Analysis of Approaches to Foreign Language Training of International Specialists (on the Example of MGIMO of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia)

Konkol Marina Mikhailovna PhD in Pedagogy Associate Professor, English Language Department ¹3, MGIMO University 76 Vernadsky Avenue, Moscow, 119454, Russia, Moscow region m.konkol.@my.mgimo.ru

Kochkina Ol'ga Mikhailovna PhD in Psychology Associate Professor, English Language Department ¹2, Deputy Head of Directorate of Language Training, MGIMO University 119454, Russia, Moscow region, Moscow, Prospekt Vernadskogo str., 76 o.kochkina@inno.mgimo.ru

IntroductionTeaching the language of the profession is a priority for all MGIMO language departments of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, since mastering professional linguistic competencies has historically been an integral part of training international specialists capable of solving professional tasks and achieving high results in the field of business cooperation, adequately representing MGIMO graduates and their country in the international arena.

The teaching staff of the departments of Romano-Germanic and Oriental languages under the guidance of the developers of the language of the profession, analyzing the accumulated experience, works for the successful implementation of the goals and objectives, improving the skills and abilities of future specialists; looking for new solutions to educational and methodological issues; develops new methods and types of creative project work; conducts extracurricular activities with students those who want to gain additional experience and expand their narrowly specialized knowledge, with the aim of applying them to successfully solve professional tasks within their future profession.

The long-term practice of all language departments, without exception, is the implementation of an integrated approach to the application of project methods of working with students within the framework of the "Language of the profession" aspect. The indisputable value of the formation and development of linguistic competencies in the field of professional communication at the departments of Romano-Germanic and Oriental languages is the possibility of designing and modeling conditions close to real professional ones. This becomes possible due to the implementation of methods and approaches used by teachers of departments in teaching the language of the profession.

Since teaching the language of the profession is a priority area of the university's language training, the acquisition of universal, general professional, additional professional competencies stated in the educational standards of MGIMO of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia is an integral part of the training of international specialists ^[12]. At the same time, linguistic communicative competence is being formed, which is necessary for the use of a foreign language not only in professional activities in the international arena, but also in cognitive activity and interpersonal communication.

Approaches to teaching the language of the profession In the conditions of a developing economy and market integration processes, the traditional approach to teaching the language of the profession, which has been used for many years in the Soviet and then the Russian educational system, is considered somewhat outdated, since it is not able to solve the tasks of forming a full-fledged professional foreign language competence and train specialists who meet all the requirements of the modern social order.

The traditional approach is knowledge–based, that is, transferring all the accumulated knowledge, on the basis of which certain skills and abilities should be formed, makes the learning process one-sided and is considered only partially effective when teaching the language of the profession ^[6]. Nevertheless, it seems impossible to completely abandon the traditional approach, since it is an indispensable tool for such control and verification activities as a frontal survey, speaking with a pre-prepared message, performing lexical and grammatical exercises, etc.

Within the framework of the traditional approach, the specialists of the departments apply grammar-translation and lexical-translation methods aimed at improving skills in the study of grammatical rules, expanding vocabulary, translating texts, working with a dictionary, i.e., improving all skills necessary for the formation of the lexical-grammatical component of communicative competence. The traditional approach provides for intensive development of linguistic competencies in terms of honing the correctness of the use of lexico-grammatical phenomena, expanding their range and increasing their complexity ^[14].

To achieve these goals and to form high-level linguistic competencies among students, specialists of the departments apply a number of approaches, methods and strategies that meet all modern requirements in the field of teaching foreign languages. Thus, the competence approach has replaced and in addition to the traditional approach, aimed at mastering professional activity, modeling the conditions for its implementation, focusing on the activity component of the content of the student's future profession. The competence approach allows the student to find relevant information of interest to him and use it to solve various kinds of professional tasks. Unlike the traditional approach, the competence approach is able to teach a student to study independently and to be continuously in the information flow, observing all relevant changes related to his future profession. The use of a competence-based approach in the process of teaching the language of the profession contributes to the preparation of a future specialist who is fluent in his profession, competitive in the labor market, competent, oriented in areas related to his profession ^[13].

