The paper considers communicative approach to grammar as a means to develop the Technical University EFL learners’ ability to communicate with each other focusing on the language meaning rather than on the form. Although the communicative approach is not ideal, it makes the communication in the classroom natural, thus creating conditions for self-realization, motivation and meaningful language acquisition. The paper establishes principles to be applied when teaching grammar communicatively. They concern two aspects: the grammar material itself and the ways it is taught. Grammar material chosen ought to be relevant to communication in real life situations. Greater attention is to be paid to more frequent and important grammar structures. Teaching methods within the framework of communicative approach to grammar should motivate authentic interpersonal interaction with the priority to fluency over accuracy. To illustrate the principles some communicative grammar activities are presented.

The article proves the necessity to develop interpersonal communication skills of engineering students for their successful functioning in the modern professional community. Current requirements of the Russian Federal State Educational Standard for Higher Education regarding the sphere of foreign languages insist on training competent interpersonal communication at EFL (English as a Foreign Language) classes. Teachers of foreign languages should involve the students into active communication and interaction through small group work. To divide the students into small interactional groups a survey was implemented in the spring of 2017 and targeted at the students of the National Research University of Electronic Technology (MIET). Four grouping criteria were used: language proficiency, an academic background, a personality type and a social status. Application of the criteria involved the methods of ranging the students according to their advancement with the help of Corporative Technological Information Platform for Distributed Data Exchange in Corporative Environment (DDECE), Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI) and sociometric techniques. Eight group types obtained include four homogeneous and four heterogeneous ones. The authors consider the four heterogeneous group types to be more efficient in fostering the communicative interpersonal competence than the corresponding homogeneous group types. For overcoming communication difficulties, students learn to manifest extreme flexibility in the process of professional interaction, show empathy to each other, think critically, cooperate and collaborate, exchange information to mutual benefit and join efforts in order to reach a common goal.

The structure of the article is determined by the logic of designing the goals of foreign language teaching in a technical university. The highest level of generality of goals reflects the social demand of society as a whole and is presented in the Federal State Educational Standard of Higher Education. At the second level of goal formulation (Model Discipline Programs), they are specified according to the needs of the spheres of economics. In the development of Work Programs of Discipline within the framework of teaching in a specific university, final clarification of goals is required depending on the requirements of regional employers (the third level of specification of goals). In order to clarify the objectives of teaching foreign language to students of technical universities taking into account the requirements of the regional labour market, a questionnaire was conducted in 2019 for graduates of the National Research University „Moscow Institute of Electronic Technology,” working in a specialty in enterprises in the field of exact technologies in Zelenohrad (Moscow). The questionnaire showed that in addition to the four types of speech activities specified in the Model Programs on Foreign Language for Non-Language Universities, engineers use interpretation and translation in their professional activities. The rating of types of foreign language speech activity in descending order of their importance for professional activity of the engineer is as follows: reading – auditing – translation – writing – speaking. The most demanded professional foreign-language tasks in all types of speech activities (except translation) are solved by modern engineers in communicative situations using information technologies.

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