The Necessity of Forming Multilingual Competencies in the Educational Process Digitalization

Abstract

AbstractThe pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus affected all spheres of society and had a significant impact on the education system, forcing an urgent transition to distance learning formats. As practice has shown, distance learning forms are especially difficult when working in a foreign language environment. The present article aims to highlight critically important to discuss multilingualism in combination with online learning the process of an emergency transition to remote work and distance learning through the eyes of teachers working in multilingual student classrooms and a multilingual educational environment where students are both taught in Russian as a foreign language and in English, which is not native to them. An empirical study using the authors’ questionnaire, in which representatives of the “cadre core” took part, showed the professional and psychological readiness of teachers for the transition, on the one hand, and a number of problems associated with the level of administrative support, a decrease in the quality of education and technical problems of the transition, on the other. However, it should be emphasized that, despite some clear advantages of distance working format in a multilingual environment, the assessment of the organization of the transition and its effects should be the subject of close attention, because online learning promotes the development of multilingual skills and competencies and increases the requirements for teaching and strengthens the role of the teacher as their guide. Distance learning formats should be developed in a comprehensive manner, from technical and organizational aspects to content and distance learning technologies. The results of this work are part of a large-scale study aimed at implementing a multilingual approach to learning in new historical conditions caused by global transformations of the existing global world order.KeywordsMultilingualismPandemic Covid-19Higher educationDistance learning systemMultilingual competenciesRemote form of workTechnologies of distance learningMultilingual personality