Digitalization in foreign language transport education

Fedotkina Elena Viktorovna ORCID: 0000-0002-6192-5758 PhD in Philology Associate Professor, Foreign Language Department, Russian University of Transport 127994, Russia, Moscow, Obraztsova str., 9, page 9 fedotkina_ev.ru@bk.ru

Introduction

Starting to describe the aspects of digitalization in foreign language transport education, first of all, it should be noted that the concept of "digitalization" is quite new and does not have a consistent, precise definition in either domestic or foreign science ^[1]. It is noted that in the works of Russian researchers, digitalization currently refers to all social changes and their results arising from the increased use of digital technologies, and focuses on two existing approaches to the definition of digitalization of education: firstly, it is the use of digital resources in education and upbringing and, secondly, job training with digital technologies and the formation of appropriate competencies among students.

The authors of scientific publications consider the digitalization of education, mainly from the technical and technological side. Thus, it is indicated that the digitalization of education can also be expressed in the introduction of electronic resources and the use of modern information technologies and digital tools: virtual internships, cloud technologies, interactive forms of learning, digital mentoring ^[5]. Digitalization of education, in addition to digitalization of the educational process itself, includes digitalization of administrative work: the introduction of electronic journals, statements, credit books and work with other educational process management systems ^[2]. The publications also describe the experience of using various digital resources, digital tools and innovative technologies in the educational process at all levels of education ^[14]. These are digital educational platforms for conducting distance learning, such as: Microsoft Teams, Moodle, Loops.Education and others – there are really a lot of them now; and resources for testing knowledge, and there are several dozen test systems alone for teachers to create tests on their own; interactive whiteboards on the Internet, such as Miro, there are also several dozen of them; these are educational resources of well–known publishers - media courses; and authentic materials – texts, video and audio materials that can be used in the educational process (of course, after careful selection).

It should be noted that in general, these types of educational materials are not only valuable for optimizing the educational process in the discipline "Foreign language" in a higher education institution, but also reflect the features of modern personal and professional communication, prepare students to enter a professional environment where, in addition to direct communication, watching videos is practiced to clarify various professional issues, including in a foreign language, passing a certification test in a foreign language, conducting video conferencing sessions and webinars, as well as creating and maintaining websites, promoting products and services on the Internet.

Works describing the use of artificial intelligence and neural networks in education have also appeared in the scientific and methodological press. A special thematic issue of one of the leading scientific and methodological journals of the country "Foreign languages at school" is devoted to this problem ^[16]. In the article P.V.Sysoev, published in this issue, indicates that the use of artificial intelligence technologies in teaching a foreign language is possible in three main vectors: a) teaching the discipline "Foreign language", b) mastering a foreign language, c) managing the appropriate pedagogical process ^[15]. A number of articles in this issue are devoted to the use of chatbots in teaching foreign languages ^{[8],[17],[19]}. The use of the chatbot ChatGPT, the interest in which this year has been and remains explosive, for solving educational problems, is also available in other scientific and methodological journals, they explore the issues of checking student written works for their creation using artificial intelligence ^[13].

In general, the idea of using artificial intelligence to teach foreign languages around the world has its own history. As an example, we can cite a paper describing the use of a chatbot for teaching grammar (topic - prepositions) ^[21]. The authors emphasize that the chatbot provides such high-quality and detailed feedback, which is unlikely to be provided by a teacher. Student papers are an array of big data that artificial intelligence can process faster and better than a teacher. Online platforms for teaching a foreign language allow for more flexibility to take into account the individual characteristics and needs of students, offering them different tasks that allow each student to study at their own pace, unlike teaching within the classroom-based system, when the same educational materials are offered to the entire study group ^[20].

Foreign language teachers around the world pay great attention to the digitalization of the educational process when learning foreign languages, noting that computer technologies make it more interesting and interactive ^[22], organize project activities in the "global classroom", e-tandem projects, and develop educational games. The digital technologies used by teachers make it possible to raise the culture of teaching a foreign language to a qualitatively new level, which not only ensures the development and social adaptation of the student, but also contributes to the formation of a competitive specialist who knows his profession at the level of international standards ^[7].

In the light of our research, the work of scientists from the Higher School of Economics is of particular importance, who believe that we should not talk about digitalization, but about the digital transformation of education ^[18], as about updating planned educational results, educational content, methods and organizational forms of educational work, as well as evaluating the achievements achieved to radically improve the educational results of each the student. In this regard, let's pay attention to the concept of "the content of education". The content of education, traditionally identified with the content of a textbook, is actively supplemented by digital sources available via the Internet [ibid., p. 195], modern educational resources are being created. However, this work does not provide for detailing the issues of the content of education by its areas and levels. In our opinion, the substantive aspects of digitalization of higher education require more detailed consideration and justification, which is what our work is devoted to.

