Academic conferences as a tool for language skills development in non-language majoring university students

Abstract

In our globalized society, one of the key requirements in professional education is development of the communicative competence, including multicultural communication skills, the ability to advance products of intellectual property, and the results of scientific research and innovative developments in the international market. The authors work on a system of continuous education in foreign languages for various categories of students in higher education institutions. One of their research areas lies in finding out how quality may be ensured in educational services for students of a sufficient level of proficiency in foreign-language competence in order to communicate with representatives of other cultures, which is a priority task for any competitive higher education institution. The paper examines organization of students’ conferences, with English as the working language, as an effective means for successful formation of foreign-language communicative competence in natural science students. The authors consider the sequence of forms of student work (group and individual) as the most effective strategy for forming their foreign-language competence. The paper provides the description of different activities involving preparation of reports in English, the results obtained in the process of preparing bachelor’s degree students for participation in conferences, and analysis of their practical experience. The mentioned approach can be applied not only when preparing students for participation in students’ academic conferences, but also in other kinds of activity connected with professional foreign language education (seminars, round tables, webinars, and others) both in higher educational institutions and specialized schools.