Abstract:

Today, strategic plans for the development of the society are associated with breakthrough processes in the field of digital economy, the need for which is determined by the laws of Industry 4.0. It is necessary to identify those agents of digital economy who are capable of ensuring the implementation of new targets for the economic development. The need for the development of digital economy makes it necessary to rethink many spheres and functions of the society. The focus on the development of a person who is ready and able to live in a digital space, possessing competencies in the field of Industry 4.0, implies a change in the world outlook, people's mentality, their behavior and ways of interaction. The subject of the digital economy era must be ready for the constant development of his potential, for a change in professional specialization, for, possibly, cardinal changes in his environment. With the transition to the digital economy, changes are taking place not only in the field of computerization (which was characteristic of the industrial era), but also in the post-industrial attitude to work, nation, leisure, authorities, etc. New “digital” professions appear, old “analog” ones disappear. The most visible are changes at educational system, which is experiencing a period of active promotion of innovative technologies. Foreign language education is also subject to innovative development, and in the era of Industry 4.0 it must meet the challenges of the time. The article deals with issues related to the new guidelines for education of linguists and teachers of foreign languages, as well as with benchmarks for the development strategy of digital economy. New directions of professional specialization of graduates of language universities are presented, special projections of the foreign language teacher's profession are described, which are significant for solving the problems of specialists training for the digital economy. The authors of the publication focus on a linguist who acquires the qualities of a language worker - a specialist in the field of processing large digital arrays of text, a specialist in the field of "fact-checking" - identifying in the digital environment the facts of discrepancy between the claimed data and reality, reliability based on processing, analysis of text information, studying discursive characteristics. The authors focus on modeling the image of a modern foreign language teacher who is ready to interact with digital foreign language educational content. The designers of specialized educational online platforms and educational games, editors of online lessons, game technicians, coaches for blended learning, Internet surfing instructors, interdisciplinary tutors, developers of educational trajectories, specialists in projects are included in the list of new digital pedagogical professions. The article provides data of the statistical analysis of the situation in higher pedagogical education regarding implementation of educational programs aimed at training digital professionals capable of working in a situation of digital society development.

Keywords:

Digital society, digital skills, teaching second languages, communication competences, teaching practice, teaching strategies, innovations.