The influence of transformations in the modern labour market on foreign language courses at universities
2021
Vorontsova, M., Lomonosov Moscow State Univ. (Russian Federation) | Klyukina, E., Lomonosov Moscow State Univ. (Russian Federation)
The topicality of the study is determined by the discord between the foreign language teaching standards in Russian universities and undergraduate and graduate students’ requirements oriented towards the modern labour market. Having obtained a specialty, university graduates may work in different fields or change their job profile altogether; the borders of professions and professional standards are undergoing changes as well. The aim of the study is to show the necessity to transform foreign language teaching standards at the university level in accordance with the recent and on-going changes in the job market. The hypothesis of the study is that foreign language teaching standards in Russia should integrate communicative competence, critical and creative thinking, and learning to learn as necessary components. It is suggested that students of non-philological specialties should be taught two or three foreign languages instead of only advancing their command of English. The hypothesis was confirmed by the polls conducted among undergraduate and graduate students of the College of Asian and African Studies (CAAS, Lomonosov MSU), over 2019–2020. The study resulted in developing a new standard of teaching foreign languages at the CAAS, which includes teaching two European languages alongside an Oriental/African one, and creating a new structure of the English language course oriented towards developing soft skills rather than a purely linguistic component. Thus, the study seeks to substantiate the need for the new standard by the requirements of the modern job market and graduates’ demands. Creating the new standard targeting soft skills development and teaching two European languages is a practical result of this work.
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