The article deals with introducing important items of the Core Curriculum for Foreign Language Training of Non-Residents in Higher Agrarian Education Institutions based on CEFR and taking into account professional orientation of foreign (Ukrainian) language training (on the example of Sumy National Agrarian University, Ukraine). Different methods of research (theoretical and empirical) have been used. The Curriculum's content (goal; objectives; principles of training; content components) has been shown. The main goal of foreign language training is identified as the students' acquisition of skills of communicative activity through the integration of communicative, learning and upbringing goals as well as deep professionalizing the future specialist. The Curriculum's context (stages, communicative training areas) are correlated with the requirements of CEFR to meet internationally recognised standards. To monitor if the curriculum meets the students' needs in foreign language training the questionnaires were conducted October-November, 2018. The questionnaires on students' self-assessment of language proficiency level; learning activities preferences; situations in which foreign language is useful for; the importance of work with professionally-oriented materials were generalised. Conclusions: the important foreign language skills for agrarian students are speaking and reading ones; the preferable communicative areas are the social-cultural and the learningprofessional ones; the work with professionally-oriented materials is indicated as an important one. This confirms the appropriateness of the curriculum to international students' needs in foreign language training. The results can be extrapolated for other higher agricultural institutions while foreign language curriculum development.

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The article deals with the content and structural components of the communicative competence of the teacher of the HEI. The purpose of this article is to highlight the theoretical issues of communicative competence as a compulsory component of the professional competence of these professionals. The methods of research are general scientific (analysis, synthesis, comparison, generalization) and specific scientific methods (system-structural). Research results. The work presents professional competence of the teacher of the HEI as the willingness and ability to perform scientific and pedagogical functions professionally under the accepted educational and social standards. The specifics of the professional competence of the teacher of the HEI are considered and its structural components are distinguished. It is proved that the communicative competence of the teacher of the HEI has a complex structure. It includes the components of motivational values, cognitive components, operating components and components of positional values. The teacher’s readiness for professional improvement, the need for career development and professional advancement, the desire for self-development, self-realization and personal fulfilment belong to the elements of motivational values. Cognitive elements refer to the specialist’s knowledge in a specific area (what a specialist knows about this). Operating elements concern the fact of how a specialist applies his knowledge into practice. Elements of positional values appeal to the specialist’s attitude to the field of activity. Conclusions. Communicative competence is a significant component of the professional competence of the teacher of HEI, providing the positive social impact of higher education. The practical significance of the study is that the analysis and consideration of the presented theoretical provisions will contribute to improving the quality of the educational process, based on a better understanding of the role and place of communicative competence in the structure of professional competence of the teacher of modern HEI. In our opinion, a promising direction for further research is development of a model of communicative competence formation of the teacher of HEI.

The paper concerns the use of authentic social-cultural reading materials in foreign language learning and teaching of international students. The study was started from the assumption that authentic materials allow international students to link mastering a foreign language and the real world since they meet learners’ needs and contribute to better social adaptation in a foreign country. The purpose of the article is to characterize the place and role of work with authentic social-cultural reading materials in foreign language learning and teaching of international students. The theoretical and mixed methods were used to achieve the purpose. The study was conducted with first-year international students of different faculties of SNAU. In the context of the mixed method both quantitative (numerical) data from questionnaire (in the middle of the semester) and qualitative (namely students’ comments, observation and analysis of students’ activity during foreign language classes, monitoring the students’ reaction to the use of authentic reading materials from different sources (printed mass media, TV, Internet) throughout the semester were gathered and processed to bring the results together in the overall interpretation. Conclusions: the outcomes demonstrate that international students consider authentic social-cultural reading worthwhile and see more potential advantages in work with them than constraints. International students support using different thematic materials from personal contexts (family life and habits) to public ones (country’s traditions and events). The benefits of using them also include a possibility for enhancing reading skills, acquisition of the language and reality of the foreign country, better students’ social adaptation, and motivation to learning.

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