DOI: https://doi.org/10.62204/2336-498X-2025-1-14

PEDAGOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY

DEFINING PROFESSIONALLY ORIENTED FOREIGN LANGUAGE TRAINING

CONTENT FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF PROFESSIONAL LINGUODIDACTICS

 

Oleksandr Khomenko,

Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences,

Professor of the Department of Foreign Languages,

 Kyiv National Linguistic University, Kyiv, Ukraine,

oleksandr.khomenko@knlu.edu.ua; ORCID: 0000-0003-2539-837X

 

Annotation. This article defines the content of professionally oriented foreign language training and outlines its component structure. It highlights the training’s linguistic, psychological, methodological, cultural, and extralinguistic components and proposes a variable three-level model for organizing this content. The study clarifies that the integration of interdisciplinary approaches and the fostering of learner autonomy result in the development of comprehensive foreign language professional competence.

Keywords: professional linguodidactics, professionally oriented foreign language training, three-level content model.

 

Introduction. The article is relevant because of the need to reform foreign language training for students of non-linguistic specialities. A successful course of this process can ensure the formation of professional linguodidactics as an innovative, independent branch of pedagogical science in Ukraine. Our previous publications have substantiated the need for its development and presented the theoretical and methodological principles of modern professional linguodidactics we have formulated.

We have emphasized that professional linguodidactics, as an interdisciplinary branch of pedagogical science, deals with strategies for forming a specialist’s professional foreign language personality capable of engaging in professional communication within a multicultural environment. Its development in Ukraine is driven by the objective social needs of economists, engineers, lawyers, and scientists to master foreign languages as a means of international exchange of professional information and experience.

In searching for a theoretical and methodological basis for the foreign language training of future specialists, we considered an interdisciplinary approach to forming professional competence as a systemic factor in professionally oriented foreign language training. This interdisciplinary approach enables the transfer of research methods from one scientific discipline to another, forming binary interdisciplinary disciplines. In the context of professionally oriented foreign language training, professional linguodidactics serves as such an interdisciplinary scientific discipline, as it integrates the task of forming a specialist’s professional competence (intersecting with professional pedagogy) within the process of foreign language training (encompassing aspects of linguodidactics).

Literature Review. The transformation of foreign language training into a means of mastering a profession necessitates a corresponding adjustment in the content of professionally oriented foreign language education. This study aims to identify the main factors in constructing content to form a professional linguistic personality that aligns with the requirements of continuous professional education. We also seek to harmonize this content with the linguistic-professional educational environment, essential for mastering professional foreign language communicative competence — the first step toward developing a professional linguistic personality.

The issues of educational content and the search for ways to update it have been explored by many domestic and foreign scholars, including O. Ovcharuk, A. Khutorskyi, N. Balovsyak, A. Dudynska, A. Kuzminskyi, V. Kraevskyi, I. Lerner, R. Owen, N. McClennen, and M. Pashia. Studies focusing on the content of professional foreign language teaching have been conducted by Ukrainian and international researchers such as N. Mykytenko, N. Rubel, G. Skurativska, O. Tarnopolsky and S. Kozhushko, Lasagabaster, D, B. Dahlhaus, B. Henriksen, and B. Hufeisen, Ruiz de Zarobe, Y., Sierra, J., M., Gallardo del Puerto, F.

The literature analysis demonstrates that educational content is a variable category that must be constantly updated. It depends on society’s socio-economic state, the level of development of science and culture, societal demands, the personal needs of future specialists, and the country’s prospects for further development. A new paradigm of education, new strategic goals, and an orientation toward learning outcomes also lead to profound changes in educational content.

According to Kremin (2003), it is necessary to “develop a mechanism for systematically updating the content of education by developing science and acquiring new knowledge by humanity. Moreover, ensuring a holistic vision of the world around the individual through a system of individual subjects and the organic inclusion of universal human activities, particularly one’s own, is becoming increasingly urgent” [1].

In light of the above, the content of professionally oriented foreign language training for students—especially those in non-linguistic specialities—and its component composition also require updating. Therefore, we will first clearly define what we mean by the concept of educational content in general and the content of professionally oriented foreign language training in particular. In other words, we present the results of our research that are relevant to the tasks set, ensuring the fulfillment of the article’s purpose.

