Problems of Teaching Academic English Genres to Technical University Students

Aim. To identify the characteristic genre features of a scientific foreign-language text for a non-linguistic university based on the analysis of scientific genres of written speech within the framework of academic discourse. Determine to what extent students studying a foreign language for special purposes are familiar with academic written genres and what problems they encounter within these genres.

Methodology. The leading provisions of the conducted research are based on general scientific and special linguodidactic approaches: acmeological (I. A. Tyutkova [21]), competence (N. D. Galskova [6] and E. S. Chuikova [23]) and personal-activity (A. V. Ananyeva [1], N. A. Gorlova [8], M. O. Sobol [17] and G. V. Sorokovykh [18; 20]). This work is based on the principles of communicative-cognitive orientation of teaching a foreign language in a technical university: the principle of systematicity, authenticity and interactivity (N. D. Galskova [6]). Psychological aspects of mastering written speech are addressed in their studies by N. A. Gorlova [8] and N. I. Zhinkin [10]. No less important are the studies on the definition of scientific discourse conducted by E. V. Vakhterova [5] and I. V. Tretyakova [20]. To achieve the set goal, methods of analyzing psycholinguistic, linguistic and methodological literature, a comparative analysis of genres, as well as a survey of the target audience of the study, which are bachelor's students of the technical university NUST MISIS, were used.

Results. A survey of students of the non-linguistic university NUST MISIS was conducted, which allowed us to identify the main problems associated with knowledge of the genres of academic English and its very features in a non-linguistic university. Based on the analysis of scientific papers and the assessment of the survey results, methodological recommendations were proposed to eliminate the identified gaps in knowledge, which can potentially increase the effectiveness of teaching written academic foreign language speech to students of a technical university.

Research implications. The scientific novelty of the study lies in identifying the problems of teaching foreign language written scientific speech in a technical university. Arguments are given in favor of the need and importance of understanding those genres of written and oral academic speech that are relevant for modern students of technical specialties. The principles of teaching written scientific speech to students of a non-linguistic university are theoretically substantiated; the classification of the system of academic (scientific) genres is clarified based on a comparative analysis of Russian and foreign sciences. The need to determine the types of genres that need to be taught to students of non-linguistic universities is emphasized.

Conclusions. In order to involve students of non-linguistic universities into research activities from the early stages of obtaining higher education, it is necessary to understand the specifics of academic (scientific) discourse in a foreign language. For this purpose, within the framework of the discipline Academic English, it is extremely important to introduce students to genres that are relevant to them and their features, as well as to identify potential problems of teaching scientific foreign language speech.

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