Journal archive

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to develop and confirm a competency-based education technology for creating a professional English learning workbook for graduate students specializing in Engineering Systems Management. Due to widening international contacts, development of communicative competency in foreign languages is becoming more urgent since it ensures faster and easier integration of students into a professional communication environment. The study of foreign languages allows graduate students to participate in international academic programs. To study abroad, students should possess cultural and linguistic competencies and be able to use native and foreign languages within business communication. The professional English learning workbook “English for Engineers” aims to develop these competencies. The paper determines principles for workbook development. Specifically, the workbook material should be systematic, functional, understandable, problematic, informative, communicative, contextual, authentic, and contemporary. The authors also describe the stages of workbook creation, specify the purposes and objectives of the workbook in accordance with the needs and interests of engineering students. Particularly, stage 1 includes the following components: planning out the workbook and selecting topically relevant texts. Stage 2 comprises studying competencies that should be built within the training course, its content, training activities and assessment tools. Stage 3 covers developing pre-text tasks to refresh background knowledge and spark students’ interest, while stage 4 is devoted to development of text tasks. Thought-provoking conversational tasks are prepared at stage 5. The teacher offers independent work tasks at stage 6. The workbook also provides some examples of tasks required for development of the necessary competences.