TESTING A MODEL OF DEVELOPING STUDENTS’ PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION COMPETENCE WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF A SCIENTIFIC PROFESSIONAL PROJECT IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE IN A BLENDED LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

The article deals with testing a model of developing students’ professional communication competence within the framework of a scientific professional project in foreign language in a blended learning environment. The necessity of this study is caused by the amendments made to the Law of the Russian Federation “About education” regarding application of e-learning, development of online courses. However, there is the lack of research on accompanying the development of students’ competence of professional communication within the framework of scientific professional project (SPP) in a blended learning environment. That is why the aim of the paper is to test previously suggested model of developing students’ professional communication competence within the framework of a scientific professional project in foreign language in a blended learning environment. In order to test the model we conducted pedagogical experiment with the following participants: 350 students of the South Ural State University, 2 lecturers, 5 Associate Professors and 2 Professors. The students were divided into four groups: 2 control (teaching in a traditional style) and 2 experimental (teaching according to the suggested model). For assessing students’ communication competence we elaborated a special scale with three levels: low, middle and advanced. The results of the experiment indicate that the level of mastering the professional communication competence has increased in groups where the suggested model was implemented. It definitely proves that the implemented model will contribute to improving students’ world academic reputation and formulating their research findings.