The competence approach is not isolated, personality-oriented and activity-based approaches are closely related to it. The personality-oriented approach places the individual personality traits of students at the center, rather than the development of social and professional competencies. Cognitive activity in the classroom takes into account the personality of the student through the satisfaction of his most pressing cognitive needs. Within the framework of the personality-oriented approach, the method of personalization of learning is actively used, when the student is offered tasks related to his personal life experience and preferences, which serve as the basis for modeling communication situations in the classroom. Such an approach makes it possible to establish a positive emotional connection of the student with the learning process and thus increase the motivational component and improve the quality of material assimilation ^[25].

 The activity-based or communicative-activity approach implies a different kind of activity, through which the student develops his personality in a diverse way. Activity, being the central concept of the approach, activates the acquired knowledge and makes it practically significant. A distinctive feature of this approach is that the student himself is at the center of the learning process in an activity position. Collective forms of work related to the joint search and finding solutions to problems are the main ways of organizing activities ^[3].

The triad of these approaches is considered the most effective combination in teaching the language of the profession, since it contains all the components on the basis of which a successful professional activity is built: a comprehensively developed personality of a student who has all the necessary skills and abilities for practical application in the process of performing professional tasks ^[13].

Romano-Germanic and Oriental languages are foreign for university students and are studied not only for general, but also for professional communication, which sets the task for specialists of all departments to form certain professionally-oriented linguistic competencies. In this regard, all professional language training programs are built on the basis of a competence-based approach using all its components. This approach is reflected in the modeling of tasks and conditions for their implementation, which students will have to face in their professional activities, and assumes an emphasis on the formation of knowledge, skills and abilities necessary for mastering targeted professional competencies ^[23], which explains its special effectiveness in teaching foreign languages in higher education ^[24]. In foreign language educational programs for international students of MGIMO of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, the principles of the competence approach are manifested in the formation of many skills necessary for the successful conduct of future professional activity. The use of a competence-based approach ensures continuity, consistency and consistency of the study of the "Language of the profession" aspect, which contributes to the preparation of a future international specialist professionally oriented in his specialty.

An equally significant approach in teaching the language of the profession is the communicative approach, that is, the approach in which the emphasis is placed on the development of certain (in this case, professionally-oriented) competencies through the use of teaching methods and techniques in the classroom, priority is given to authentic meaningful communication ^[23]. Moreover, within the framework of the communicative approach, teachers of all language departments of the university, as a rule, use integrated tasks that combine the development of skills and abilities included in various competencies, which corresponds to the use of language in real life.

The cultural component of the communicative approach plays a significant role in the formation of communicative competence in the process of teaching a foreign language within the framework of the "Language of the profession" aspect. The linguistic content of the programs and the component of national orientation help to form the necessary professional mentality in future specialists. The cultural component of the programs is also responsible for the formation of intercultural tolerance among future specialists in all areas of training of MGIMO of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia. In this context, intercultural tolerance is a tool that helps to conduct a constructive dialogue with partners and successfully implement in the future profession, and also determines the active position of the individual ^[8].

Teaching students the language of the profession in all areas of the university, the teaching staff of language departments often opt for the project method / project method, and there is a justification for this. Traditionally, it is considered that the project method is one of the most effective, since it is completely aimed at improving the communicative competence of students, promotes the development of a linguistic personality and generates interest in the educational process. The use of the method of professionally-oriented projects in a non-linguistic university is of a special nature: the student models a situation close to real professional activity, activates all acquired knowledge and skills, demonstrates the ability to work independently. Students highly appreciate the opportunity to work on their own projects, which entails an increase in motivation for the discipline being studied. As part of the project work, students gain invaluable experience, learn to select information sources and analyze them, formulate conclusions and present results, gain experience that they are able to apply in real professional activity immediately after completing work on the project ^[18].

The project tasks themselves have several varieties, but they are all united by a single task – to develop the student's research skills of searching and critical analysis of information, as well as the task of developing logical thinking and skills of argumentative presentation of their position. Based on the goal of developing the student's research and analytical abilities, each project assignment, however, depending on its type, is aimed at forming students with other diverse competencies.

