Abstract:

The objective of the present work is to look at the ways learning English as a foreign language (EFL) may be helpful in developing students’ analytical skills which make one of the most important professionally and socially valid competences in any area of activity.

The topicality of the theme is proved by a number of reasons. Firstly, we believe that in order to solve different problems arising in today’s polycultural world, professionals and ordinary people have to be capable of making out the true state of things, the sources of dubious situations, and their links with other circumstances. Secondly, analysing all the above it is necessary to work out the optimal ways of solving the problems to the best advantage of all the parties. Thirdly, settling the arising issues is impossible without the participants’ well developed communicative skills which ensure adequate transmittance of the relevant proposals and ideas resulting from the proper analysis of all facets of any situation. Thus, it is evident that only analytically minded people can be efficient in sorting out numerous disputable issues of the current life.

In this respect EFL presents quite an engaging material for forming students’ ability to thoroughly examine the object of investigation and make reasonable inferences. Language functions include formation and reflection of the processes going on in the human mind; so decomposing language units and their combinations leads to a recursive synthesis of mental operations as transformed into speech production. Using methods of functional linguistics the author reveals the practical potential of linguistic analysis as a way to form students’ vision of discourse evolution. The analytical operations referred to in the presentation are exemplified by extracts from Business English sources and English fiction.

Finally, the author concludes that methods of functional linguistics are expedient for developing students’ ability to build up communicatively efficient discourse, to elicit the partner’s intentions and the possible outcome of interaction with him or her, to be sophisticated in driving the conversation or correspondence to the desired purpose of communication. All that taken together results in communicative synergism enhancing people’s analytical competence.

Keywords:

English as a foreign language, analytical competence, teaching methods, functional linguistics, discourse analysis, communicative efficiency.