Oxana L. Zabolotneva

Reading, along with listening, is an individual's most important perceptual skill, regardless of the language of the text. Working with text is relevant at any level of language proficiency, regardless of academic goals (passing a language exam, preparing for an academic discipline, getting to know a new topic, etc.). The purpose of this work is to systematize approaches to working with texts and identify common principles and techniques of working with texts for students of high-level language specialties. The paper provides an overview of the main domestic and foreign scientific and methodological research from 1981 to 2025 on the research topic (n = 33). Based on the literature review as well as on their pedagogical experience, the authors present a list of methods for working with the text allowing to deepen the understanding of the text, forecast, as well as to work out lexical and grammatical chunks. These techniques are divided into three classic groups of tasks: before-during-after reading: self-selection of chunks, subjective reading (within the framework of an individualized approach), text compilation by keywords, text forecasting, annotated reading, reading using parallel texts, changing the format of texts, compatibility tasks, offline preparation, etc. The techniques are interdisciplinary in nature and can be adapted for different levels and language purposes (first of all, preparation for passing a level exam, a state exam, and solving translation problems). The theoretical significance of the work lies in the description and organization of the latest domestic and foreign approaches to understanding and comprehending the process of reading in a foreign language – thus modern scientific priorities and directions of studying work with a text in a foreign language are manifested. The practical significance lies in the presentation of techniques for working with text for advanced levels: the techniques vary depending on the goals, but they can also be used in a cross-section. The conclusions summarize the main aspects of the work and outline the research perspective.

Teaching spoken grammar has both practical and theoretical character: the necessity to master the spoken register of a foreign language is fixed in the requirements of FSES HE 3++ in the area of training 45.03.02 Linguistics, as well as the ability to analyze linguistic phenomena descriptively from the point of view of linguistic theories. Besides the academic necessity of speaking grammar, its practical role is also obvious. The aim of the study is to review and describe the ways of teaching English conversational grammar to language students. The proposed ways are the result of literature analysis and author's original pedagogical experience. The analysis of English- and Russian-language publications on the research topic for 1962-2024 is given. The transition to descriptive language teaching and the development of corpus technologies became the basis for the expansion of research on spoken grammar: it becomes clear that syntactic variation is the result of changes in the type of discourse. The study of colloquial grammar in the country of the target language is of particular relevance; in other cases, the active use of authentic materials (advertisements, podcasts, chat bots, etc.) is emphasized. The main elements of colloquial English grammar traditionally include omissions, discourse markers, hesitation markers, insertions, emphases, inversions, inversion markers, etc. Summarizing the analysis, it can be noted that conversational grammar can be considered as a component of pragmatic competence and has high theoretical and practical significance in learning a foreign language. Scientific novelty lies in the analysis and highlighting of scientific priorities in the study of spoken grammar, as well as in the generalization and highlighting of techniques for working on the spoken grammar of a foreign language (English) with students of language specialties. In the conclusions, the authors summarize the main aspects of the topic.

The development of microlearning is associated with pandemic and post-pandemic changes and trends in higher education system, as well as the characteristics of the modern world: VUCA-reality, shortage of attention span, development of neuroscience, request for corporate training, obtaining specific, targeted skills and knowledge. These characteristics are clearly expressed in the connection of microlearning with mobile learning and computer-mediated learning. The objective of the article is to describe some techniques in microlearning that can be used to increase the efficiency of the educational process for students of language specialties. Some techniques are well-known and widely used. A little emphasis on their implementation or adjustment of assignments can optimize understanding of the material. Elements of microlearning can be part of both classroom and extracurricular activities, and can represent required and optional components of the learning process. The presented techniques are based on the authors’ experience, and are also the result of scientific and methodological analysis of literature on the research topic. The analysis of the research topic publications shows the following dominant features: close connection between microlearning and mobile learning; connection of microlearning with specific topics, splitting large blocks into smaller ones; the research material is available at any time and anywhere; microlearning can be integrated into the process of classical learning, etc. Visualization is an important modifier of the microlearning concept, so there is an active use of presentations, mind maps, diagrams, tables and emoticons. For the purpose of creating ideal conditions for the realization of students' potential abilities, various online platforms are used, in particular, the Telegram platform, chatbots, alternative methods of presenting material, flash cards, scrapbooking, etc. The theoretical significance of the study is related to the synthesis and generalization of the existing scientific groundwork on microlearning, its application in the context of higher education. The described techniques are used with students of language specialties at Chelyabinsk State University. The conclusions provide generalized information on the considered topic.

The development of creative writing skills often has not only methodological, but also psychological value. The work on the development of creative writing skills is indirectly fixed both in general professional and universal competences, reflecting the ability of students to create texts as a part of the soft skills implementation for future professionals. Creative writing is a complex term that includes a wide variety of forms and formats, united by individualization, artistry and originality. Creative writing can be practiced with learners of different training levels, be part of a group project or individual assignment, be spontaneous (reactive) or be the result of long preparation (extensive). The objective of the article is to describe some of the techniques for working with creative writing; the above techniques can be adapted to different levels of foreign language proficiency. The methods described in the work are based on the experience of the authors, and are also the result of the analysis of domestic and foreign methodological literature. Scientific and methodological works on the study and analysis of creative writing reveal a wide range of its study: philosophical foundations, psychological and methodological aspects, development history, creative writing as one of the professional skills, etc. Traditional creative writing techniques (compositions of various types) rarely find emotional response from students, that is why the authors propose alternative forms of work using assistive devices, Internet technologies, artificial intelligence, the practice of creating collages, emotional coaching, etc. The theoretical significance of the work lies in the relatively complete depiction of the diversity of points of view and approaches to understanding creative writing in general. The techniques described in the study were tested on students of intermediate (B1) and advanced/professional (C1) levels of language proficiency. The conclusions provide generalized information on the topic under consideration.

The relevance of working with competences related to academic writing is registered in the Federal State Educational Standard of Higher Education 3++ in the area of training 45.03.02 "Linguistics" (bachelor's degree level) and is associated with active international contacts and the emergence of new forms of the scientific functional style implementation. Academic writing in its genre and stylistic organization tends to the scientific functional style (oral and written speech, taking into account the style and composition: structure, argumentation requirements, the use of metalanguage, discursive markers and other elements). The purpose of the article is a brief description of the methods for developing academic writing skills in Linguistics majors (language proficiency level B2-C1). Based on the material of modern literature on the topic of research, as well as on their own experience, the authors made an attempt to describe methods for working with academic writing. An analysis of domestic and foreign literature shows a high interest in the research topic and determines a variety of research priorities, presenting academic writing in the form of an umbrella term, which is considered as a set of methodological, pragmatic, linguistic and other aspects. The main results of the article describe the work on the scientific style and academic writing in native and foreign languages, with ready-made texts and with the preparation of texts. It is noted that academic writing, in addition to its basic form “argument - justification - conclusion”, can have other forms; work with academic writing also includes the development of critical reading skills. The work examines some techniques using information and communication technologies (Grammarly, Plagiarisma, AWL Highlighter, etc.) and case technologies. The theoretical significance of the work lies in the presentation of relevant information on the topic. The considered methods were tested on students with language proficiency level B2-C1; adaptation of methods makes their application possible at other levels. The conclusions provide generalized information on the topic under consideration.