Department of Linguistics and Professional Communication in Economics
Head of the Department
Kulikova O.V., PhD in Linguistics, professor
The Department provides linguistic training for students specialising in such fields as the World Economy, Management of Organizations, Marketing, Tourism, Accounting, analysis and audit. Teaching is carried out in English, German, French, Spanish and Chinese.
Structurally, the Chair is divided into six units:
- English as the 1st foreign language;
- English as the 2nd foreign language;
- the French language;
- the Spanish language;
- the German language;
- the Chinese language.
The main aim of the curriculum is to form and develop the cross-cultural communicative competence in the sphere of professional interaction to let students use a foreign language in their professional activities as well as for self-education.
The educational process is organized on the basis of the following disciplines: the Practical Course of the 1st or 2nd foreign language; the Course of Professional Communication; Professionally Oriented Translation.
Training is given according to curriculum programmes created in accordance with the concept of early professional specialisation of students. The programmes imply a broad study of professionally related issues.
Training and methodological support of the curriculum embraces the following:
- elaboration of The European Language Portfolio for the students of the Faculty of Law and Economics;
- creation and improvement of curriculum programmes stipulating simultaneous mastering of linguistic skills in practical phonetics, grammar, speaking and writing as well as gaining professionally related linguistic skills. The final objective of this approach is to build a foreign professional competence in accordance with The European Standards at the levels of C1 or C2;
- design of interim and final assessment criteria in compliance with the requirements for foreign languages teaching existing in the European Community (test and exams);
- elaboration of module course books to provide training in such disciplines as the Practical Course and the Course of Professional Communication;
- compilation of an electronic library as well as other electronic resources for educational purposes;
- formation of basic and professional dictionaries in English, German, French, Spanish and Chinese.
Teaching is professionally oriented and provided with the help of specially created teaching aids (course books) generated by the teaching staff of the Chair within the framework of the National Educational Project: 48 curriculum programmes for the Practical Course (1st and 2nd foreign languages); 58 course books for the Practical Course; 32 course books for the Course of Professional Communication; the system of competences for interim and final assessment.
Training is based on the combination of competence and module approaches. A great deal of language practice is implemented in the form of simulation of real communicative professional situations.
The teaching staff of the Chair comprises PhDs in Philology and Pedagogical Sciences as well as commencing teachers developing their professional skills in teaching foreign languages for specific purposes. The Chair's scientific and research potential is considered significant. А great number of the staff are postgraduate students of the University. The employees are active participants of yearly interacademic scientific conferences devoted to the problems of linguistics and foreign languages teaching.
Annually the students conference on acute economic issues is organised. A great number of students present their final papers in foreign languages. The students have an opportunity to do Students Internship Programmes at some foreign universities:
The University of Iowa (USA);
The University of Texas (USA);
Guangdong University (China);
Humboldt State University (Germany);
The Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz (Germany);
Вusiness school VLEKHO, Belgium;
a number of universities of Spain.
MSLU, the University of Salamanca and The Fund for Research and Development of the Spanish Culture (FIDESCU) organize joint professional and linguistic certification of the students of the Faculty.
The scholars of the Chair of Linguistics and Professional Communication in Economics are planning to improve their teaching methods, to research into specific professional discourses in the functional aspect as well as to develop methods of teaching foreign languages for specific purposes.