Foreign Language Competency Levels in Military Education

Abstract

Modern development of the foreign language component in any professional environment (including military) leads to the necessity of modernization in the general approach of foreign language proficiency levels and their standardization. Graduates from different educational institutions of today must be able to achieve the best results and comfort in their professional activity in a very short period of time. So it is necessary to expand such important for every profession concepts of "knowledge", "abilities" and "skills" with the additional categories. The notion of "competence" is such category which can enrich the abovementioned concepts with the practical side of their implementation [1, p. 147]. Pointing out that today military systems of all the European countries are on the way of transition to the competence model of development it is very important to examine and analyze European experience of general competence scheme adoption and use in language proficiency sphere. Considering STANAG 6001 as NATO Standardization Agreement (NSA), which has been ratified by nations as reflected in the NATO Standardization Document Database (NSDD), we shall outline the circle of important foreign language proficiency or competence levels provided for NATO Forces and give the guidance for the language programme content on their mastering, developing and using in practical activities. In this study we judge the terms "language proficiency" and "competence" as evaluative ones denoting an individual's spontaneous, general language communication ability [3, p. 73; 4]. Our research demonstrates that STANAG 6001 gives the detailed definitions of the competence levels in four common language proficiency skills: "listening", "speaking", "reading" and "writing".

Ict in Project-Based English Language Lessons in Ukrainian Tertiary Education

“…First of all, in this part of our research, it is necessary to formulate foreign language learning goals such as practical language acquisition, linguistic and philological development of students, familiarization with cultural (regional) knowledge, training in situational communication (communicative side), development intercultural competence and cultural learning through telecollaboration [47]. Our analysis shows that the primary aims of studying the subject "Foreign Language for Specific Purposes" in the Ukrainian tertiary dimension are to develop the abilities of practical knowledge of a foreign language in a variety of speech activities within the range of topics necessary for professional needs; to use oral monologue and dialogue in the context of domestic, sociopolitical, and professional subjects; and to translate texts in the professional field [43].…”