DOI 10.

31489/2020Ped4/167-172

UDC UDC 37.012.3

G.T. Urazbayeva1, A.A. Kabdiyeva1,*

1
L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University, Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan
(E-mail: akmaralkabdi@[Link])

Formation of communicative competence in a professionally-oriented foreign

language course in higher education: issues and recommendations

The aim of a professionally-oriented English language course is to develop students’ communicative compe-
tence, English language linguistic competence, in particular, that supports students’ professional expertise. In
this paper, the main issues of the formation of communicative competence in a professionally — oriented
English language course at the university level are discussed. The data is drawn from the survey conducted
among undergraduate and postgraduate students in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan (N=48, mean age 26.5) who have
taken the course. The survey results revealed that although students hold a positive attitude towards the
course, they did not show some sufficient improvement of linguistic skills after the course completion, and
more than 33 % of respondents rarely or almost never used the acquired English language skills for their fur-
ther professional development. In this paper, I argue that to reach the intended learning objectives of the
course, there is a need for university teachers to create a more «authentic» environment in order to involve
students in creative and engaging classroom activities.
Keywords: professionally-oriented English, communicative competence, linguistic competence, ESP, EVP,
undergraduate students, postgraduate students, language skills.

Introduction
The main objective of the professionally-oriented English language course at the university level is to
develop the communicative competence of students. Upon the course completion, according to Gondová, D.,
Sipošová, M (2010), students should demonstrate sufficient language proficiency in English language, ability
to express their intentions in English language clearly, produce coherent written texts, and apply both verbal
and non-verbal communication strategies [1; c. 35]. In Hymes (1972) communicative competence is defined
as «knowing what to say to whom in what circumstances and how to say it» [2]. In this regard, Canale &
Swain (1980) distinguish four components of communicative competence, such as linguistic, sociolinguistic,
discourse, strategic [3]. If linguistic competence means the knowledge of the language, sociolinguistic com-
petence suggests the knowledge of language use (e.g. certain register, politeness, etc. in a particular situa-
tion). When it comes to discourse competence, the ability of a learner to combine language structures into
different types of texts is considered. Strategic competence, in turn, means the knowledge of strategies ap-
plied in verbal and non-verbal communication.
In the European context, drawing on the Basturkmen’s (2012) classification of English for specific pur-
poses [4], English for vocational purposes can be attributed to English for General Vocational Purposes or
English for Specific Vocational Purposes. In Widodo (2016), English for Vocational Purposes is defined as
an English language programme for both the secondary education and tertiary education levels, to equip stu-
dents with English language linguistic competence that supports students’ vocational expertise [5]. In other
words, students from both secondary education (e.g., technical schools) and higher education (e.g., colleges
and polytechnics), from different majors (e.g. accounting, hotel hospitality, computer engineering, or tourism
management, etc.) are placed into English language courses that cater students’ needs to build vocational
knowledge and skills in English language. In designing such a programme, English language is integrated
into vocational content (with selected English language materials based on vocational tasks, topic, vocabu-
lary, etc.). Widodo (2016) notes that the role of English as a medium of vocational communication to explain
the vocational content, develop disciplinary language, vocational knowledge and skills and communicate
vocational expertise [5].
Likewise, professionally-oriented English language course in the context of the Kazakhstani education
system, pursues the similar objectives as English for Vocational Purposes. Curricula of the professionally-

*
Corresponding author’s e-mail: akmaralkabdi@[Link]

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G.T. Urazbayeva, A.A. Kabdiyeva

