Keyword: «course book»

At present time, technical higher educational establishments of the Russian Federation have to respond quite actively and promptly to the reforms in the system of education. Ever-changing federal state educational standards of higher education define the necessity of conceptually new approaches to the problems of the education content as well as the ways of their solving. The problem of choice of course books for teaching English at a technical university is not just the exception but is of great importance, as one of the main employer requirements to a competitive engineer is well-developed linguistic competence aimed at successful social and professional communication. Thus, the aim of presented research is to analyze the structure and contents of Russian and foreign course books and their correspondence to modern course book criteria developed by the authors after having observed the opinions of some methodologists as well as taking into consideration the own experience in this area. The notion of a course book is formulated in the paper, the research results to the selection of the content and structure of a modern course book are demonstrated. The authors present some positive aspects of analyzed foreign and Russian course books in accordance with federal state educational standards of higher education and specificity of a technical university. During the research work the authors were using the analytical method (quantity and quality analyses, interpretation of the received results, formulation of conclusions and practical recommendations). The research results are presented in the form of formulated criteria and requirements to both structure and content of a modern English course book, in the form of positive aspects and comparative characteristics of Russian and foreign course books, as well as in the form of some recommendation to their use. Practical relevance of the analyses conducted is authors’ try to search for the solution of the problem of choosing the appropriate course book structurally and contextually aimed at successful development of linguistic, social, cultural and professional competences of a future engineer.