Project tasks, both individual and group, have been introduced into the practice of departments in all courses of study and relate to contextual learning aimed primarily at modeling the content and activities of the future profession. A characteristic feature of contextual learning is the problematic content of learning ^[1].

In all areas of training, the specialists of the departments turn to the case method, or case study, which is also considered one of the most effective for the formation of professional competencies, since it trains students to conduct situational analysis of specific cases arising in the course of professional activity. The value and effectiveness of the use of the case method in the framework of teaching the language of the profession lies in the practical orientation, which allows the student to activate and effectively apply the theoretical knowledge gained. Solving cases gives a broader understanding of the processes taking place in the business sphere. The format of the case method is interactive, emotionally engages and immerses in active participation, which in turn ensures more effective assimilation of the material. The case method (traditionally) is considered to be the "right" method for the formation of students' "soft skills" (soft skills), which is extremely important to possess in the conditions of modern business realities ^[5].

Traditionally, the study of cases is an in-depth detailed analysis of a certain professional situation and related conditions. The introductory data for the analysis and solution of the case are presented in various sources. After analyzing the presented situation, students, after a joint discussion, make a practical decision on the situation and give its justification. The main purpose of such tasks is considered to be improving the analytical abilities of students, their information selection skills, as well as the skills of dialogical and polylogical communication in the process of discussing the case.

The use of the case method by the departments of foreign languages can be attributed to information and analytical work, with proper mastering of which the student should be able to understand, extract and analyze factual information from various oral and written sources (depending on the direction of professional training). For example, in the field of jurisprudence, tasks aimed at solving various legal incidents within the framework of the legislation of the country of the foreign language being studied are common. To consolidate the skills of economic translation, business communication situations requiring decision-making, bilateral negotiations, etc. are modeled ^[19]

Role-playing is one of the most valuable methodological techniques in the arsenal of all departments, because as a learning strategy it allows you to model a professionally oriented situation that requires insight into the essence of the problem and finding possible ways to solve it. By completing the task, students assume roles similar to future professional ones, which obliges them to communicate in accordance with the style, genre, level of formality, to study a particular topic more deeply, to cooperate with other participants, to listen, to hear, and also to respond adequately to the remarks of interlocutors, trying to find a solution to the problem together, embedded in the task.The value of a role-playing game lies in the modeling and reproduction by its participants of real professional activity and the creation of conditions for real communication. Role-playing is inextricably linked with speech acts and the generation of speech activity. This technique is organically integrated into work programs, within which the goal is the formation, development and practice of speech competencies. In addition to speech competencies, role-playing games have a positive impact on the formation of cognitive processes of students and contribute to a more conscious mastery of language competence ^[2].

Separately, it is worth mentioning the portfolio method used in teaching students within the framework of the "Language of the profession" aspect in the field of "Sociology". The portfolio method is a special case of the project method and is focused on the student's independent work: the search, selection and systematization of information that the student needs to present clearly, arguing his choice, giving examples, voicing the results. The format of each individual portfolio is based on the topics studied by the student within the framework of the work program on the discipline English (the "Language of the profession" aspect). The value of the portfolio method is to provide the student with a semi-rigid follow-up model, in which the teacher prescribes only vector questions, answering which the student must demonstrate the ability to analyze, having previously conducted a mini-study. By formulating answers to the questions posed by the teacher, students learn to formulate their thoughts briefly and accurately, and when presenting a portfolio – to build statements, demonstrating proficiency in language competencies. ^[7]     Approaches to the formation of productive skills

Speaking about approaches to teaching productive skills of speech activity, it is impossible not to mention the methods used by departments to form writing skills.

The arsenal of methodological techniques used by departments in teaching writing skills includes almost the entire range of existing approaches to their formation:

Formal language approach.When using this approach, speech is considered "as a means of teaching and improving grammatical, lexical, speech, language skills, speech monological and dialogical skills" ^[17], it is widely used for practicing vocabulary and grammar at the initial stages of training, as well as for training such in translation classes. Within the framework of this approach, writing is not an end in itself, but an auxiliary tool for working out other competencies.