oriented English language course are skills-based with the objectives to equip students with listening, writ-
ing, reading and speaking skills to apply in their future professional carrier (when students go out to work).
In fact, there is a number of legislative documents in the Kazakhstani education system that promote
professional education in English language. For example, in the State Program for Development of technical
and vocational education in the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2005–2010 (dated 1 July, 2008) suggests mod-
ernization of the education to train a competitive workforce with English language proficiency to substitute
foreign specialists, while the State Program of Education Development in the Republic of Kazakhstan for
2011–2020 (dated 7 December, 2010) aims at the formation of an intellectually, physically and spiritually
developed citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan. It is planned that by 2020, almost 15 % of the Kazakhstani
adult population would speak fluently in three languages, Kazakh, Russian and English. In the current State
Program of the development of education and science for 2020–2025 (dated December 27, 2019), improve-
ment of the competitiveness of Kazakhstani education world-wide is pursued. In the model curricula of pro-
fessionally-oriented foreign language, the following intended learning outcomes are noted: constantly en-
hance vocabulary, develop public speaking skills, be able to make a decision in any situation, identify the
problem and find solutions, etc.
Although there is a positive trend in applying innovative teaching technologies and updated teaching
textbooks and other learning materials, there are still some issues in Kazakhstani higher education system in
reaching intended learning outcomes. Teaching professionally-oriented English language courses requires
teachers’ and students’ awareness of the demands of contemporary workplace communicative competence;
it demands much more than merely a sufficient level of English language proficiency from individuals.
In Cameron (2002) it is stated that to communicate effectively in workplace settings, there is a need to speak
fluently, truthfully and openly about one’s feelings, and exercise assertiveness, once needed [6]. Recent
graduates should have the ability to be tolerant in accepting points of view that differ from their own beliefs;
they should be able to listen actively to different perspectives without pre-judging. Effective communication
also requires the ability to interact with colleagues from different cultures, ethnicity, race, and religion.
Another issue concerns the expansion of vocational vocabulary that may not ensure successful commu-
nication in the workplace settings, unfortunately. Although various materials and communication techniques
for communicative learning are available, teachers still seem to be using outdated teaching materials, while
students seem to be overloaded with vocabulary memorization and translation tasks, as noted in
Lengyelfalusyová & Bakay Záhorská (2011) [7].
To examine the current state of affairs of professionally-oriented English language courses in the con-
text of the Kazakhstani education system the following research question is pursued: what students’ general
perception of and attitude towards «professionally-oriented English language» course in higher education in
Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan?
Experimental
In this section, we report on the nature of the questionnaire, ethical considerations and stages of online
survey and participants.
Questionnaire. The designed questionnaire (19 multiple choice questions and one open-ended question)
consists of two sections. The first section contains the questions to gather some demographic data on partici-
pants (age, gender, year of study, etc.). The questions in the second section are designed to gather some data
on the formation of the communicative competence of students. For example, to examine linguistic compe-
tence, the questions of English language proficiency before the course taken and after the course taken are
asked. The question on further use of English language for potential professional development is also includ-
ed in the questionnaire. Another group of questions (e.g. on ability to engage in communication and maintain
interaction in English language) aims at examining the interactive competence of students. A question on the
use of students’ knowledge of foreign culture, customs and traditions in a professional setting examines stu-
dents’ sociolinguistic competence, while the questions on the use of innovative teaching methodology and
students’ opportunity to express their opinion in classroom settings reflect the use of current teaching meth-
odologies. To see to what extent students may accept points of view that differ from their own beliefs, the
questions on their ability to work in teams, to solve issues, understand and support their partners were in-
cluded in the questionnaire. To receive general feedback on the course two questions are asked: «did you use
the acquired knowledge of English language in the professional carrier so far?» and «was the course helpful
for your professional career?».

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 Formation of communicative competence...

