Cognitive-Conceptual Model for Developing Foreign Language Communicative Competence in Non-Linguistic University Students

Abstract

This study is devoted to the foreign language communicative competence development among non-linguistic universities under-graduate students. This research covered the issue of foreign language education based on the cognitive-conceptual model for teaching English to non-linguistic university students. As the main research method, pedagogical modelling was chosen. The experiment was conducted at Russian State Vocational Pedagogical University, Ural Federal University named after the first President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin, and Ural Institute of State Fire Service of EMERCOM of Russia among 72 undergraduate students. The results of several curriculum-based tests showed that the percentage of correct determination of expressions with the context available increased from 54% to 93.2% in EG1, and from 41.9 to 85.5% in EG2. The overall students’ understanding of lexical units increased by 39.2% and 43.6%, respectively. The ratio of misunderstanding/understanding of speech utterances increased from 15/7 to 6/16, while the proportion of students who do not use/use various interpretation strategies changed from 8/14 to 3/19. The developed cognitive-conceptual methodology effectiveness for teaching foreign language communicative competence was proven. It can be applied to train students of various specialisations at different university degree levels.