The article deals with outlining the psychological characteristics of teaching English to civil servants of the first year of study as an instrument for optimizing the process of building an FL competence of the adult learners whose level of the English is A2 in accordance with the Common European Framework of Reference, CEFR. The aim of the article is to describe the psychological characteristics of learning an FL by civil servants as well as to reveal difficulties that they come across in mastering speaking with a view to manage the educational process of civil servants effectively and efficiently. The research methodology involves analysis and synthesis of academic literature that gives insight into the problem under study. Additionally, the empirical results and the dynamics of the learning process were analyzed. The conducted research and the analysis of the results of the study enabled us to identify the main types of perception as well as to reveal and classify the problems and difficulties that adult learners face in the process of mastering communicative skills. The conclusion concerning possible ways to overcome these difficulties in the system of continuous education of adult learners were outlined.

The syllabus is designed according to the requirements of the educational and scientific curriculum "English Language and Literature (language of instruction -English)" of preparing international students of the second (master) educational level for two years (120 ECTS) for the specialty № 035 "Philology" and for the specialization № 035.041 "Germanic languages and literatures (translation included), first language -English" within field of knowledge № 03"Humanities"(Order of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine of 20 June 2019, № 871).This educational and scientific syllabus includes theoretical and practical courses in the most recent branches of linguistics and literary studies, psychological and pedagogical disciplines, including methods of teaching English, with the focus on the issues of multiculturalism and intercultural dialogue. It offers students to choose among two selective blocks of academic disciplines: 1) "English in Multicultural Learning Environments" and 2) "Modern Literature of English-Speaking Countries" and compulsory teaching practice in higher school. It also provides students with the opportunity to acquire the professional qualification "Higher School Teacher (English language and literature)". Key words: theories of languages, theories of teaching, theories of learning, acquisition theories, curriculum theories, material development theories, assessment theories, basic categories of methods of teaching foreign languages at universities, educational documents, course books, types of curricula, intercultural methodical competence, socio-cultural competence, intercultural communicative competence, knowledge and skills, study skills, professional competences, experiential activities, reflection on activities as learners and as future teachers, reflective practice, theoretical input, teaching experience, teaching practice, lesson observation, micro-teaching, actual teaching, project work on professional issues, methodology, overall criteria, language development course, activity-based methodology, learner-centered methodology, problem-solving and learning-by-doing activities, learner-centered methodology, use of trainees' life experience, the principle of modeling, listening skills, reading skills, speaking skills, writing skills, structures, phonology, vocabulary, principles of assessment, the aims of the assessment, formative assessment, summative assessment, innovative approaches to modern understanding of provision (resources) for education and teaching, research publications, jigsaw method as an intensive exchange of resources, student teacher's learning achievements portfolio, schemes of analysis and evaluation of texts, visuals, exercises and tasks, finding levels of communicative orientation, multimodality and reflexivity of exercises and tasks, reflective diaries, modification of lessons from textbook thematic cycles, adaptation of authentic texts and visuals to the teaching aims, principles of teaching materials development, development of multimodal visuals, designing t...

The reflective component of student teachers' professional competence in the preservice course on teacher training and education in the field of foreign languages was put an emphasis on quite long ago. Many research papers dealt with different aspects of reflection of a future teacher. The question of the reflective journals' functions of the foreign languages' student teacher, however, has not been placed under thorough study. This research refers the reflection competence to the concept of the system of teaching and learning foreign languages and in this context the reflective journal has been analyzed, its structural components have been better understood and the content of each structural component has been clarified as far as its purposes and means of achieving them are concerned. As a result the general issues of the reflective journals as the obligatory ongoing activity during some of the taught teacher training and education courses at Taras Shevchenko university of Kyiv and as their final self-assessment learning document of the methodological teacher students' portfolio have been dealt with.

This article aims to research the use of the interactive forms and methods of syntopical reading approach in the English language senior school classroom to improve cognitive skills and learners’ competence in reading as well as to develop critical thinking. While the Analytical reading mostly involves the students’ activities such as argumentation, analysis, and evaluation of the certain text through finding examples in the same text, the Syntopical reading develops critical thinking as (long as) it concentrates on the students’ skills to compare and contrast different texts dealing with one and the same topic, to express sophisticated ideas, to integrate or synthesize the ideas from multiple sources and to formulate original arguments. The objectives of the article are to determine the stages of the described learning process, the structure of every proposed stage and to develop the corresponding system of exercises for mastering the mentioned competence skills and develop critical thinking in students. The research draws pedagogical implications for an English senior school classroom, suggesting that language teachers employ explicit teaching of reading strategies that facilitate critical reading and develop critical thinking skills.