Challenges of the digital age and opportunities of foreign language education

The article proposes directions for improving work on teaching a foreign language in light of the problems arising in the process of digital transformation of education. The rapid development of digital technologies has a significant impact on the economic and social development of society. In the modern VUCA world, characterized by a sharp increase in technological development, changes in the quality, volume and value of information, changes in business processes and communications, freedom to develop new ideas, the process of digital transformation of education is taking place. Digital transformation in higher education involves fundamental changes in technologies, principles of creating an educational product and in the process of providing educational services, which, undoubtedly, gives rise to certain problems. The relevance of our article is due to the need to study the problem of challenges posed by digitalization, in particular, new technologies in teaching a foreign language, and their elimination. The purpose of the article is to identify the main trends in the development of foreign language education in the era of digitalization, identify emerging problems, and outline ways to solve them. The main research methods were the methods of cognition (analysis, synthesis, comparison, generalization), as well as observation. The article systematizes the existing experience on this issue, identifies the main trends and problems in the development of education in the era of digitalization and outlines ways to solve problems in the field of higher foreign language education. It is noted that the main condition is the principles of a reasonable combination of traditional (“face to face”) and interactive interaction of subjects of the educational process, as well as self-education of students. In conclusion, it is noted that in education the focus is on the subject of the educational process – a person, therefore it is necessary to keep this in mind. Digitalization of education should be subordinated to pedagogy.