The content of the cross-cultural competence of foreign students of the preparatory department

Abstract

Friendly cross-cultural and international relations are currently of particular importance for countries and peoples around the world. The state policy of the Russian Federation is aimed at promoting the Russian language and Russian culture, exporting education. The preparatory department, as the first stage of the educational process of foreign citizens in Russia, both provides language training and plays an important role in the socio-cultural development of students, their acquaintance with the target-language country. The paper covers the issue of the formation of the cross-cultural competence of foreign students of the preparatory department, be exact, the theoretical substantiation of the content of this competence: the identification and description of its topical units. The paper analyzes the possibilities of using an interdisciplinary approach in the process of formation of the cross-cultural competence of foreign students of the preparatory department. As the cross-cultural competence, the authors consider the information about the culture, history, and geography of a target-language country, and some national identities of the people of this country. When selecting the content of the cross-cultural competence, the authors took into account the principles and criteria for selection of the content of education, the specifics of foreign students, and special aspects of organizing the educational process at the preparation stage. As a result of the study, the authors identified the content of the cross-cultural competence of foreign students of the preparatory department, specified and described its topical units: cultural-historical, geographical, national, and regional. Besides, the authors described cognitive and functional components of the cross-cultural competence. The paper establishes relations between the disciplines of the humanities and substantiates the application of an interdisciplinary approach within the framework of the formation of the cross-cultural competence of foreign students of the preparatory department.