Competency, Problem and Information-Based Approaches in Foreign Language Training of Would-Be Specialists of Non-Linguistic Specialties

Social and economic changes Russia facing today are setting new requirements to would-be specialists training. The digitalization of the economy has led to educational standards changes and the need to develop a set of competencies essential for solving professional and everyday problems. This article deals with the competency-based approach as a methodological foundation for modern education including its key concepts: competency, competence, and vocational competence. The authors analyze the research on the modern competency-based model for modern specialists training where a key component is a foreign language communicative competency which is crucial for professional activity. The article highlights the integrative component of the "Foreign Language" discipline which manifests itself not only in the goals and objectives of studying process but also in subject content and connections with other disciplines. According to the authors, the above-mentioned information determines the need of choosing approaches to would-be specialists training. According to the requirements, these specialists must be able to work with information, set problems, formulate problem-based tasks, and solve problem-based situations. The authors propose implementing a problem-based approach to foreign language teaching in particular and would-be specialists training in general and describe the approach specific features. To successfully develop a set of required competencies in personal and professional would-be specialists training, the authors suggest integrating competency-based and problem and information-based approaches, where the competency-based approach is the results-based component, and the problem and information-based approach serves as the process & content-based component.