Developing Foreign Language Lexical Competence Among Future Specialists

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the topical issue of developing foreign language communicative competence, which consists of phonetic, lexical, grammatical, reading and writing competencies among future specialists. Based on the statement that achieving a high level of professional foreign language competence is impossible without the formation of a particular profile of foreign language lexical competence among students in written and oral communication, the main emphasis was made precisely on developing lexical competence. The research has outlined the structure of foreign language lexical competence. It consists of: 1) lexical knowledge that students acquire during the mastering of a foreign language lexical system, namely semantic connections, oral and written forms of words, their relative value, rules of word formation, distinctive or similar features with the corresponding lexical unit (LU) of native language, etc.; 2) lexical skills to intuitively correctly create, implement and understand foreign language LU based on speech lexical connections between graphic and spoken forms of words; 3) speech and language experience, which ensures storage, categorization, and acquisition of skills for working with available information (its understanding and reinterpretation), which students receive while learning a foreign language, as well as building the patterns of using foreign words in their minds; 4) ways of carrying out cognitive activities that are realized during communication and depend on the knowledge of LU and their semantic meanings, as well as lexical skills that a student acquires during classroom and individual activities. The development of foreign language lexical competence occurs in two stages. At the introductory stage, students gain knowledge of the lexical structure of a foreign language and the rules by which it is used. At the automation stage, students develop and improve the skills of working with new lexical units at «word-phrase-sentence» and «monologue-dialogue-text» levels. In addition, the current work has presented effective methods and tools for developing foreign language lexical competence: online flashcards and interactive work with them; associative maps; LU visualization; use of YouTube; joining the online thematic groups; implementation of interactive dictionaries while reading texts online; passive work with LU – associograms, grouping LU by categories, search for semantic connections, etc. Key words: foreign language lexical competence, lexical units, oral communication, written communication, lexical knowledge, lexical skills.