NECESSITY OF PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE IN TERMS OF HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS




Пожарицкая Юлия Сергеевна,

аспирант, Уральский федеральный университет имени первого президента России Б.Н. Ельцина, Россия, г. Екатеринбург

This article analyses interrelation of higher education internalization with the students and teachers need in English for Academic Purposes proficiency. The notion of “English for Academic Purposes” is described in its correlation with the notion of “English for Specific Purposes” and “English for Occupational Purposes”.

Ключевые слова: Ключевые слова: higher education,intercultural communication,language competence,EAP,ESP,study skills.




Библиографическое описание: Библиографическое описание:


Globalisation processes, dynamic development of modern society, creation of a unified European system of higher and further education in terms of the Bologna process - all this leads to the necessity of both students and teachers to acquire the skills of intercultural communication in English. English proficiency ensures the adequacy of social and professional contacts and integration into the international professional and scientific community. Since English has become the international language of research and academic publications, as well as the language of higher education in countries around the world its knowledge certainly increases the value, competitiveness and the quality of education. “Higher education is becoming globalised alongside the economy, -writes D. Gradoll, - and English is proving to be a key ingredient – partly because universities in the English-speaking world dominate the global league tables, and partly because English is proving popular as a means of internationalising both the student community and teaching staff” [1]. Therefore, English becomes a precondition for universities which want to be high-ranked and competitive.

The concept of foreign language teaching in higher education today is based on the development of communicative language competence, which is a prerequisite for successful professional and academic activities. It is an important indicator of the education quality. For students it is mainly connected with the broadening of their cultural outlook, possibility of intercultural mobility and gain of new studying skills. Knowledge of the English language gives them chance to go to study or to undergo a training course in the world leading universities, as well as gives them access to a large scope of useful information. Moreover, the knowledge of English gives undergraduates ability to do research work and opens wide professional prospect. As to the teaching staff, they need English for their pedagogical and research activities, such as: teaching practice, lecture delivering, making presentations, developing educational materials in English, writing articles, working with documents, taking part in conferences and workshops, cooperation with foreign colleagues, international mobility and so forth. “Because so much academic discourse is conducted through the medium of English, whether in journals, at conferences or through the Internet, - write Medgyes and Kaplan, - academics will need a competence in English, if they are to keep up with developments in their field, ensure that their own work is available to their colleagues internationally and interact with each other. If the academics wish to publish for international academic community, they will be forced to write in English…” [5, p.30]

Therefore, internasionalisation of higher education and growing need of students and teaching staff in international professional communication results in the growing popularity of English for Academic purposes (EAP) – the teaching of English with the specific aim of helping learners to study, to conduct research or teach in that language, – which developed as a resource for communication, a resource which varied in its application according to the context or situation in which it was produced [5, p.8]. EAP meets the needs of modern higher education, as it can be used for both students and teaching staff of universities according to their needs.

EAP is usually considered to be one of the two branches of English for Specific Purposes (ESP). The other branch is EOP (English for Occupational). Each of these major branches is then sub-divided according to the disciplines or occupations with which it is concerned [5, p.8]. Moreover, Jordan considers that EAP can be also subdivided into English for General Academic Purposes (EGAP) and English for Specific Academic Purposes (ESAP), according to whether they concern general academic language and focus on study skills or subject-specific language of particular academic disciplines [3, p.4]. However, Hutchinson and Waters note that there is no clear-cut distinction between EAP and EOP: "people can work and study simultaneously; it is also likely that in many cases the language learnt for immediate use in a study environment will be used later when the student takes up, or returns to, a job" [ 2, p.16].

Thus, the educational activity of ESP and EAP within it is concerned essentially with ways of reconciling the tension between the ‘career subject’ for students and/or staff, which is not English, and their need of English and communication skills for access to subject knowledge or ‘content’. EAP concentrates on such skills which are required for successful studying and successful work in the educational and scientific sphere and can be further applied to other spheres and professions. Study skills are one of the main components of EAP programs. The main study skills include: academic reading, writing, listening and speaking. Kennedy reports that “such content skills will cover the whole range of higher education curricula in the sciences, humanities and social sciences” [5, p.28]. Moreover, study skills that are taught at EAP prove to be extremely useful not only for learning English, but for learners’ native language as they are intertransferable and can have a general application to all academic subjects [4].

Thus, as teaching EAP is based on learners’ needs and develops skills that can be used not only in academic context but for future professional development, learning of EAP and improvement of the status of international communication in foreign language will, on the one hand, make the students’ level of education better and, on the other hand, will stimulate the professional growth of the university teaching staff. That by turn, will lead to the growth of academic mobility, which is one of the most important aspects of internationalisation of higher education, and result into the education quality improvement and enhancement of university prestige.

 

References:

1. Graddol, D. Englishnext [Электронный ресурс] / – BritishCouncil. – 2006. – Режим доступа : http://www.britishcouncil.org/learning-research-english-next.pdf, свободный. – Загл. с экрана.

2. Hutchinson, T. English for Specific Purposes : A learning-centred approach / T. Hutchinson. – Cambridge University Press, 1987. – 183 p.

3. Jordan, R. R. English for Academic Purposes : A guide and resource book for teachers / R. R. Jordan. – Cambridge University Press, 1997. – 411 p.

4. Jordan, R. R. State of the Art article : English for Academic Purposes (EAP) / R. R. Jordan // Language teaching. – 1989. − Vol. 22, Issue 03. − Cambridge Journals. − Режимдоступа : http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S026144480001483X, свободный. – Загл. сэкрана.

5. Research Perspectives on English for Academic Purposes / ed.: J. Flowerdew, M. Peacock. – Cambridge ; New York ; Melbourne : Cambridge University Press, 2001. – 467 p.

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