Development of professional foreign language competence within transport industry requirements

Abstract

The labour market under current conditions is dynamic and non-homogeneous – it witnesses differentiation in terms of various phenomena and criteria, according to structural changes in the socio-economic environment of society. When considering the labour market requirements for foreign language proficiency, of crucial importance is to take into account the ultimate employers’ needs in the transport industry, the main one being maximum adaptability of graduates-specialists to practical activities in the relevant real sector of the economy. Industry-related educational institutions offer the integrated multi-level system of staff training, retraining and refresher courses conducted under the state regulation in order to meet the state needs. Therefore, to respond to the new challenges, which the transport industry is facing, the educational process continuity requires expansion of professional competencies into supplementary fields of knowledge, taking into account the international labour market condition. Among these, a high level of foreign language proficiency should be noted, which is a significant competitive advantage for a transport university graduate. The authors of the research formulated the industry-related requirements for the level of foreign language proficiency, determined the relevance of improving the quality of foreign language training of students at a transport university, and proposed the methodology guidelines for the use of mnemonics in the process of forming the professional foreign language competence of future economists.