Abstract:

After the changes in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment (CEFR) and the publication of its Companion Volume in 2018 (CEFR/CV), a revision of the curriculum of pre-service teachers of English at Kazan Federal University, Russia has been done.

CEFR describes four ‘modes’ to reflect the process of real-life communication:
- reception: comprehension in listening and reading;
- production: formulating something new to say or write;
- interaction: engaging in conversation or written exchanges;
- mediation: adjusting the message for the recipient.

The last concept has been significantly updated in the CEFR/CV. Mediation implies passing on new information in an appropriate form, collaborating to construct new meaning, encouraging others to construct or understand new meaning, and creating space and conditions for communicating and/or learning. Teachers mediate every day, therefore these skills pre-service language teachers will need the most. With this idea in mind, the authors have analysed current situation with language teaching in terms of Master programs at Kazan Federal University that have recently undergone significant changes and rethinking.

The aim of the article is to provide an overview of the concept of mediation and its’ new descriptors as well as the activities and strategies it presupposes. The research question is as follows: how can we effectively integrate such mediation activities as mediating the text, mediating concepts and mediating communication in pre-service English language teachers’ training at Kazan Federal University?

At the following stage of our prolonged research, a special survey was designed to define students’ attitudes to mediation activities. The main result is that shift to mediation in teaching English has increased students’ collaboration in developing new ideas, encouraged conceptual talk and improved their social skills and autonomy.

Keywords:

Common European Framework of Reference, pre-service teachers’ training, mediation, mediation strategies and activities.