MODERN APPROACHES TO THE SELECTION OF COURSEBOOKS AND SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS FOR TEACHING FOREIGN LANGUAGES FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES

Nataliya Belenkova¹*, Irina Kruse^2
1Ass. Prof. Dr., RUDN University, the Russian Federation, belenkovanm@gmail.com
²Ass. Prof. Dr., RUDN University, the Russian Federation, kruseirina@rambler.ru
*Corresponding Author

Abstract

The selection of any course books and supplementary materials used in the teaching practice of the Higher Education Institutions is related to the National Educational Standards in the Russian Federation and the purposes of the professional training. Teaching foreign languages for specific purposes is a mandatory part of the Higher education curriculum. Learning foreign language students develop their communicative competences and they get knowledge of their profession-to-be. Apparently, these tasks should be realized on various materials. Nowadays, there is a great variety of paper, digital and on line resources for learning. One of the teachers’ tasks in this connection is to select the most appropriate sources for their students learning. The learning materials are selected in accordance with some principles including lingo didactic, psychological and others. Contemporary teaching approaches such as a communicative approach, task based learning, content and language integrated learning etc. should also be taken into consideration. Finally, the materials selected for teaching and learning are not implemented into practice separately but are united into integrity making coherence. Consequently, a unique complex of learning materials specific for a higher education institution is made.
The objective of the paper is to compare the learning materials in accordance with the theoretical aspects of the issue, to assess the efficacy of the learning and teaching complexes implemented into the practice of teaching foreign languages for specific purposes in Law Institute, RUDN University. Textbooks on legal English/ German, Communicative General English/German, online video sites and authentic online mass media resources are the integral parts of the learning materials. The issue was studied from the point of view of both the teachers and students. To settle the task the survey of the participants was held. The findings of the experiment are presented in the paper.

Keywords: selection of learning materials, teaching approaches, teaching practice