Ludmila Matvienko

he problem of psychological readiness of children to learn has always been relevant, since the success of future development and education of children depends on the ways of its solution, which is a pledge of their competitiveness on the labor market, and also their success in general. At the moment, there is a tendency of an earlier start of learning as many parents tend to start the process at the age of 3 or 4. This issue is controversial, since the conditions for the formation of psychological readiness of children for early learning, although formulated in general, but they are unique in each case and require an individual approach, especially in the process of early foreign language learning. Thus, the purpose of this article is to identify the main components of children’s psychological readiness to learn at early age in general and to start early foreign language learning in particular. The author used in her work the results of some Russian and foreign scientists’ studies concerning the main components of psychological readiness of children for learning. The experience of teachers and psychologists has been generalized using such social psychological methods as observation, questioning and surveys. The article highlights the main components of psychological readiness of children to learn: personal, intellectual, emotional, volitional and physiological readiness. These components represent the necessary and sufficient level of the child's mental development to start learning under a program of any complexity, including learning a foreign language, taking into account the peculiarities of this process. The conclusion is made that the expediency of early foreign language learning does not depends on the age of a child, but on his/her individual characteristics and the degree of readiness to learn. The article offers practical advice to determine a child's readiness for early foreign language learning. The practical significance of the obtained results is that they may be used both in professional pedagogical work and by parents to solve the issue.

Features, evolution and modern trends of Language for Specific Purposes teaching students on non-language faculties of Volgograd State Social Pedagogical University are discussed to form a graduate ready for professional foreign language communication.