Procedure. The designed questionnaire was first sent to our colleagues for editing and commenting on
the clarity, coherence of questions, and general feedback on the questions. Once returned with minor com-
ments on the structure of the questionnaire, the form was revised. As university lecturers, we had an oppor-
tunity to approach students who have taken a «professionally — oriented English language course» in the
past semester. The online questionnaire was sent to students’ university emails (the total number was 79).
Unfortunately, the request to participate in the study was ignored by students, and only a few filled-in ques-
tionnaire forms returned. Then, the online survey link, was sent around, directly to students through the
WhatsApp messenger. Out of around 200 requests sent to participate in the study, over a one-week period in
October 2020, we received 48 filled-in forms for the further analysis.
Ethical considerations. To pursue ethical considerations, students were informed that their participation
in the survey is entirely voluntary, so they should not see their refusal to participate in the study as a potential
issue that will negatively impact their academic performance. Students were also informed that all the identi-
fiable information would be confidential and used for research purposes only.
Participants. The subjects of the study are students of bachelor's and master's courses from several uni-
versities in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan (N=48, mean age 26.5) recruited through the personal network as a
snowball method.
Results and discussion
Upon the data analysis, positive discourse regarding the course has emerged. At the same time, there is
not much improvement of linguistic skills is depicted.
Positive attitude towards the course. The respondents demonstrate that they have a clear understanding
of the need to take the course as many of the indicate that the acquired skills would be helpful in their future
careers. Below, there are some instances of students’ opinion regarding the course:
(1) курс полезен для освоения иностранного языка
‘The course is useful for mastering a foreign language’
(2) очень полезный
‘very helpful’
(3) профессиональный английский язык полезен специалистам в любой сфере
‘professional English is useful for professionals in any field’
(4) я думаю это очень нужный курс
‘I think this is a necessary course’
(5) пригодился в работе
‘useful at work’
(6) думаю, что данный курс помог мне улучшить мои навыки в понимании языка и помог мне приоб-
ретением профессиональных навыков в сфере моей специальности.
‘I think this course helped me to improve my language comprehension skills and helped me to acquire pro-
fessional skills in my field of specialization’.
(7) помогает понять и осмыслить, твоё ли это призвание
‘it helps to understand and realize whether this is your true vocation’
(8) в данный момент я прохожу этот курс, и уверена, что курс «Профессионально-ориентированный
иностранный язык» будет полезным для приобретения профессиональных навыков.
‘at the moment I am taking this course, and I am sure that the course «Professionally oriented foreign lan-
guage» will be useful for acquiring professional skills.’
(9) отличное дополнение к имеющимся знаниям.
‘an excellent addition to my existing knowledge’
(10) для общения в иностранном коллективе курс оказался полезным, также для пополнения словаря
новыми терминами в своей специализации.
‘for communication in a foreign team, the course turned out to be useful, as well as for enhancing the vocab-
ulary with new terms in my specialization’
(11) этот курс мне очень помог в поднятии уровня английского языка, а также закрепил мои базовые
знания.
‘the course helped me a lot in improving the level of English language proficiency. Also, it strengthened my
basic knowledge’
(12) он был полезен тем, что я повысила разговорный скилл.
‘it was helpful’ because I improved my speaking skills’

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G.T. Urazbayeva, A.A. Kabdiyeva

Although there were a very few w students who noted that the course is not helpfuul enough or they felt in-
different towards taking the course.
(13) не полезен, так как не исполььзуется дальше
‘not useful because it is not used furrther’
(14) относительно
‘relatively’
(15) я до этого предмета знала ангглийский, поэтому ничего особо сказать не моогу
‘I knew English before this subject, so I can't really say anything’.
Issues in teaching/learning proofessionally — oriented English language coursse. The data analysis re-
vealed that students did not show a significant improvement in linguistic skills afteer completing the course
(Table 1). There is an increase froom 30.8 % to 41 % in the «intermediate» levell of language, and from
17.9 % to 23.1 % in «upper-intermeediate course», although the number of students with
w «beginner’ and ‘pre-
intermediate’ levels decreased (that is quite a positive trend).
Table 1
Students’ English
h language proficiency before and after taking the course
c

It seems that inadequate teachhing materials (e.g. non-authentic materials) andd traditional methods of
teaching (e.g. teacher-centered, graammar-translation methods, memorization, etc.) negatively affected the
students’ learning outcomes. There could be some issues with students’ motivation, involvement and partici-
pation in classroom activities, or low
w linguistic competence of the students.
As mentioned earlier, authentic materials, used in classroom, can stimulate leaarners to learn languages
independently discovering and explooring the materials on their own. For the studentss with low language pro-
ficiency, authentic materials can bee simplified with the use of relatively easy vocabbulary, shorter texts and
less demanding and assisted tasks (e.g.
( role-playing). To deal with students’ low motivation,
m classroom ac-
tivities should provide students witth opportunities to make use of language they have h so far, and perform
classroom activities that reflect thee course knowledge and practice. At the same time, t students should be
provided with instructional promptss from teachers as it is an important strategy of the active processing of
the learning materials.
Another issue, revealed througgh the survey results analysis, is the fact that morre than 33 % of respond-
ents rarely or almost never used thee acquired English language skills for their furthher professional develop-
ment. Although, it is true that almoost 36 % of respondents use English language foor professional purposes
(e.g. reading professional literature in
i English, see Table 2.)
Perhaps, such a pattern can bee explained by the fact that many students still are full-time students at
university, and still did not have a chance to get accepted for a full-time job. As a result, they have not expe-
rienced the need of English languagge proficiency for their professional developmennt yet. Another explana-
tion is that students have internships and work at local companies, and they do not work with documents in
English language or encounter a foreeign colleague.

