Abstract:

Modern specialists in various fields of economics should have not only professional competences, but either the ability to present the results of their researches, development results and projects clearly. Taking into account the fact that most projects are implemented in the conditions of international cooperation, specialists should be able to demonstrate the results of their work in a foreign language as well. In this regard, the ability to describe various types of infographics is a challenging direction in teaching students of higher educational establishments. This research is aimed at defining the main approaches and principles of teaching students of higher educational establishments to describe infographics in a foreign language using information and communication technologies. At present, an infographic is defined as the visual representation of information, data or knowledge in a clear and easy-to-understand way. In addition to images, infographic components include charts, graphs, tables, diagrams, lists, and maps. Hence, the practical application of infographics is interconnected with the use of information technologies. Considering all the circumstances, we have developed a staged methodology of teaching the description of infographics in a foreign language using information and communication technologies. The methodology unites various types of practices on every stage. It should be emphasized that the effective use of infographics in a foreign language combines knowledge in the fields of infographic, information and communication technologies and linguistic features of a foreign language, which determine the set of practices at each stage of training. The methodology has been tested in the process of preparing reports on interdisciplinary projects in a foreign language by students of the Institute of Radioelectronics and information technologies of the Ural Federal University. The analysis of student surveys demonstrates that after completing the course on describing infographics, attitudes towards using it to demonstrate the results of their research have changed.

Keywords:

Higher education, foreign language teaching, infographics, staged methodology, Information and Communication Technologies.