So, our research is aimed at addressing the issues of digitalization of foreign language education in a transport university. The purpose of the study is to characterize the current state of digitalization of foreign language transport education and outline a work plan for the future. Three tasks have been identified for this purpose:

1. To determine the current level of digitalization of foreign language transport education at the Russian University of Transport;

2. To identify the most relevant aspects of digitalization for teaching foreign language communication at a transport university,

3. To compare the identified relevant aspects of digitalization with the areas of training and specialties implemented at the university, as well as with the interests of students;

4. Modernize the work program on the discipline "Foreign language" at the transport university in order to reflect the issues of digitalization in it in order to improve the quality of teaching foreign language communication.

Methods and materials

The methods and materials correspond to the objectives of the study. The scientific and methodological literature on topical issues of digitalization in the transport industry and educational documentation of the university and the department were analyzed, discussions and surveys of teachers of the Department of Foreign Language were conducted, the most relevant aspects of digitalization were identified and compared with the areas of training and specialties and interests of students implemented in the RUT (MIIT), the level of digitalization of foreign language education in the RUT was determined (MIIT), proposals have been put forward to improve the educational process in the discipline "Foreign language".

The results of the study and their discussion

To solve the first task of the study, the process of digitalization of foreign language transport education at the Department of Foreign Language of the Russian University of Transport was analyzed and the correspondence of the level of digitalization of foreign language transport education at the Russian University of Transport to general trends in higher education was determined.

Analyzing the educational process carried out by the department, we observe that digitalization in foreign language classes meets the requirements of the time, educational materials are provided in an interesting modern and visual format, which increases the pace of classes and stimulates students' speech activity. Teachers of the Department of Foreign Languages of the Russian University of Transport use all the elements of digitalization of education: digital resources and digital tools. Thus, the department created a methodological portal on the tilda platform, which contains both text material and audio, video and other interactive materials, tasks and exercises selected by teachers. Interactive whiteboards, multimedia equipment, and various digital services are used in the educational process for conducting training sessions. Electronic records are kept, each student can see their grades in their personal account on the university portal. Conversations with teachers showed that the process of using neural networks and artificial intelligence is already underway, although with great caution. Teachers see it as a means of overcoming some difficulties, such as the ability to generate images that can be used for "describe an image" tasks, create multi-level tests, and prospects, for example, using neural networks to teach students how to write a more structured and detailed essay, article, story.

Based on the results of the analysis of the educational process as a whole and individual training sessions of the teachers of the department, it was concluded that the level of digitalization of foreign language education in RUT (MIIT) corresponds to general trends in higher education. However, in our opinion, improving the digital equipment of the educational process is only one side of the issue. It is time to think not only about the technological, but also the substantive (thematic) side of digitalization in foreign language transport education.

Solving the second task of the study, the following relevant aspects of digitalization in the field of economics, transport industry, politics and leisure, relevant for teaching foreign language communication at a transport university, have been identified.

Economy. Currently, digitalization covers all spheres of public life in the country, and, first of all, the economy as a sphere of production, exchange and consumption. The following phenomena are distinguished in the economy, as it develops, it acquires the features of digitalization: the introduction and widespread use of electronic payment systems, online commerce, online banking, innovations in enterprise management, warehousing, taxation, logistics and other areas of activity ^[4]. Undoubtedly, these aspects are important for students, especially for students of economic specialties of the transport university.

The transport industry. For the transport industry, an extremely important role in digitalization is played by the approval of such projects as: "Digital Transport and Logistics", which is a subprogram of the state program "Development of the transport system", the Moscow state program "Smart City", etc. ^[6]. Intelligent transport systems are being introduced in transport, aimed at solving such tasks as: charging for the passage of vehicles on roads where such a fee is established; ensuring transport security; forming optimal routes and predicting the duration of the trip; traffic management; informing traffic participants; emergency response to emergency situations; search for stolen vehicles, monitoring the condition of roads and rolling stock; monitoring the environmental condition and some others ^[9]. These aspects of digitalization, in our opinion, have special value for a transport university, and can be included in the process of teaching a foreign language, naturally, in a small volume, feasible and accessible for 1-2 year students studying a foreign language.

Politics. Digitalization processes also take place in the political life of the country ^[10]: political processes, political communication, public administration. The digitalization of this sphere is expressed in the transfer of public services into electronic form, the emergence of new tools for public communication, for example, the online platform "Russian Public Initiative" has been created, Internet voting is conducted, among which the projects "Name of Russia" and "Great Names of Russia" can be distinguished. In 2018, during the presidential and mayoral elections in Moscow, the "Mobile Voter" system was tested, which provides the opportunity to remotely select a polling station where a voter can vote. This area of digitalization is also relevant for students of the Transport University, as it has significant educational potential and corresponds to the vital interests of students, many of whom participate in digital projects, for example, in the Active Citizen project.

