Text material for the formation of foreign language professional communicative competence
Authors:   Vyatsky State University, Kuklina Svetlana S. , Kirillovykh Alexandra A. ,   Kirov State Medical University
Published: December 2024

The article examines the features of text material for the initial stage of university foreign language training from the perspective of competency-based, textcentric and polymodal approaches. The purpose of the article is to present the process of preparing text material for its effective use at the initial stage of foreign language education at non-linguistic universities. Research methods include the study of scientific and methodological literature on the problem, comparison, synthesis and analysis.
Preparing of foreign language text material includes five main stages: 1) establishing relevant characteristics of texts in accordance with educational goals in the field of university foreign language education; 2) determining the principles of selecting and 3) organizing text material; identifying 4) ways of didactization and 5) options for its physical representation. The main characteristic of texts intended for foreign language education at a non-linguistic university is their professional orientation. Professional texts contain professionally relevant information and also contribute to the development of professional competencies.
The principles of text selection include personal and professional significance, its authenticity, problematicity, and intercultural value. The principle of personal and professional significance involves the selection of texts, the content of which contributes to students’personal and professional development. The principle of text authenticity
implies the use of original texts with appropriate simplifications and/or abbreviations, as well as the construction by authors of their own texts that have all the characteristics of a natural speech. The principle of problematicity ensures the problematic nature of text material, meaning that the question/task/problem presented in the texts requires
finding options for resolving them and further searching for missing information. The principle of intercultural value means the selection of texts on the basis of which students will be able to gain an understanding of the current stage of development, culture, and language of not only their native country, but also the foreign country/countries.
The organization of texts is carried out considering the principles of gradation, variability, contrast, and methodological support. Gradation in the construction of text material ensures a gradual transition from social and everyday topics to professionally oriented ones, complication of the subject and linguistic content of texts, as well as an increase in the degree of intellectual difficulty of the speech situations presented in them. Variability in the organization of text material is realized by using texts (including the same text) for different types of reading and varying the methods of their presentation (in printed form, in the form of audio text, video text, etc.). Contrast involves arranging texts within a didactic unit in such a way that students can compare and determine the similarities and differences in the professional communicative behavior of their native country and the country of the language they are learning. Methodological support of texts consists of providing them with a glossary, reminders, instructions,
diagrams in order to facilitate their understanding and increase the efficiency of working with them.
The method of didactization of texts is to supply them with modifiable polymodal exercises that ensure the formation of skills and the development of abilities in all types of foreign language speech activity. The physical representation of text material meets the principles of emotional and physiological correspondence, and can be auditory, visual and audiovisual.
As a result, the authors have developed a typology of professional texts. It includes texts of instructional-professional orientation, of professional orientation, and professional texts. The texts differ in the degree of professional orientation and terminological saturation, in functions, and in their intention for certain stages of teaching foreign language communication.
The article will be useful for foreign language teachers in non-linguistic universities. The research materials can be used in the development of teaching aids and specialized courses for professionally oriented foreign language education.