Abstract:

In the process of preparation for passing international exams in English, nowadays demo-papers are widely used. The present study deals with revealing the structural peculiarities and functional potential of demo versions of international ESL exam in modern multimedia and analyzes the variants of how above demos are constructed.

The topic is relevant to be researched in-depth as demo versions play an important role in international ESL exam papers and they constitute the largest part of them. The research of international ESL exam demo-papers is necessary these days as such a format objectively serve the needs of the modern multicultural society. They allow to select out more or less culturally intelligent representatives of the society who are aware of the basics in daily and business communication.

The object of the study is presented by international ESL exam demos from authorized educational sites. These free resources give an opportunity to study the format of the exam and concentrate efforts on the issues that pose a real challenge to pass the international exam in English. As a consequence, the objective of the research is to describe the structural peculiarities of international ESL exam demo-papers from authorized educational sites. The authors reveal typological characteristics of demos in question in order to highlight the most didactically successful ones. Also the authors analyze functional potential of demo-papers for the further development of the academic discourse.

The present research is done with the help of the methods of cognitive-pragmatic and discourse analysis, and the descriptive research method.

The authors conclude that international ESL exam demo-papers from authorized educational sites vary greatly in types and topics that is proved by certain sets of linguistic markers. These markers give a great pragmatic potential to demo versions which fulfill both social regulation and informative functions.

Awareness and work with demo-papers can help candidates understand the structure, peculiarities and requirements of international ESL exam. They can also be used to hone professional skills of those who study English to advance knowledge from their professional field and to share it with others. Thus, the results of the extensive research can be successfully applied to international ESL exam courses.

Keywords:

Demo-paper, demo version, international ESL exam, structural peculiarities, functional potential, lexical and syntactical features.