The purpose of the article. This article aims to reveal the content of professionally oriented foreign language training from the standpoint of professional linguodidactics, as this represents its crucial issue. The content closely relates to society’s demand for a new social and professional specialist type. This goal is achieved by accomplishing the following tasks: 1) to define the concept of “content of professionally oriented foreign language training” from the point of view of professional linguodidactics; 2) to outline the component structure of the content; 3) to develop a model of its implementation.

To achieve the aim of the study, the following research methods were used: analysis and synthesis of data and provisions contained in the professional literature from various fields of science (pedagogy, vocational pedagogy, psychology, linguistics, foreign language teaching methods) in the works of Ukrainian and foreign scholars; interpretive and analytical method, which made it possible to compare the organization, functioning, development of the system of foreign language training and the system of professionally oriented foreign language teaching on an interdisciplinary basis; methods of pedagogical diagnostics – conversation, a survey of students and teachers to determine value orientations, needs of modern students, the attitude of teachers to the modernization of foreign language training.

Results and Discussion. It should be noted that there is no unanimity in defining the concept of “educational content” in the analyzed professional sources, except for the common viewpoint that content is a variable and constantly evolving category. Based on this understanding, we consider it appropriate to provide a working definition of content from the standpoint of V. Lugovyi’s cultural and information theory of education [4], which aligns with the modern information society, is its product and meets the goals of our study.

In our view, the content of education is an organized and structured body of information—researched and formalized into an academic discipline—that encompasses knowledge about the surrounding world and the individual’s place within it. This content is subject to assimilation and is continuously updated by the development of society and science, contributing to forming a future specialist’s personal, value-based, and professional qualities.

Regarding the content of professionally oriented foreign language training and generalizing the opinions of other researchers [5; 6, 7], we believe that it is a selected portion from the entire array of information resulting from the achievements of modern science, which is fundamental to becoming a specialist. It considers the prospects of professional activity and interaction in the intercultural professional space, focusing on forming the general and professional culture of the future specialist and contributing to the development of personal, value-based, and professional qualities.

The current changes in social life necessitate specifying the content of professionally oriented foreign language training, particularly its component composition. This composition depends primarily on the requirements set for the content of foreign language training in the modern, information-rich, globalized society. Therefore, based on the analysis of professional sources and our research, we suggest that the content of professionally oriented foreign language training should:

1)  Meet qualification requirements: Align with the qualification requirements of the future specialty in foreign languages, that is, the requirements for professionalism.

2)  Ensure competency formation: Ensure the formation of professional intercultural and foreign language information and communication competencies. This will enable language training that meets the European standardized level of foreign language proficiency, thereby contributing to the internationalization of knowledge.

3)  Promote learner-centeredness: Ensure that foreign language training is learner-centred and stimulates the student’s active role. This fosters independence, decision-making abilities in specific situations, and responsibility for outcomes.

4)  Encourage ethical orientation: Promote orientation towards the moral, ethical, professional, and universal values of a professional, multicultural, globalized environment, thus fostering a professional culture.

5)  Support continuous development: Encourage the development of a need for continuous self-education, linguistic self-improvement, and self-realization and self-development.

6)  Be flexible and adaptable: Remain flexible and open to updating and adaptation to specific conditions.

7)  Allow for redundancy: Feature a certain level of redundancy to create natural conditions for implementing a differentiated and individual approach to students.

8)  Offer choices: Provide opportunities for choice, individual progression, and self-assessment of results.

9)  Integrate knowledge smoothly: Structure the course so that each element allows for a seamless integration of new information with existing knowledge during the collaborative efforts of the teacher and the student, encompassing both practical methods and creative experiences.

10) Reflect interdisciplinary interaction.

The requirements for educational content and a focus on final learning outcomes manifested through possessing specific competencies justify discussing the multi-component nature of professionally oriented foreign language training. The component structure of such training is determined by its specificity, which is inherent in its very name.

