Abstract:

Nowadays competence-based approach in education is central to the preparation of specialists in any sphere, languages included. The European Framework of Reference for Languages gives a detailed classification of competences that should be developed throughout the educational process, and the Federal State Educational Standards of the Russian Federation are based on the same principle, stating that every graduate should possess developed general cultural, general professional and professional competences that provide them with an opportunity to carry out professional activities. Basing on these documents as the major benchmark, MGIMO-University has developed its own standards that reflect the primary role of foreign language acquisition in international communication. The unique approach to forming our own educational system implies that not only the professional skills, required for successfully performing their working duties, are formed in our students, but also a person’s ability to communicate effectively with representatives of other cultures, i.e. achieve their communicative aims and at the same time conform to the expectations of their partners, is mastered. The aim of the present research is to describe professional communicative competences that learners of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) acquire at MGIMO, and discuss pedagogical techniques used to form these competences. The scope of professional activities covered in the research concerns the spheres of economics and management. The competences in these two spheres that ESP students develop are comparable as they are likely to be applied in business communication on the international scale. The aim of the research is to analyse effective foreign languages (L2) learning techniques that contribute to mastering both professional and communicative competences. The teaching techniques currently used at MGIMO University conform to the principles of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), but at the same time comprise unique pedagogical methods developed by our teachers for specific purposes. The design of the research comprises a literature review and an empirical study. The method chosen for the analysis is that of case study as the most appropriate for the research objectives, allowing for the use of a number of qualitative as well as quantitative methods. Content analysis of MGIMO-University ESP learning materials for economics and management students, which comprise analysis of professionally oriented material, communicative language activities and presentation practice, provided the data for the empirical part of the research. As a result, a variety of activities contributing to the formation of communicative and discourse competences are suggested and the learning materials aimed at developing these competences are analysed. The viability of achieving the ultimate aim of mastering professional communicative competence with the help of these educational strategies is discussed.

Keywords:

Competence-based approach, educational standards, professional communicative competence, discourse competence, English for Specific Purposes (ESP), Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), the case of MGIMO-University.