The formal-structural approach is focused on the final product and focuses on the result of written activity. Learning to write with this approach takes place by analyzing the presented text models by students and their subsequent imitation. This approach is not isolated and is used together with a genre approach focused on the functional features and types of texts peculiar to the professional discourse of a certain target audience. This makes this approach particularly suitable for teaching a foreign language for special purposes ^[20], in this case, the language of the profession.

A process-oriented or content-semantic approach involves teaching writing through an emphasis on the process of creating a written text itself. With this approach, students are not offered a final text model – learning is done through concentration on various processes that reflect the stages of creating written texts. Such processes include planning (generating ideas, goal setting, thinking through the organizational structure of the text, choosing lexical and grammatical means), writing a draft version of the text, checking, including editing and corrections, and, finally, creating the final version of the text. Accordingly, a process-oriented approach is used by specialists of departments to teach writing skills when creating texts of a more complex order that require a large number of mental actions.

Approaches to the formation of receptive skills

Also, specialists of all departments pay special attention to improving the skills of semantic reading of foreign professionally-oriented texts, which are understood as receptive speech activity aimed at perception, extraction of meaning, interpretation of what is read and the creation of their own personal meanings. The concept of semantic reading of foreign-language professionally-oriented texts involves the formation of students' skills such as: finding and extracting the required information; interpretation of the text (this includes the formulation of the topic and the main idea, the isolation of significant and secondary information, the definition of logical connections between elements, the formation of a system of arguments, structuring the content); and, finally, compression of the content, its reproduction and making value judgments ^{[4, 19]}.

One of the strategies for teaching semantic reading is the method of cognitive visualization, the popularity of which has been actively growing recently due, on the one hand, to the rapid development of information and communication technologies, and, on the other, to the manifestation of new cognitive preferences among students who have determined the intensive introduction of visual learning tools, the transition from reproduction to creativity, creativity. Unlike visualization itself, the cognitive visualization method involves rethinking the content, analysis, systematization and structuring of information and creates the basis for subsequent reflexive activity. Unlike traditional symbolic structuring methods in the form of tables, matrices, formulas, rules, etc., visual methods, also called "graphic organizers", are characterized by greater visibility and allow not only to get a holistic view of the concept, concept or phenomenon, but also to reflect in more detail the relationships between individual elements of the structure ^[4].

Reading instruction is usually based on authentic printed materials, different in volume and stylistic affiliation. In terms of reading, these are various texts on a topic determined by the direction and profile of professional training, on which all target strategies in the field of reading are worked out – introductory reading, viewing, analytical, with detailed understanding, etc.

Within the framework of teaching students listening skills at the departments of foreign languages of faculties of all directions and profiles of professional training, it is possible to distinguish two main approaches. The first is aimed at recognizing individual lexical units in foreign language speech with further integration of meaning (bottom-up approach), and the second is based on the general coverage of content based on background, contextual knowledge (top-down approach) ^{[9, 26]}.

The use of professionally-oriented media materials allows teachers to take into account the level of formation of the auditory component of communicative competence and ensure the availability and feasibility of completing tasks ^[20]. Thus, the specialists of the departments independently develop tasks for media materials corresponding to the level of language proficiency recommended by the program, while many of these materials are original (not adapted) and are characterized by the complexity of the "carrier level".  

These approaches work as a single mechanism and are not recommended for separating one from the other ^[26], which contributes to the formation of listening skills and are aimed at developing the following skills: separating the main from the secondary, determining the subject of the message, dividing the text into semantic parts, establishing logical connections, highlighting the main idea, perceiving the message at a certain pace, a certain duration, to the end without pauses. To achieve the set educational goals, which include the development of certain listening skills and strategies (listening to identify general ideas and detailed information), the specialists of the departments concentrate on communicative practice, the development of fluency, the development of speaking skills and strategies, extended speaking tasks after listening.

Special attention is paid to the authenticity of the materials. Access to original materials and work with them motivate students. Among the authentic materials: interviews, news reports, speeches by politicians, economists, analysts, journalists, etc., as well as informative TED Talks that meet the professional topics of the direction and the profile of training. All these materials are very valuable, as they demonstrate to students the natural language in the process of use, as well as different language options.

