Abstract. The concept of the professionally oriented foreign language competence and its components in the higher education are analyzed. Common requirements to knowledge and skills of the professionally oriented language competence and strategies of its enhancing in the higher education are defined.
Key words: professionally oriented foreign language competence, knowledge, skills, strategies, higher education.
Pedagogical sciences
UDC 378:81'243
Karpenko O.O.,
PhD (in Pedagogy), Associate Professor,
National Aerospace University “Kharkiv Aviation Institute”
STRATEGIES OF ENCHANCING PROFESSIONALLY ORIENTED FOREIGN LANGUAGE COMPETENCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Abstract. The concept of the professionally oriented foreign language competence and its components in the higher education are analyzed. Common requirements to knowledge and skills of the professionally oriented language competence and strategies of its enhancing in the higher education are defined.
Key words: professionally oriented foreign language competence, knowledge, skills, strategies, higher education.
Nowadays enhancing foreign language competence of professionals in different fields of activity is a component of integrating any country into the worldwide community. Taking into account that in Ukraine 2016 is declared as the year of studying English for realizing an idea to adopt English as the second working language, the problem of defining strategies of enhancing professionally oriented foreign language competence in the higher education has been become actual in the context of transforming Ukrainian higher education aimed to improving the quality of training specialists according to worldwide standards. Enhancing foreign language competency is among main priorities in a modern education as to according UNESCO’s statement “poor language skills are a serious obstacle to seizing professional opportunities” [5, p.1].
Several aspects of this problem were considered in the fields of linguistics and pedagogy. W. D. Hawley, D. Hymes, L. Valli examined the issues of forming foreign professional communicative competence [6, 7]. I. V. Sekret analyzed the concept of the foreign language professional competence [3]. Components of the communicative competence were considered in the conception of the common European framework of reference for languages [4]. There are also researches as to peculiarities of the professionally oriented foreign language competence in the context of training specialists in different fields of activities [1, 2]. But there is no a general accepted meaning of the professionally oriented foreign language competence and strategies of its enhancing in the higher education.
The purpose of this article is to define strategies of the professionally oriented foreign language competence in the higher education. It is possible to realize it by studying the concept of the professionally oriented foreign language competence and its components in the higher education.
To define the concept of the professionally oriented foreign language competence it is necessary to analyze its components as the professionally oriented foreign language competence is often named as professional foreign language competence, foreign language professional competence, or professional foreign language communicative competence.
The competence means the sum of knowledge, skills and characteristics that allow a person to perform actions in a wide variety of situations [4]. A professional competence is often connected with a communication competence as a linguistic competence with its sociolinguistic using in various situations in a real life [7]. The professional communicative competence is considered as using a foreign language as a tool for professional, sociolinguistic, and cultural competences in a foreign language community according to individuals’ abilities and knowledge for realizing special tasks thanks to behavioural strategies chosen by individuals [6]. In a professional field of activity the foreign language competence consists of components including linguistic, sociolinguistic, and pragmatic competences which are accepted as the basis of the foreign language communicative competence. Linguistic competences include lexical, phonological, syntactical knowledge and skills and other dimensions of language as system, sociolinguistic ones refer to the sociocultural conditions of language use, and pragmatic competences are concerned with the functional use of linguistic resources, drawing on scenarios or scripts of interactional exchanges [4]. There are also other competencies such as discursive, social, strategic and other ones in a foreign language communicative competence. The professionally oriented foreign language competence is interpreted as a set of competences which allows using a foreign language in a professional field of activity [1]; integration of professional and foreign language activities; integrative personal professional formation which is realized in a personality’s psychological and technical and operation readiness of executing an effective professional activity with the help of foreign language’ means or in the conditions of foreign language culture, and provides a possibility of an effective interaction with the environment [3].
Taking into account the above-mentioned it is possible to define the professionally oriented foreign language competence as a set of competences including linguistic, professional, and sociocultural, and personally-motivated ones which allow using professional knowledge and skills in a foreign language environment of specialists in definite fields of professional activities. These competencies are. In the higher education teachers and students should have such competencies as their professional knowledge and skills.
Thus, it is possible to state that the professionally oriented foreign language competence provides common and distinguished requirements to students’ and teachers’ knowledge and skills depending on their functional responsibilities which can be combined into the following units according to linguistic, professional, sociocultural, and personally-motivated competencies:
The above-mentioned requirements provide the necessity of using information and communication technologies efficiently for solving problems and controlling the availability of the feedback in a professional communication.
Thus, it is possible to conclude that strategies of enhancing professionally oriented foreign language competence in the higher education should provide the following:
Thus, the following the above-mentioned strategies of enhancing professionally oriented foreign language competence will promote training highly-qualified specialists according to generally accepted standards in language proficiency for realizing their professional achievements for prospering people’s lives in the international community while integrating Ukraine into in the world scientific and educational environment
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