Keywords: foreign language teaching, language of specialty, cultural literacy, intercultural competence, information and communication technologies, distance learning, blended learning, clip thinking, clip culture, political culture, Science slam, translation didactics, oral translation, discourse, concept.
From 14 to 15 May, 2021, The III International Scientific and Practical Conference «Linguodidactics and Linguistics in Higher Education: Traditional and Innovative approaches» was held in Yaroslavl State Technical University (YSTU), Yaroslavl, Russia. The conference was held in a mixed (face-to-face-online) format. The conference was organized by the Department of Foreign Languages of YSTU. The head of the Department Ass. Prof. Lyudmila Tyukina actively participated in the organization and holding of the conference.The conference was attended by about 60 representatives of various universities from Russia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Germany, Moldova, and Ukraine.The conference was officially opened. The Rector of YSTU, Ph.D. in Economics, Ass. Prof. Elena Stepanova made a welcoming speech. On behalf of the Bulgarian specialists of Russian philology, the editor-in-chief of the international scientific journal «Russian studies without borders», Ph.D. of Philology, Ass.Prof. Dimitrina Lesnevska (Sofia, Bulgaria), congratulated the participants and guests of the conference.
The plenary session consisted of 4 reports. The plenary session was opened by Dr.Sc. (Philology) M. Lazovich (University of Marburg named after Philipp, Marburg, Germany), who made a presentation on the effectiveness of the German scientific communication project «Science slam». The report of Dr.Sc (Philology), Prof. E.B. Borisova, Senior Lecturer E.V. Golovko (SSUSC, Samara, Russia) was devoted to the peculiarities of the general philological method of studying the literary text on the example of the explication of the image of the house in the novel «Return to Brideshead» by the English writer Evelyn Waugh. Prof. Alfred Nordmann (Institute of Philosophy, Technical University, Darmstadt, Germany) made a presentation on the features of translation, in particular interpretation in the context of multilingualism in the modern world. The lecture of, Dr.Sc (Pedagogy), Prof. N. N. Gavrilenko, creator and head of the online training platform «School of Translation Didactics» (Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia, Moscow, Russia) was devoted to the integrative didactics of translation activities. The conference was continued in three sections.
In the section «Methodological aspects of teaching», the problems of teaching a foreign language for special purposes in a non-linguistic university were discussed in the reports of A.O. Lapina, A.V. Smirnova (Yaroslavl, Russia) – integration of academic disciplines of the professional cycle and a foreign language; E.A. Savchuk, E. S. Syshchikova (Moscow, Russia) – teaching Spanish at MGIMO University; S. Yu.Tyurina (Ivanovo, Russia) – teaching a foreign language at a technical university; A.V. Shkapova (Yaroslavl, Russia) – preparation for conducting foreign language classes at a non-linguistic university. The reports of V.G. Kasarova (Moscow, Russia) and V.V. Reshetnikova (Dubna, Russia) were devoted to the specifics of teaching the language of specialty to a foreign audience at a non-linguistic university. In her report, L.Y. Mastykina (Smolensk, Russia) reviewed strategies for the formation of cultural literacy among students. The actual topic of adaptation of Chinese students to the Russian socio-cultural and educational environment was touched upon in the report of N.V. Gvozdannaya (Moscow, Russia). N. M. Fritzler (Germany) spoke in her report about the transformation of the role of the teacher in higher education in connection with modern clip thinking and clip culture. For the teacher, the formation of the socio-psychological phenomenon «clip thinking» is a huge challenge. In Russia, the term «clip thinking» was introduced by the Russian philosopher F.I. Girenok in 2014.
In the section «Information Technologies and Multimedia in teaching foreign languages at the university», a number of reports considered the specifics of the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in teaching foreign languages: E.V. Vorontsova (St. Petersburg, Russia) made a report on modern technologies in teaching speaking in a foreign language; A.Yu. Kalinin (Moscow, Russia) considered the use of information technologies at the initial stage of teaching oral translation; A.A. Kuznetsov (Moscow, Russia) spoke about his experience of using modern technologies in the organization of independent work of foreign students in distance learning; E.A. Nikolashina (Ryazan, Russia) commented on the features of information and communication platforms in teaching foreign languages; V.A. Skakunova (Moscow, Russia) considered the features of the use of ICT in the development of listening skills in English classes. Special attention was paid to the specifics of mixed education («blended learning») during the pandemic (reports by A. I. Kovrigina – Moscow, Russia, N.V. Chizhikova – Rybinsk, Russia). M.V. Hwang (Moscow, Russia) made a presentation on the features of mixed English language teaching for students of technical faculties of aviation universities. The concept of «blended learning» during the Covid-19 pandemic was discussed in a report by V.A. Fadeeva (Moscow, Russia).
In the section «Discourse», a number of reports were presented on the peculiarities of various discourses, such as humorous dialogical discourse in the report of L.A. Tyukina (Yaroslavl, Russia), diplomatic discourse in the report of Yu.S. Tkacheva (Kaluga, Russia), media discourse in the report of R.R. Alimova, V.V. Yakovleva (Moscow, Russia), science fiction film discourse in the report of P.V. Silaev (Smolensk, Russia), mnemonic discourse in poetry in the report of S.V. Zhilyakov (Stary Oskol, Russia), Internet discourse, in particular non-linguistic signs in network communication in the report of D.S. Byleva, V.V. Lobatyuk (Saint Petersburg, Russia). The concepts of «political culture» and «political regime» in the framework of political discourse were considered in the report of S.I. Boyko (Moscow, Russia). The report of N.V. Krivoshapova (Tiraspol, Moldova) was devoted to the topical linguistic and cultural issue of preserving the native language and culture in a multinational environment. The report of Yu. L. Sapozhnikova (Smolensk, Russia) presents the cultural problem of perception of foreign culture by immigrants based on the material of the literary text – the story «У миссис Сэн» (English: «At Miss Sen’s») by the American writer Jhumpa Lahiri. In their report, T.A. Kazakova (St. Petersburg, Russia) and D.S. Lefanov (Moscow, Russia) considered the concept of «magic» in fantasy chronotopes in the translation aspect. The psycholinguistic experiment as a way of representing the social phenomena «war» and «peace» was presented in the report of E.A. Golubenko (Bronnitsy, Russia).
The III International Scientific and Practical Conference «Linguodidactics and Linguistics in Higher Education: traditional and innovative approaches», organized by the Department of Foreign Languages of YSTU, Yaroslavl, Russia, was a success, outlining the tasks for the future. Participants and guests of the conference express their gratitude to the Head of the Department of Foreign Languages, Ass.Prof. L.A. Tyukina, for organizing the conference.