Continuity in the formation of professional foreign language competence of researchers at advanced training courses

Abstract

The aim of the study is to present a mechanism for implementing the concept of six-year continuous training of researchers in English, which proposes a step-by-step approach to professional foreign language competence formation. The paper develops English language training programmes for researchers with continuity in the formation and development of professional foreign language competence, presents the practical evaluation of these programmes within the framework of advanced training courses implemented at the Department of Foreign Languages of the Faculty of Personnel Training at the Federal Research Centre “Krasnoyarsk Science Center, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences” and also confirms the expediency and success of an integrated approach to teaching adults a foreign language. The novelty of this work consists in combining all aspects of the English language, including spheres, topics and situations of communication, language knowledge and skills, speech skills and formulas aimed at achieving communicative goals, working with foreign language texts in oral and written form, as well as academic discourse, into a single integrative six-year course with the consistent introduction of a scientific component and its expansion at all stages of training. It is the first time that this approach is being implemented within the framework of advanced training programmes for scientific personnel. The continuity between the programmes in the formation and development of the speech, linguistic and socio-cultural competencies suggests that this training system is a kind of unified “English language school for researchers”. The proposed programmes are designed taking into account the professional needs, interests and peculiarities of adult students. The training is based on the principles of the communicative, linguoculturological and individual approaches within the framework of subject-to-subject relations between the teacher and the students. As a result of mastering these programmes, scholars have written academic papers that have been published in high-ranking Q1 and Q2 foreign journals (Web of Science, Scopus), presented oral reports at international scientific conferences and symposiums held in various countries of Europe and Asia, won international grants for research and continue to conduct successful scientific activity in international laboratories.