Following other researchers [6,7,8], we understand professionally oriented training as instruction that considers students’ needs in learning a foreign language dictated by the specifics of their future profession. This approach involves combining the mastery of a foreign language for a specific speciality with knowledge of the culture — exceptionally professional culture—of other peoples and countries, information culture, acquisition of values (moral, ethical, professional, socio-cultural), development of personal qualities, and acquisition of special skills and abilities in intercultural professional communication, all based on professional and linguistic knowledge. The essence of professionally oriented foreign language training lies in its integration with specialized disciplines to obtain additional professional knowledge and to form professionally significant personal qualities—in other words, to form foreign language professional communicative competence [7].

The characteristics of professionally oriented foreign language training imply a duality in the component structure of its content. On one hand, it is determined by the content of foreign language training; on the other, by the content of future professional activity. It means that all components of the content must be interconnected and interdependent. Considering the above, and after studying and generalizing the views of scholars on the component structure of the content of education, foreign language teaching, and professionally oriented foreign language training, we will determine the components of the content of professionally oriented foreign language training. Due to space limitations, we will focus on only some of them.

We start from the premise that we must teach students professional foreign language communication for implementation in a multicultural, globalized information society. Communication is, first and foremost, the exchange of information due to subject interaction. According to the cultural-information theory of education, socio-cultural information has five types: knowledge, values, dialogisms (consensus), projects, and artistic images [4]. Thus, communication is the exchange of various types of information. Accordingly, the component composition of the content of foreign language training should ensure the exchange of this information.

Since the exchange of information occurs between the subjects of the communication process, we consider it legitimate to include intersubjective interaction in the component composition. Intersubjective interaction, or subject-subject interaction—the relationships between individuals—occurs through dialogue. As a result of such interaction, forms of culture are transmitted as sources of socio-cultural information and vital experience—that is, specific subject content.

Learning foreign languages is constructed as a model of real communication, preserving all its main parameters: motivation, situational context, and the mandatory presence of the speech addressee, regardless of the type of speech involved—oral or written. It involves areas of activity and communication, topics, problems, and situations in which the objective content of communication is transmitted (what to talk about, listen to, read, and write). This is optional (extralinguistic) information – thinking and thoughts. Thoughts arise and develop in continuous connection with speech. The more deeply a particular thought is contemplated, the more clearly it is expressed in oral or written language. Conversely, the more polished the verbal formulation of a thought, the clearer it becomes.

It should be noted that a person has already formed their figurative picture of the world based on their native language. When learning a foreign language, one is compelled to adjust this image, as learning is a creative activity resulting in the accumulation of new information about the foreign language — its structure and means of expression. In this context, mastering a foreign language without a language environment—that is, without an environment where it is spoken—requires the creation of imaginary communication situations equivalent to real ones, the introduction of role-playing and business games, and similar methods. This stimulates the development of imagination.

Imagination is closely related to creativity. The implementation of professional tasks is only possible with creative imagination. Creative imagination is an integral attribute of a creative specialist, enabling them to restructure themselves and their activities in accordance with rapidly changing conditions. Combining the learning process with developing intelligence, creative potential, and creative imagination is necessary to prepare such a specialist. In practice, this is achieved by creating a real-life system of interdisciplinary interaction, which involves unifying certain sections of different disciplines based on a mutually agreed set of topics. According to our assumption, such unification opens the way to creating joint interdisciplinary projects. Professional foreign language projects with a problem-based presentation of material—which involves searching for ways to solve issues—encourage reflection and independent information gathering, thereby developing creative potential and creative imagination. On the one hand, without imagination and flexibility of thinking — the essential qualities of a modern specialist — and without professional foreign language skills, presenting an original project and defending one’s point of view seems problematic. Considering the above, it is appropriate to include imagination as a content component of professionally oriented foreign language training, viewing it as the next sphere of spiritual and mental life after thinking.

The content components also include knowledge. Regarding foreign language training, knowledge in the professional literature is considered:

1)  As knowledge about ways of working with language and speech material, and as methods of activity for mastering the competent formation of skills and, we add, abilities, since we also consider skills as one of the components of the content of education.

2)  As socio-cultural knowledge — linguistic and cultural studies

3)  As special/professional knowledge — knowledge of professional culture, culture of professional communication, and professional expertise

Accordingly, we mean knowledge of the phonetics, vocabulary, and grammar of the language being studied, as well as ways of working with them, including comparing the meanings of linguistic units in native and foreign languages; knowledge of speech material (samples of speech at the level of text, supra-phrasal units, phrases, formulas of speech etiquette/business etiquette) that express specific communicative intentions; knowledge of language units that reflect the conceptual differences between the native and foreign languages, and so on.

