PROJECT AS AN UMBRELLA TO MOLD PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCIES IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES COURSE

A current tendency to bring up high-skilled professionals demanded by the contemporary society and stakeholders as well as regulatory documents in education justify the need for project work in foreign language for specific purposes course. According to schedule the number of hours on foreign language teaching at a tertiary level is limited, however the authors prove the feasibility of project work as the most appropriate form to teach foreign language, to build common and professional competencies. The paper focuses on the ways to master language skills applied in Journalism, to teach specific terms, to develop critical reading, writing and speaking. Having conducted the experiment among second year students of Journalism Faculty at a Bachelor degree, piloted project work taking into account the competency-based approach, humane-oriented and complex synergetic methods, the authors designed the unique professional oriented course Global issues of modern society to teach foreign language. Notably, the authors tackled the essence of project work, possible ways to host projects based on certain pedagogical conditions, elaborated themes for projects under federal standards of education, described socially significant products. As a result, the students, who had completed the professional oriented course, successfully acquired professional competencies and gained skills of a higher level compared to those they might obtain during the traditional academic course. The research might encourage teachers of foreign language to design their valuable courses expanding the boundaries of project learning.