Abstract
In terms of the current complicated socio-cultural and economic situations in the global communication system, achieving international cooperation becomes a challenge for Russia. A lawyer carries out legal regulations of interstate disputes with peaceful measures in the process of foreign language professional communications. One of the most important factors of successful international activity in the legal sphere is to master lawyer's intercultural communicative competence (ICC), as knowledge of foreign linguocultural features of verbal and non-verbal lawyers' behavior contributes to mutual understandings in professional interactions. The structure and content of a lawyers' ICC indicates its integrative nature, which enabled the authors to recognize an ESP approach in the intercultural context as a modern and perspective variant of integrated foreign language teaching for future law bachelors. This study offers methodological recommendations to implement an ESP model aimed at the development of lawyer's intercultural communicative competence.
TopIntroduction
In view of constant changes in the world community’s economic situation and in the system of qualification requirements for specialists of different areas and profiles, one of the most important goals for higher education is to ensure effective graduate training for dealing with a wide range of issues regarding international economic relations. Modern higher professional education in Russian universities is undergoing qualitatively new changes affecting the regulatory requirements relating to higher education outcomes, impacting the didactic description of the process of teaching disciplines to future bachelors, specialists, and masters. According to recent studies, education in universities should be considered as a system of social and professional training aimed at an integrated result in the form of graduate’s social and professional competence (Zhuk, 2013, p. 155).
The idea of integration has become the key concept in the higher education didactics of Russia. First of all, it refers to interdisciplinary integration as an essential element in the process of professional training in universities. Scientists consider it appropriate to reflect the integration of similar aspects of different discipline’s content within the content of professional education (Likhacheva, 2012, p. 74). Its main result is fostering the personal growth of a future specialist in the development of his professional self-identity.
The integration of professional disciplines with a foreign language in universities is carried out within the framework of different approaches to English as a foreign language (EFL) teaching. In Russia, non-linguistic universities offer the most common variant of integrated EFL teaching, which is professionally-oriented foreign language teaching or language for specific purposes (LSP), also known as English for specific purposes (ESP). Another relatively new approach is content and language integrated learning (CLIL), which is learning a future profession through a foreign language (Coyle, Hood, & Marsh, 2010; Khalyapina, 2017a; Kramsch, 1993; Marsh, 2002; Mehisto, 2008; Wilkinson & Walsh, 2015). It should be noted that despite sufficient foreign and Russian scientific experience in CLIL issues research, this approach is still considered innovative in Russian universities. It is often applied in the form of experimental EFL teaching or as a separate integrative lesson on a certain theme (Glumova & Chicherina, 2017; Scrievener, 2011; Sokolova, 2017). The current learning environment in many Russian non-linguistic universities does not allow for the widespread use of CLIL, thus this approach needs a new dedicated education system or at least a similar alternative.
Throughout this chapter, we will consider new integrative perspectives of ESP. The ideas and decisions proposed in this chapter are based on our earlier researches in the methodology of ESP teaching for future law bachelors within an intercultural context.
According to new regulatory requirements of higher law education at the undergraduate level in Russia, the result of students’ training must be a set of key competencies presented by general cultural, general professional, and professional competences (Federal Standard, 2016). The disciplines “Foreign language” and “Foreign language in the field of law” are important links in the process of achieving this comprehensive result. There are two main learning objectives presumed in the programs on these disciplines. The former is to acquire general communication skills in Russian and the foreign languages for solving interpersonal and intercultural interaction problems. The latter is to acquire skills in foreign language professional communications (Federal Standard, 2016). The objectives above demonstrate the significance of a communicative, a professional and an intercultural aspects of ESP teaching to future lawyers.
Key Terms in this Chapter
ESP (English for Specific Purposes): A methodological approach to teaching English at a university based on interdisciplinary links between professional subjects and English that is implemented in English as a foreign language (EFL) content, which includes vocabulary, themes, texts, and communication situations that are professionally oriented.
Linguoculturology: A scientific discipline that studies interrelation and the mutual influence of language and culture. The study objects are verbal behavior, speech etiquette, and a text as a unit of culture.
Foreign Language Culture: A part of the general mankind culture, which students can study and master in the process of communicative foreign language education in the cognitive, psychological, educational and social aspects.
Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC): The ability to live in a multicultural world community, achieving mutual understanding with other cultures’ representatives, and maintaining national cultural values.
Intercultural Language Education Paradigm: A system of theoretical and methodological positions concerning the field of intercultural communication and intercultural education, accepted by scientists as a research base.
EFL Teaching Content: Foreign language and speech material to be taught and acquired; teacher’s and students’ operations with this material in order to transmit and receive some non-linguistic subject content, as well as this subject content itself.
Lawyer’s ICC: The ability of a lawyer to be productive in intercultural interactions within the professional sphere based on multicultural knowledge, skills, and abilities of communicative, socio-cultural, and professional content; this includes a lawyer’s communicative strategies and professionally significant personal characteristics.
Intercultural Professional Communication: Communication on professional issues between groups of specialists belonging to a common professional sphere, but to different linguocultural communities.
Professional Subculture: A part of the general national culture, referred to as a professional community having a specific professional language, worldviews, accepted behavior models, stereotypical thinking, customs, specific manners, and even appearance.
Professional Communication: A professionally determined process of information exchange between representatives of one profession in cognitive-labor and creative activity, aimed at professional development, during which professional communities are created, characterized by certain ways of thinking, behavior and interaction between members of the community.