The concept of soft skills in pedagogical discourse (on the material of the English language)

The problems of conceptualizing soft skills in English are considered. The purpose of the study is to assess the importance of revealing the content of the concept of soft skills in the modern world, on the one hand, and on the other hand, to emphasize the importance of including this concept in pedagogical discourse in order to form and activate the concept under study in the minds of students. The analysis of works describing the essence of the concept as a linguo-cognitive phenomenon and the typology of concepts was carried out; the main structural characteristics of the studied concept in the English language, revealed on the basis of the method of conceptual and definitional analysis, are given. So, the following characteristics are distinguished: types of soft skills, scope of soft skills, purpose of using soft skills, result of using soft skills, source of soft skills, form of expression of soft skills, level of development of soft skills. Each characteristic has several sub-characteristics. In addition to the issue of conceptualization, the topic of pedagogical discourse is also considered. The definitions of discourse proposed by different scientists are studied. It is important to note that the above problems are not considered in parallel, but precisely with the aim of linking them in the context of pedagogical activity. It is concluded that the results of the study can be applied by teachers in the process of the conceptual architecture of the consciousness of the student’s personality.