Department of Foreign Languages

Learning foreign languages at higher educational institutions is the next step after school. No matter what language you learn, learning another language in addition to your mother tongue is a requirement of the time. Specialists have extensively developed special programs for fluency and mastery of world languages, as well as language teaching methods.

As the proverb says, “If you know a language, you know the heart.” If a person is fluent in a foreign language, it means that he is learning the culture, customs, and literature of another nation.

It is no coincidence that the Soviet education system, which is still admired by the people of the world, paid special attention to the learning of foreign languages. The research and evidence of thousands of scholars had contributed to the inclusion of foreign languages (English, German, French) in the curriculum of schools and universities. According to it, the student had the right to choose one of the above-mentioned foreign languages and to some extent had mastered the chosen foreign language.

At that time, the acquisition of a foreign language was often limited to theory, and the system did not create such opportunities for deep learning of the learned foreign language in practice.

Even after the independence of the Kyrgyz Republic, the education system of our country did not deviate from the path of the Soviet education system. However, of course, some changes have taken place. After the independence of our country, the borders were opened and people from all over the world began to come to our country.

During meetings and conversations with people of different nationalities, English (sometimes German), which is at the forefront of the world languages, began to be used as a common language. Specialists who were fluent in speaking foreign languages proved that at that time the teaching of foreign languages was going in the right direction.

Of course, some universities provide such training. However, all students of any specialists try to learn foreign languages to be able to understand and respond in those foreign languages.

All these specialists graduated from some kind of university. But, in the educational institutions that they graduated from, teaching foreign languages was not at a sufficient level.

Teaching foreign languages should cover not only linguistic faculties, but all branches of higher education. Regardless of what specialty students will have, students must master foreign languages (English or German) before graduating.

The purpose of teaching foreign languages is to develop students’ communicative skills. This will allow them to enter the world community and continue to work successfully.

Foreign language teachers need to be person-centered, collaborative and use project-doing methods. It is important, that the choice of topics and issues is in line with the real interests and needs of students.

In determining the content of training, special attention should be paid to the socio-cultural skills and abilities of students, as they should be able to reflect the culture of their country in communication.

According to the National Program for the Development of the State Language and Language Policy in the Kyrgyz Republic for 2014-2020, “Government and municipal servants, regardless of ethnicity, must master at least one of the international languages at the A2 level. By 2020, all senior government officials, regardless of ethnicity, must know the state and official languages at the C1 level, as well as one of the international languages at the B2 level. “

The International Linguistic Evaluation Scale (The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) includes the following levels: A – Elementary level (A1 – Breakthrough level, 2 – up to the Way stage level), B – Intermediate level (B1 – Threshold level, B2 – Vantage level), C – Advanced level (C1 – level of Professional knowledge, C2 – level of Excellent knowledge).

“Multilingual education” is the use of two or more languages as teaching aids. UNESCO introduced the term in 1999 (UNESCO Resolution 12) and refers to the use of at least three languages in education: mother tongue, national and international languages.

The professional lexical course of “Foreign Language Teaching” plays a key role in the professional training of future specialists. Just as every science, it has its purpose. There are several goals for the Foreign Language Teaching course:

1. To teach students to apply their theoretical knowledge in solving practical problems;
2. In the process of teaching a foreign language to guide students to use and work with professional vocabulary by their profession;
3. To teach students to use theoretical knowledge in practice in communicating with native speakers;
4. To create conditions for the future specialist to continue studying the language he studied.