Developing the Media Discursive Competence of International Students: Experimental Work Results

   Relevance. The relevance of studying the process of the media-discursive competence formation among international specialists is due to the current international situation, which, according to the President, “requires persistent efforts to ensure strategic stability”, which can be provided by the specialists who have a fundamental stock of background knowledge of the segment that is most relevant to the professional environment of international affairs. Research materials are based on the study and generalization of pedagogical experience, the method of experimental work, which made it possible to correctly identify pedagogical objects, develop diagnostic tools and technologies that ensured the dynamics of the process of media-discursive competence formation. The article describes the introduction of the author's elective course "Media-Discursive Competence of an International Specialist", which proved the effectiveness developing among the students the foreign-language, media-text and analytical-thinking components that are integral to media-discursive competence.

   Aim. To develop and implement an author's elective course aimed at increasing the level of media-discursive competence of international students and checking its effectiveness during experimental work.

   Methodology. Theoretical and methodological analysis of scientific literature, long-term pedagogical practice of the authors of the work with international students, analysis of their educational and creative activities, including observation of the development of the component composition
of media-discursive competence, are the main ways of developing students' speech, thinking and analytical abilities.

   Scientific novelty / theoretical and/or practical significance. For the first time, the concept of “media-discursive competence of international students" was clarified and methodologically supplemented, its content was structured. Testing of the system of technological resources used for the formation of the emergent quality (media discursive competence) among the future specialists in the field of foreign language communication showed its effectiveness, and the developed program material of the author's elective course proved high efficiency in practice. The practical significance of the research was the author's course, which made it possible to realize the degree of responsibility of the future profession and to understand more deeply its importance in the modern world, which can also affect a more harmonious distribution of motivation types for professional activity. The data obtained in the course of the study confirm the need to reform the current approach to the development of educational and methodological materials based on the course of media discourse literacy. Based on the obtained results, it is planned to publish practical recommendations for the effective use of the implemented technologies included in the author's elective course.

   Results. The effectiveness of the author's elective course "The practice of media-discursive competence of an international specialist" developed and tested in practice has been proved: the level of media-discursive competence of the international students who make up the experimental group has increased. Comparison of the results shows that during the ascertaining stage of experimental work, the level of formation of media-discursive competence among students of EG and CG is approximately the same, but subsequently the gap between the two groups increased in favor of the students of the experimental group. Diagnostics made it possible to implement a qualitative approach to measuring the level of the studied components and subsequently translate qualitative results into quantitative measurement. Thus, it can be stated that the elective course introduced into the educational process has increased the level of formation of students' media-discursive competence.

   Conclusion. The aim of the introduced course was to achieve an even development of all components of media-discursive competence. The content of the classes was based on the types of work that are attractive to students: commented translation of digital and traditional media texts; work with a glossary, international vocabulary, allusions, phraseological units, parallel constructions, generation of proper media messages; analysis of special marked vocabulary; search for hidden intentions and work with cultural names, creolization (non-verbal design of the media text), preparation of their own messages, etc.. The results comparison of the media-discursive competence formation showed higher indicators among the experimental  group rather than the students from the control group. The technologies presented in the author's course contributed to overcoming the communication barrier, students’ individual dogmatism, and formed the ability of the students of the experimental group to analyze new trends in the language of mass communication.

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