Inna Shykyrova

The article addresses the problem of teaching the pronunciation aspect of foreign-language speech to students of non-linguistic universities under conditions of limited classroom hours, heterogeneous levels of language proficiency, and insufficient attention to the development of pronunciation skills in foreign language teaching practice. The relevance of the study stems from the increasing demands on the quality of oral foreign-language communication among graduates of non-linguistic programs, as well as the need to find effective ways of integrating pronunciation work into the educational process without increasing the academic workload. Despite the recognition of the importance of pronunciation for successful communication, in contemporary university practice priority is often given to the development of lexical and grammatical skills, while issues of pronunciation improvement remain insufficiently elaborated. The aim of the study is to analyze existing approaches to teaching the pronunciation aspect of foreign-language speech in non-linguistic universities and to develop an integrative system of exercises and activities aimed at improving students’ pronunciation skills within the discipline "Foreign Language". The leading research method was experimental instruction implemented in a pre-test/post-test design without a control group. Additional methods included observation, testing, questionnaires, analysis of students’ speech production, and comparative analysis of the obtained results. In the course of the study, a system of exercises was developed and tested, based on the principles of communicativeness, situationality, functionality, and the integration of pronunciation work with teaching listening, reading, speaking, and the acquisition of lexical and grammatical material. Particular attention was paid to correcting typical pronunciation errors of Russian-speaking students, developing transcription skills, improving the intonational expressiveness of speech, and maintaining motivation through students’ participation in extracurricular language-related activities. The results of the experimental instruction showed positive dynamics; observation and external assessment confirmed a reduction in the number of major phonological errors and an improvement in the quality of students’ oral speech. The theoretical significance of the study lies in substantiating an integrative approach to improving the pronunciation skills of students in non-linguistic universities and specifying the methodological conditions for its implementation. The practical significance is determined by the possibility of using the developed system of exercises and the set of motivational activities in the practice of teaching foreign languages in non-linguistic higher education institutions.

The relevance of the work is due to changes in the federal state educational standards of higher education in a foreign language, where the main role is acquired by business communication skills in oral and written forms and the possession of which is impossible without formed grammatical skills. The analysis of scientific and methodological literature made it possible to identify the specifics of teaching the grammatical side of foreign language speech in a non-linguistic university, the conditions, principles and stages of formation, improvement and development of grammatical skills, types of exercises to achieve the goals set. The purpose of this study is to work out a set of exercises for improving and developing grammatical skills on a communicative basis in a non-linguistic university and justify its effectiveness. The theoretical and methodological basis of this research was made up of works devoted to the problems of teaching a foreign language in a non-linguistic university, teaching grammar of a foreign language, the formation and maintenance of students' motivation. It is proposed to use professional texts as a basis for the exercises. They arouse students’ interest, contribute to maintaining motivation to learn a foreign language. Experimental training, which included the technology of the "flipped classroom" based on the electronic course in the discipline "Foreign Language" in LMS Moodle and the worked out set of communicative exercises based on professional texts, proved their effectiveness. The positive outcomes were obtained as a result of training and were reflected in the final test and student survey. The theoretical significance of the research lies in the revision of approaches to teaching grammatical aspect in a non-linguistic university. The practical significance of the article is in the fact that this technology can be used in teaching grammatical aspect of any foreign language, provided that it is adapted accordingly, depending on the typical language difficulties, students’ needs and curriculum content.