Keyword: «professionally directed foreign language teaching»

The research is determined by the need to find the way to develop intercultural professionally-oriented competence in technical universities and for students of aerospace specialties in particular. The purpose of the article is to study foreign text-books for technical universities and Aviation English textbooks for aviation specialists. The authors compare the content of the text-books and analyze the competences that the students can acquire while studying and fulfilling the assignments. The article summarizes the experience of using professionally-oriented text-books in foreign language classes with students of Aviation University. On the basis of the contextual approach and according to the principle of continual professional foreign language training, different text-books are developed at the department "Foreign Language for Aerospace Specialties" in Moscow Aviation Institute for bachelors, specialists, masters. Much attention is given to the study of English grammar in aviation context, and improving grammatical skills at all levels of education at the university is emphasized. Examples of aviation terminology and types of tasks are given in the article. The authors come to the conclusion that in conditions of multidisciplinary training in technical universities and possible prospects for professional mobility of future graduates, the language training in professional context provokes an ambiguous attitude. In connection with this, it is recommended to discuss the idea about creating a universal textbook for technical universities, which includes both an invariant general part and a variable one that reflects the particular specialization of the technical university. The theoretical significance of the article is that it shows stages in teaching English for specific purposes such as English for general technical subjects to Aviation English and then English for particular Aviation Specialty. The paper describes the essence of studying grammar in professional context. Practical significance is that it shows the effectiveness of developing professionally-directed text-books at the junction of linguistics and special subjects and their constant updating in accordance with technical innovations and the emergence of new technical terms.