Non-Linguistic Department Students’ Research Work as Part of English Course

Abstract

Abstract. The article considers the possibilities of English language classes with non-linguistic department students for the organization of their research work. The relevance of the study is due to the growing interest in this type of activity and the need to develop young professionals’ creative approach to tasks. The purpose of the publication is to present our experience in research work organization when teaching a foreign language to students of economic specialties. For better understanding of the students' research work essence and approaches to this phenomenon, we analyzed some scientific works and defined its main functions (analysis, synthesis and generalization of information; creative thinking development, ability to conduct scientific debate and defend their point of view, etc.). The article presents our experience how to organize students’ research work. We believe that effective forms of students’ research activities organization when teaching English are the following: writing annotations to scientific articles, conducting scientific discussions and debates during classes; conducting scientific student conferences; students work on articles under the supervision of teachers with their subsequent defense at the conference. In particular, to develop students’ research skills, we offer students to discuss both general scientific issues and those related to their future profession. For example, with the first year students we discuss the topic "World Economic Systems" in the framework of research work. As a rule, the discussion takes place in two stages: spontaneous speech and brainstorming; preparation of a presentation. We consider the first stage as an introductory one, as students only adapt to study in higher education institutions and only be acquainted with scientific approaches to solving problems. Therefore, we invite them to discuss some relevant questions in small groups or pairs. After discussion in small groups, we discuss these issues in the class, and students’ homework is to make the presentations on the following topics: economic system of Ukraine; economic system of the USA; and economic system of Great Britain. Experience has shown that these activities contribute to the formation of students' scientific worldview, teach them how  to work with reference books, the Internet, and analyze and filter information in English. All students of the group are involved in this event and it is a necessary element of the program. We also organize the student scientific conference "Actual Economic, Social and Legal Aspects of Ukraine Development in the European Space". The conference is held exclusively in foreign languages. The topics of the conference correspond to the future specialization of students. It should be noticed that not only English language teachers are involved in the students’ training how to prepare their scientific papers, but also teachers of specialized departments, under whose guidance students conduct research. Before the conference, the program and the special edition of scientific papers are published. In the future, we are going to dwell on the algorithm for student research papers writing in English in more detail.