Practical Classes in English in the Form of a Conference Lesson as a Means of Professional Foreign-Language Competence Formation in Non-Linguistic Students at a University

Abstract

The research aims to substantiate the importance of interactive teaching methods in modern education at higher education institutions using the example of foreign language classes. The paper addresses the use of practical conference lessons as a form of teaching in the educational space of a university. The work gives a brief overview of interactive methods of teaching a foreign language at a university, determines the specificity of organising a conference lesson, describes the stages of preparation and conduct of such a lesson, as well as provides criteria for assessing students’ work in the classroom. Scientific novelty of the research lies in developing the structure, stages of preparation, methods of conducting and assessing a conference lesson as a form of teaching a foreign language at a university through the integration of project-based learning, the case method, discussion, business simulation games involving non-linguistic students at a higher education institution as exemplified by students studying at the Institute of Mathematics and Information Technology of the Federal State Autonomous Educational Institution for Higher Education “Volgograd State University”. As a result, the main stages of a conference lesson and its advantages in the development of students’ professional foreign-language competence have been characterised.