Leisure. The processes of digitalization of the leisure sector include the creation of digital libraries, virtual museums, and online cinemas. Travel companies offer online tours for preliminary sightseeing ^[11]. Students actively communicate on social networks, play computer games, read books on the Internet and watch movies, and can talk about it, including in a foreign language.

We would like to add that all of these innovations related to the digitalization of the economy, transport industry, politics and leisure do not exist by themselves, but are used by all citizens of the Russian Federation, and, therefore, are a topic of discussion in every family, in every social group, that is, they become a subject of social and household as well as professional communication. Our experience of teaching a foreign language shows that digitalization issues are reflected in student communication, including foreign language communication in foreign language classes. Students include such aspects in their messages, dialogues, etc.

In the course of solving the third task of the study, the identified topical aspects of digitalization were compared with the areas of training and specialties implemented at the university, as well as with the interests of students.

The digitalization of the economy required the opening of new areas of training and specialties in universities. For example, at the Russian University of Transport (MIIT), work is underway to create an innovative cluster for training transport personnel "Obraztsovo", and more than 20 new bachelor's degree profiles and specialties related to the digital economy and digital transport have been opened, including:

09.03.01 Computer Science and Engineering. Digital engineering of transport processes;

09.03.02 Information systems and technologies. Artificial intelligence technologies in transport systems;

03/15/2011 Mechanical engineering. Digital services and technologies in transport engineering;

03/23/2011 Technology of transport processes. Digital road transport infrastructure for unmanned traffic;

03/23/2011 Technology of transport processes. Digital transport and logistics;

03/27/05 Innovatika. Digital Business Management;

03/38/05 Business Informatics. The digital economy;

46.03.02 Documentation and archival science. Document management in the digital economy.

This means that the process of digitalization has penetrated into the educational discourse of the transport university, and, in our opinion, marked a new stage in the digitalization of foreign–language transport education - the stage of including issues related to digitalization in the content of educational, including foreign-language, communication. If we analyze the programs of student scientific and practical conferences in foreign languages, which the Department of Foreign Language of the Russian Academy of Sciences (MIIT) conducts annually, we can see that student research related to digitalization accounts for more than 60% of all presentations. Here are some examples of student research topics from the program of the qualifying stage of the annual student conference in 2023:

Digital transformation of railways / Digital transformation of railways;

Customs payments to Russian Railways: the use of information technologies / Russian Railways customs payments: the use of information technologies;

Innovative technologies in Railway Transport / Innovative technologies in railway transport;

Bridges: using of artificial intelligence in construction / Bridges: using artificial intelligence in construction;

Creation of an application for automated clustering of existing and potential customers of Russian Railways in the field of freight transportation / Creation of an application for automated clustering of existing and potential customers of Russian Railways in the field of freight transportation;

Business communications in the heyday of digital HR technology / Business communications in the heyday of digital HR technologies;

Self-driving trains: rail revolution or harmful technology? / Unmanned trains: a revolution on the railway or a harmful technology?

Information technology application in Moscow metro (on BCL example). / Application of information technologies in the Moscow metro (using the example of BKL).

Thus, we substantiate the need to include tasks and exercises thematically related to digitalization in the content of teaching foreign language communication at a transport university.

The content of teaching foreign language communication has two sides: the subject content and the procedural content. The subject content of communication includes spheres, topics and situations of communication, texts. The procedural content of communication includes actions with units of language reflecting the subject content, which leads to the mastery of speech and speech activity ^[12]. Below we will focus on the subject content. Having analyzed the topics of the Work Program on the discipline "Foreign Language", we put forward a proposal to include aspects related to digitalization in the framework of studying approved topics. An approximate list of such aspects and their distribution by topics of the Work Program is shown in Table 1. Such an innovation can be implemented either by supplementing existing texts on the studied topics with information on various aspects of digitalization, posting new short texts on this topic on the methodological portal on the tilda platform, or by developing interactive thematic exercises.

Table 1. Distribution of relevant aspects of digitalization by topics of the Work program on the discipline "Foreign language"

Conclusion

Our research has shown the need to include aspects related to digitalization in the content of educational communication in foreign language classes at a transport university. As has been rightly noted, new tools and technologies are changing the usual conditions of our existence and the way we think ^[3]. Agreeing with this conclusion, we add that the content of educational foreign language communication is also changing. The inclusion of aspects of digitalization in the process of learning to communicate in a foreign language contributes to improving the quality of foreign language education by expanding vocabulary and the ability to communicate on these topics. This also corresponds to the overall development strategy of the university.