Socio-cultural knowledge involves understanding the national and psychological characteristics of representatives of the linguistic culture being studied; knowledge of the characteristics of professional/production culture (for example, in economic specialties, knowledge of national business practices); knowledge of various models of social behavior in these linguistic and professional communities; awareness of factors that can hinder intercultural communication—particularly in the business sphere—and means of overcoming communication difficulties; background knowledge, i.e., knowledge of realities, cinema, idiomatic expressions, aphorisms, etc., which reflect national-cultural specifics compared with verbal and non-verbal signs of the native culture; knowledge of stereotypes (socio-cultural, ethno-cultural, content and organization of communication, exceptionally professional, choice of speech and language forms) of speech and non-speech behavior (etiquette/business etiquette) in native and foreign professional languages.

As for the methods of activity that will contribute to the conscious formation of skills and their transition into abilities, based on the analysis of scientific sources, these include activities aimed at evaluating and interpreting the phenomena of another linguistic/professional culture within its parameters; evaluating and interpreting the phenomena of the native culture/profession from the perspective of another; understanding the foreign language reality/social and professional environment; conducting a comprehensive analysis of the phenomena being studied through the integration of knowledge from various disciplines; commenting on linguistic and speech units that are marked by socio-cultural specificity and using them in speech; and building communicative strategies of speech and non-speech behavior by the conditions of communication, particularly professional.

We emphasize that the methods of activity in the foreign language professional sphere are primarily aimed at forming the ability to integrate special knowledge from various (main and related) disciplines to obtain a holistic picture of the world’s professional/production culture and to act within it using verbal and nonverbal means of a foreign language. All of the above, in a comprehensive manner, will contribute to the formation of a multicultural linguistic professional personality.

Following Lugovyi (2011), we consider it necessary to reflect the individual’s needs in the component structure of professionally oriented foreign language training. Without delving into a detailed analysis of this concept, we note that, according to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, there is a connection between an individual’s need for self-improvement and the desire to self-actualize — to become who they can be and to do what they are intended for—which aligns with personal development.

The need for self-improvement should also inform the content of professionally oriented foreign language training. For a future specialist to master the competencies we have previously defined—professional foreign language communicative competence, professional intercultural competence, and foreign language professional information and communication competence [2, p. 209]—the content of foreign language training should evoke in them the desire for self-improvement and self-development, and the aspiration to become a proficient specialist. It should engage them in activities to master professional foreign language communication, involve them in a global professional culture, and present the foreign language as a means to master their profession better. It should satisfy their informational and spiritual needs—to become an erudite and cultured person—and equip them with appropriate experience (skills and abilities in foreign language communication) to realize these needs, promoting the development of the ability to evaluate their results.

Since needs are the deepest motivators and factors in activity, the content of foreign language training that reflects the individual’s needs also catalyses the student’s active engagement in mastering professional foreign language communication. We outlined the students’ needs based on our vision of the problem, which crystallized during our research. However, as the connections of future specialists with their environment expand, it is logical to assume that the range of their needs also expands. Therefore, it seems appropriate in the process of further work to use empirical methods (observation, conversations with students) to determine whether the needs we identified correspond to the real needs of students and to make appropriate changes to the component composition of the content of foreign language training.

The multi-component structure of professionally oriented foreign language training content should be reflected primarily in educational materials and textbooks. We will focus separately on the components that determine the content in the context of interdisciplinary integration. As noted earlier, the essence of professionally oriented foreign language training lies in its integration with specialized disciplines. Therefore, its content should aim to form the linguistic personality of the future specialist within the context of interdisciplinary integration—the essence of which is that each cognitive and professional problem is inherently multidisciplinary and requires solutions from the perspectives of related disciplines, followed by the unification of disciplinary solutions into a holistic picture (Shemet, 2004). The content should be subordinated to forming professional foreign language communicative competence and professional intercultural competence in the future specialist. Considering them equal and inseparable, we distinguish a variable (professional) component and an invariant (intercultural) component within professional foreign language competence. The professional component, in turn, is divided into general professional communication, business communication, scientific communication, and language for specific purposes [2, pp. 225–226].

