К.п.н. Матухин Д.Л.

Томский политехнический университет, Россия

GLOBALIZATION AS A FACTOR OF GROWING NECESSITY FOR FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING

Relevance and purpose of language learning in Russian society at different stages of historical development changed in a very wide range, on the one hand, affected by ideological impact of the existing political regime, and on the other, impact of socio-economic transformation of society. Two of the competing goals were practical use of foreign language knowledge and its cultural-educational impact on the individual student. Understanding of the practical role of language education, in turn, varied according to the characteristic of the corresponding stage of development of the country concerning nature of international and cross-cultural communication.

In the second half of the XX century mankind entered the era of globalization. From the beginning of post-Soviet Russian period, increases the number of foreign companies, political, scientific, educational, cultural, sports and recreational activities, develops joint show business and tourism; increases the number of foreign trips and the scale of migration of Russian citizens. “Today, more than co-always or earlier, individuals, groups, organizations, firms and companies in different countries are directly related to each other, not necessarily involving the state in this process” [1, с. 14]. Globalization means that more and more rises the role of personal human contacts, and therefore, verbal communication, including ethnic, which requires knowledge of a foreign language. With increasing speed, quantity, directions and poly-linguistic nature of information flows, as well as increasing diversity and the degree of penetration into everyday life of electronic media, the ability to quickly and correctly perceive and interpret the meaning of foreign language content is becomes extremely important and occurs to be fundamental to making the right management decisions.

Not accidentally, practical purpose of the Bologna process – unification of the European education system – becomes saturation of the labor market with linguistically skilled workers. It is understood that university students of one country will most likely would apply the knowledge acquired in the other, in accordance with the specifics of its spiritual and business culture. For this purpose in the process of teaching them it is necessary to obtain the practice of intercultural interaction. That’s why EU actively supported student exchange program, for example, in the leading universities of the UK, U.S. and Canada up to 80% of students are foreigners [2]. In the Russian language training, despite frequent references to its intellectual and cultural significance, popularity of foreign language was determined primarily by utilitarian purposes. Before the 1917 Revolution, the most studied foreign language in Russia was French, in the Soviet era – German, and from the 1990s championship was confidently intercepted by English.

Meanwhile, for the European Community language policy emphasis is placed on language universalism, i.e. equality of students studying foreign languages. In March 2002, Barcelona European Council recommended from an early age to teach children two foreign languages. Promoting linguistic pluralism means study of rather wide range of languages in the European educational institutions, including languages not only small peoples, but also local migrant communities. At the same time, priority is given to languages of leading economic powers [3]. According to Nurgaliyev I.S., taught in Boston University, the main difficulties for the Russian student abroad, related to the language barrier, lead to need to solve a lot of problems at the same time, including daily matters (renting of housing, shopping, etc.)

Understandable problems, despite the fact that each of them individually may seem simple enough, can together make a kind of "obstruction" and create a stressful situation, result in "culture shock". But it is necessary to reach the point of learning yet. Applicant who wishes to apply for the U.S. college and not enough good at everyday English, might not be able to pass visa interview at the U.S. Embassy.

Another important consequence of the integration of the Russian education in Europe is a matter of foreigner’s adaptation. The engagement of Russia in the Bologna process inevitably leads to an increase in academic exchange. The prestige of Russian university will largely depend on the number of foreign students in it and matching the EU quota standard for academic exchange. Today in Russia get rapidly opened branches of foreign educational institutions, introducing foreign educational programs and projects. At the same time, large multi-branch Russian universities open more and more branches abroad.

According to sociological studies, foreign students coming to study in the universities of the Russian Federation, in general, feel satisfied with the quality of Russian education. However, this does not mean that the level of learning is at the appropriate level. Only 43% of foreign students claim that their language training is sufficient for the successful mastery of Russian-language syllabus and communication with teachers, many of whom, in the opinion of the respondents do not want to take account of their poor knowledge of the Russian language, and themselves are not able to teach in foreign language. Language difficulties faced by international students, spread to extracurricular component of their life in our country, causing social tension in relations with almost all the elements of reality: population relationship, law enforcement, fellow students and teachers.

References:

1. Юрлов Ф. Н. Социальные издержки глобализации // Социол. исслед., 2001. – № 7. – 9–15 с.

2. Сагинова О. В. Интернационализация высшего образования как фактор конкурентоспособности (на примере Российской экономической академии им. Г. В. Плеханова) http://www.marketologi.ru/lib/sagino-va/inter_vuz2.html. – Дата доступа: 04.02.2011г.

3. Communication from the commission to the council, the European Parliament, the economic and social committee of the regions. Promoting Language Learning and Linguistic Diversity: An Action Plan 2004-2006. http://ec.europa.eu/education/doc/official/keydoc/actlang/act_lang_en.pdf. – Дата доступа: 04.02.2011г.