Trends in the development of foreign language education in a non - linguistic university

Abstract

The article observes modern trends in the development of foreign language education in a nonlinguistic university, using as an example the English Department for Science Students, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Area Studies of Lomonosov Moscow State University. Nonlinguistic university graduates need a fairly high level of foreign language communicative competence to be competitive in the modern labor market, which determines an everincreasing attention to teaching LSP (Language for Specifc Purposes). In 2001, the English Department for Science Students participated in the Russian-British project RESPONSE (Russian Education Support Project on Specialist English) aiming at a largescale study of the current state of teaching English for specifc purposes in Russian universities. Its fndings provide the baseline that serves a useful starting point for evaluation and monitoring the changes that have occurred in this area over the past twenty years. The main trend is the change of teaching methods and approaches: from the grammar-translation method inherited from the Soviet higher school to computer assisted language learning (CALL), communicative and competence approaches today. Active integration of information and communication technologies in the educational process makes it possible to form and develop the university's electronic information and educational environment. The MSU educational platform “University without borders” is based on Moodle LMS and used for distance teaching and learning. It ofers online educational materials, electronic textbooks and courses, for both degree programmes and supplementary education. The main digital tools that lecturers use to teach and supervise students' self-study are listed. The paper considers such areas of the work of the English Department for Science Students as development and application of interactive teaching methods and technologies; implementation of alternative forms of control, e. g. performing the fnal bachelor ESP assessment in the format of B2 CEFR exams or conducting an interfaculty scientifc student conference in English at the master's level; designing a professional development course in academic English for earth and life scientists; establishing an electronic library; compiling specialized corpora of medical and biological scientifc texts; promotion of multilingualism and multiculturalism.