General professional communication encompasses the abilities and competencies required for professional communication in the learner’s specific field of specialization. These include implementing the exchange of professional information in a foreign language and independently searching, accumulating, and expanding professionally significant information through natural communication with native speakers and by utilizing information and computer technologies.

Business communication focuses on conducting professional dialogues in occupational contexts. Professional interests in this domain may involve scientific research, participation in business conferences and meetings, writing and reviewing abstracts, summaries, and articles, and delivering and understanding oral presentations. Such activities are indicative of scientific communication.

Language training tailored to a specific specialty is one way to shape the future specialist’s professional competence in fields such as economics, marketing, finance, or management.

The intercultural invariant component encompasses linguistic, cultural, and communicative skills and abilities. The following traditional content components support its formation:

• Linguistic component: Language and speech materials
• Psychological component: Developing the skills and abilities necessary for effective foreign language use
• Methodological component: Mastering rational learning techniques
• Cultural component: Acquiring knowledge in the context of various cultures
• Extralinguistic component:

1. a) areas of communication (extralinguistic background) that influence the selection of language, speech means, and speech behavior
2. b) communication situations that define the specific conditions under which communicants interact
3. c) topics that serve as the informational basis of communication

Under modern conditions, the professional and intercultural components can only be fully realized by developing the appropriate educational and computer literacy skills. Equipped with such an expanded range of components, the content of professionally oriented foreign language training can be integrated into a linguistic-professional educational environment. This environment comprises the conditions necessary for forming foreign language professional competence, including linguistic-cultural and professional extralinguistic elements that support interdisciplinary integration and subject-subject interaction. It also involves educational and methodological materials—such as textbooks and manuals—that serve to implement the content. Among these resources, the foreign language course program tailored to a specific specialty occupies a central position.

In this way, the content of professionally oriented foreign language training is expressed through the formation of components within the linguistic-professional educational environment and the development of variable programs that meet international foreign language proficiency standards and general requirements for continuous professional education. Considering all these aspects, a variable model of the content of professionally oriented foreign language training emerges. This model reflects the progression from mastering foreign language communication skills in professional situations to achieving specialization-specific language competence.

The first level (general) encompasses communication in social and everyday contexts, as well as in socio-cultural and general professional domains. At this level, the content should broadly reflect the nature of the chosen profession. For instance, texts should be presented in appropriate professional genres, include relevant information, and feature communicatively significant situations.

The second level focuses on mastering business communication within the professional sphere. Taking the economist’s profession as an example, it includes a broad range of specialties that can be grouped into two categories (Badadze et al., 2006):

1. Specialties dealing primarily with quantitative data—accountant, analyst, auditor, economist-mathematician, economist-planner.
2. Specialties dealing primarily with interpersonal relations—manager, marketer, entrepreneur, financier.

For the first category, written communication is predominant. Specialists must be adept at producing and understanding business letters, legal and social documentation (contracts, agreements), various types of supporting documents, protocols, reports, acts, certificates, analytical documents, and business plans. Thus, an economist must thoroughly master a specific official business style in the target language, recognizing that the rules of professional communication in one’s native language do not automatically apply to foreign languages. Acquiring and comparing the official business style of a foreign language with that of the native language not only enhances proficiency but also fosters an appreciation of the culture of written communication. Effective interaction in today’s globalized labor market is practically unattainable without these skills- particularly in conducting business correspondence.

Moreover, all specialists must cultivate a culture of oral communication and mastery of official and business written communication regardless of category. The first and second levels are essential for achieving professional, communicative competence in a foreign language.

The third level focuses on mastering scientific communication and language use specific to one’s specialty within educational, cognitive, and professional contexts. We associate the implementation of this level with the learner’s personal needs and capacities, as integrated into the content structure. The inherent drive for self-improvement, engagement with global professional culture, and recognition of the foreign language as a tool for professional growth—including becoming more erudite and cultured—stimulates progression to the third level.