Approaches to the formation of translation skillsSeparately, it should be noted that mastering translation skills is an integral and archived part of mastering the language of the profession, since an international specialist of any profile needs professionally significant skills of visual-oral / visual-written translation of various documentation related to future professional activity; skills of two-way translation of business conversation / business negotiations.

All bachelor's degree programs (in terms of a foreign language) at all faculties and areas of professional training of MGIMO of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia provide training in the above types of translation, taking into account professional specifics.

Mediation is responsible for the successful mastery of translation skills, being a special kind of mediation communication between the author of the original text and the recipient of the final product (derived text). Mediation skills include the following activities: summarizing the text, compiling an analytical review, retelling texts, translating into a foreign language and from a foreign language into Russian (including two-way translation).

Analyzing the experience of the departments in terms of teaching translation, it is worth noting that the transfer of information from one sign system to another should take place taking into account a full understanding of the specific terminology and structure of the language. The authors consider translation training in the field of "Jurisprudence" and socio-political discourse to be the most difficult in this regard (using the example of the Chinese language).

The study of the system of legal concepts and categories of the country of the studied language is inevitably connected with two aspects: the terminological designation of legal phenomena and the analysis of the linguistic features of the legal text. Combining these two aspects marks a synergetic approach that makes linguistics and jurisprudence equivalent and equal components in obtaining a holistic picture of the language being studied. This is no less important when training international lawyers - specialists who should not just operate with foreign language terms, but, understanding the extra–linguistic realities behind them, ensure a genuine dialogue of cultures, vital in modern society ^[16].

Speaking about translation and legal linguistic approaches, attention should be paid to the study of special legal terminology (lexical and grammatical nature and structural and semantic construction of foreign language terms and their interpretations in Russian). One of the priority tasks is the need to teach the future international lawyer to avoid two extremes: literalism (literal translation) and translation arbitrariness (free translation). Translation as a type of activity in the field of jurisprudence is related to different legal systems and assumes: fluency in the original language and perfect command of the language of registration; professional knowledge of special legal terminology; availability of appropriate competence in the field of comparative law ^[16].

Specialists of the Department of Chinese, Vietnamese and other languages believe that the grammatical-translation method plays an important role for them ^[10].The socio-political text in Chinese is very specific, which leaves a certain imprint on the teaching methods. In most journalistic and news texts and speeches there are expressions of high style and elements of preclassical and classical literary language (Wenyan), as well as whole quotations from ancient monuments ^[11]. With their help, a high style is realized, and the message is given the character of solemnity and grandiloquence. In this regard, when teaching translation, there is an urgent need to use a diachronic approach, which is based on the consideration of the historical development of certain linguistic phenomena and the language system as a whole as a subject of linguistic study ^[11]. When commenting on and translating socio-political texts, special attention should be paid to the analysis of hieroglyphic signs that are part of certain semantic and syntactic constructs borrowed from wenyan. Since most of the modern meanings of Chinese hieroglyphs correlate with ancient ideography and pictography, etymological (etymographic) analysis is also often used in teaching, which makes it possible to visually, graphically show the history of the development of a particular meaning. This approach allows you to simultaneously use visual organs of perception and facilitates the memorization of complex signs, and, on the other hand, attracts a large layer of cultural information that forms socio-cultural competence.

ConclusionThe described approaches and methods of teaching the language of the profession, taking into account each of their specifics and practiced by all departments of foreign languages of the University, providing training in all areas and profiles of professional training of future international specialists of MGIMO of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, seem reliable and proven, aimed at the formation of professionally necessary skills and abilities of future specialists.

         The generalization of the cathedral approaches and methods made it possible to identify pedagogical unity and a single vector for the implementation of the goals and objectives set by the foreign language study programs at the university. The analysis showed that the specialists of all language departments are united in their decision to apply modern, relevant, time-tested and experience-tested approaches and methods, while not forgetting about traditional teaching methods and even some specific approaches, where they are necessary and irreplaceable.

         Despite the variety of approaches and the methods and strategies of training included in them, they are all aimed at the successful improvement of foreign language competence, the formation of linguistic skills and abilities that are so necessary for a competent and erudite international specialist to successfully conduct his professional activities both inside and outside the Russian Federation, being, for example, an employee of a diplomatic mission or a representative of a large Russian company.