IMPROVING ASSERTIVENESS AS A SOFT SKILL IN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS. AN INSIGHT INTO ASSERTIVE COMMUNICATION IN THE ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE CLASSROOM AT ECONOMICS FACULTIES

21st century global skills needed for professionals include soft skills which encompass a range of more specific ones and assertive skills in particular. The presentation and the article examine the notion of assertiveness and describe the system of techniques and activities aimed at developing assertive skills in students studying at economics faculties for further business and professional communication. Based on literature study the authors consider assertiveness in terms of linguistic and socio-psychological aspects, culture specifics and context-bound meanings. The article gives account of the survey conducted at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics evaluating the level of undergraduate economics students' assertive skills development as an outcome of ESL classes. Assertiveness survey was conducted before and after assertive skills training sessions integrated into ESL classes. The article is based on the concept underlying teaching assertive skills in terms of regulative or pragmatic language function, as the authors believe that teaching the target language specific for assertive behavior ensures both assertive skills and a foreign language proficiency level development. The authors give rationale and review the classroom activities aimed at improving the students' assertive skills. Teaching and learning assertiveness in the ESL classroom was focused on the specific techniques, discourse activities, cultural differences and classroom interaction relevant to real life business situations. The survey findings proving the effectiveness of teaching and classroom interaction as well as activities themselves are described in the article in detail.