization and advertising of tourist destinations and step-by-step training is aimed at developing soft skills within the framework of game-based educational activities.Results and Discussion. Step-by-step training has shown its success in solving a number of assigned tasks. Students become more flexible in the communication process, showing the correct reactions in accordance with the situation and the target audience, the skills of formulating and implementing communication goals are developed (in such aspects as informational, informative, normative), choosing and using established constructs within the framework of the relevant situation, analysis and synthesis of the results of the dialogue.Conclusion. Based on the results of the experiment, the conclusion is made about the significant didactic potential for soft skills formation within teaching a foreign language. The cognitive and affective aspects of student training have been identified, contributing to the soft skills development. Specific stages of work are proposed, combining various forms of presenting information, professional competence and maintaining successful dialogue with different linguistic and cultural groups in a foreign language.