Maria A. Shemanaeva

The search for new educational forms, methods and practices is imperative today in the context of modernization and adaptation of education to new socio-economic and technological realities. The article considers the role of further vocational training in general and the role of further language training in particular as a flexible tool of lifelong learning and continuous education. The key peculiarities of further language education courses are regarded. New foreign concepts of education and self-study (heutagogy) are paid attention to. The article analyses the roles of a teacher and a learner in terms of self-study organization. An individual learning path is viewed as an efficient form of self-study. Various definitions of this term are provided as well as the author’s one. The pedagogical model with the use of individual learning path is presented. The model is based on the combination of invariable and variable modules through the employment of the individual learning path. Pedagogical support complex is an additional element of the model. It is designed to accompany and consult the learners. Awareness is seen as a key feature of self-study and its main characteristics are presented in accordance with psychological research. The notions of synchronous and asynchronous learning are presented and analyzed in the framework of self-study. The hypothesis that an individual learning path results in the synergy of synchronous and asynchronous learning is proved by the experiment.

The paper touches upon the issue of professional communicative competence. Further education courses are limited in time which results in the necessity to focus on particular elements of professional communica-tive competence. The article suggests that discourse, strategic and self-study competences can be viewed as the key components of this competence.