Transformation of education in a foreign language digital environment

Abstract

The article describes the practical implementation of an experimental model for shaping professional and universal competences of non-linguistic students of humanities in a digital environment of a regional university. It analyzes the ongoing transformation of the educational process, roles and functions of students and teachers. The urgency of the research is determined by the need to find new effective pedagogical technologies for forming competences, which are in demand in knowledge economy. Theoretical and methodological analysis, empirical observations prove that there is a need for a paradigm shift of the educational process in Russian universities, including the development of student collaborations potential in the digital educational environment. The described five-year study involved 46 students of Petrozavodsk State University. Formalized open- and closed-ended questionnaires, as well as observation, expert assessment and statistics methods were used. A model of teaching foreign languages in a digital environment based on teamwork and self-organization is presented. It includes three modules. The first module involves the creation of a competitive foreign-language environment that encourages the development of leadership qualities and self-presentation skills through participation in digital competitions, festivals and language olympiads. The second module is aimed at forming teamwork skills, developing dialogic communicative skills, expanding the communication space for a more natural language socialization of students in professional and socio-cultural discourse. The third module allows organizing group work between students, as well as between students and teachers. The technology of creating a professionally oriented website in English by master's and bachelor's students is described. The results confirm that learning in such a model contributes to the transformation of the roles and functions of teachers and students, leading to a change in their interaction. This, in turn, not only stimulates the development of students' soft skills (such as communicative and digital skills, teamwork, leadership, systemic and critical thinking), but also creates conditions for the implementation of their initiative, creativity and new ideas. The authors conclude that the proposed model contributes to the development of a new method of teaching a foreign language in the digital environment and helps students to socialize in their future profession.