Accordingly, this third level of the POIP content model should be variable, accommodating those who aim to:

1. Master only selected professional specialties in a foreign language,
2. Master their entire specialty in a foreign language, or
3. Develop expertise in scientific communication.

Integrative programs must be developed in line with these distinct categories of learners.

Thus, professionally oriented foreign language training has diversified content. It considers students’ needs and abilities and offers programs that enable each learner to attain a professional level aligned with their unique requirements and potential. The content across all levels is non-linear, allowing for the rotation of language and speech materials and their integration with humanities-based and specialized disciplines within a given thematic situation or topic.

The variable nature of the content and programs makes it possible to:

• Ensure transparency in professionally oriented foreign language training.
• Design tiered courses focused on general/intercultural, business communication, and language for specific purposes.
• Plan personalized learning trajectories for individual students and groups.
• Encourage deeper language study through independent work, supplementary courses, and related activities.
• Enable learners to shape their path within the foreign language educational environment.
• Enhance student autonomy and foster self-directed learning.

By student autonomy, we refer to learners’ willingness and ability to take responsibility for their learning activities, including independently planning, organizing, adjusting, and evaluating their progress.

Conclusions. The findings of this study, which include defining the concept of “content of professionally oriented foreign language training,” specifying its component structure, and developing a variable model that reflects the progression from general foreign language communication to specialized language mastery, contribute to forming foreign language professional competence in future specialists. This work represents a valuable contribution to developing modern professional linguistic didactics.

This research’s scientific novelty lies in its attempt to specify the content of professionally oriented foreign language training for students in non-linguistic faculties from the perspective of professional linguistic didactics. By aligning this content with contemporary social demands and the abilities and needs of future specialists, the study aims to enhance their professional success in a global, multilingual, and multicultural environment.

The theoretical value of this work is evident in its development of a level-variable model that encompasses all content components and supports the formation of foreign language professional competence by individual learner needs and abilities.

The study’s practical significance lies in its underlying ideas, which can be applied to professionally oriented foreign language training in higher education settings. These ideas can also be integrated into methodological seminars for teachers, serve as a foundation for further scholarly research, and be incorporated into monographs, textbooks on modern professional linguistic didactics, and specialized courses for students of foreign language faculties and linguistic universities.

 

References:

 

1. Kremen V. Philosophy of Education of the 21st Century. Speech at the Scientific Anniversary Session of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences, dedicated to the 10th Anniversary of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences, 19.12.2003.

URL:  http://www.ualogos.kiev.ua/fulltext.html?id=548

2. Khomenko O. (2014). Foreign language education of business students in globalization: monograph, p. 363.
3. Khomenko O., Vasylchuk L., Sotnykov A., Staba O. (2023). Pedagogical concept of integrative teaching and learning in the context of interdepartmental interaction. In: Arab World English Journal (AWE). Volume 14, Number 3, September 2023, P.p. 276-291. URL: https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol14no3
4. Lugovyi V. High pedagogical technologies and their determination by the content of education/ V. I. Lugovyi // International Scientific Bulletin: [Collection of scientific papers based on the materials of the XXI International Scientific and Practical Conference “Prospective Ways and Directions for Improving the Educational System in the Light of the Bologna Process”, November 16–19, 2010] / National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Institute of Higher Education, Transcarpathian State University – Uzhgorod, 2011. – Issue 2, Part 1. – P. 19–23.
5. Ball, P., Kelly, K., & Clegg, J. (2015). Putting CLIL into practice. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
6. Hemmi, C., Banegas, D.L. (2021). CLIL: An Overview. In: Hemmi, C., Banegas, D.L. (eds) International Perspectives on CLIL. International Perspectives on English Language Teaching. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70095-9_1
7. Lasagabaster, D. (2017). Integrating content and foreign language learning: What do CLIL students believe? Journal of Immersion and Content-Based Language Education. 5. 4-29. 10.1075/jicb.5.1.01las.
8. Ruiz de Zarobe, Y., Sierra, J., M., Gallardo del Puerto, F. (2011). Content and Foreign Language Integrated Learning. Contributions to Multilingualism in European Contexts. Lausanne, Switzerland: Peter Lang Verlag. Retrieved Dec 9, 2024, from 10.3726/978-3-0351-0171-3