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 Formation of com
mmunicative competence...

Conclusion
In this paper, the main issues inn the formation of communicative competence inn a professionally — ori-
ented English language course at thhe university level are discussed. The survey am mong university students
revealed that in general, they hold positive
p opinions towards the course. At the same time, however, they did
not show sufficient improvement off the linguistic skills after the course completion.
Table 2
nglish language proficiency for professional development
Students’ use of En

We argue that to reach the inntended learning objectives of the course, there is a need for university
teachers to create a more «authentic» environment in order to develop students’ speaaking skills, enhance cre-
ativity and imagination for the prepaaration of students for their future profession. To achieve this, the follow-
ing measures (adapted from Lengyellfalusyová & Bakay Záhorská, 2011) can be recommended:
 to create an authentic environnment for language learners in order to practice siituational conversations;
 provide students with authenttic tasks to solve model situations;
 support communication in Ennglish language outside of the classroom;
 focus on teaching grammar inn speaking activities [7].
Perhaps, the study results woulld have shown different patterns if more respondents had taken participa-
tion in the survey. Another issue concerns the online mode of collecting the filled-inn forms. As a researcher,
we could not control and see whethher the respondents provided the well-thought annd thoroughly considered
answers. Perhaps, obtaining the quaalitative data (e.g. interviews with students and teachers) on the course
material, covered topics, tasks and classroom activities, pedagogical prompts wouuld provide more insight
into the issue.

References
1 Gondová, D., Sipošová, M. Teachingg English: a guidebook for English Teacher Trainees. -Žilina: Edis, 2010.
2 Hymes, D. On communicative comppetence //Sociolinguistics. — 1972. -№ 3. — P. 269–293.
3 Canale M, Swain M. Theoretical baases of communicative approaches to second language teachhing and testing //Applied lin-
guistics. -1980. -Т. 1. -№ 1. -P. 1–47.
4 Basturkmen H. Languages for speciific purposes curriculum creation and implementation in Australasia
A and Europe // The
Modern Language Journal. -2012. -№ 96. — P. 59–70.
5 Handoyo Puji Widodo. Teaching English for Specific Purposes (ESP): English for Voocational Purposes (EVP) in
W.A. Renandya, H.P. Widodo (eds.), Englissh Language Teaching Today, English Language Educationn. -2016. DOI 10.1007/978–3-
319–38834–2_19.
6 Cameron D. Globalization and the teeaching of ‘communication skills’// Globalization and languuage teaching. -2002. — -№ 1.
— P. 67–82.
7 Lengyelfalusyová, D. & Bakay Záhhorská, M. Investigating the English Language Needs of Students at the University of
Zilina // Acta Technologica Dubnicae -2011. -Т. 1 № 1. -P. 60–69.

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G.T. Urazbayeva, A.A. Kabdiyeva

Г.Т. Уразбаева, A.A. Кабдиева

ЖОО-да сабақта коммуникативті құзыреттілікті қалыптастыру
«Кəсіби бағытталған шет тілі»: проблемалар мен ұсыныстар

Кəсіби бағытталған ағылшын тілі курсының мақсаты студенттердің коммуникативті құзыреттілігін

дамыту болып табылады, бұл өз кезегінде, студенттердің кəсіби саласында тілдік құзыреттілігін да-
мытуды көздейді. Мақалада коммуникативті құзыреттілікті қалыптастырудың негізгі мəселелері
қарастырылған. Нұр-Сұлтан қаласындағы университеттің бакалавриат жəне магистратура
бағдармаларының студенттері арасында жүргізілген сауалнамада (N = 48, орташа жасы 26,5 жас) сту-
денттер курсты аяқтағаннан кейін тілдік деңгейлерінде жеткілікті жетілдірулер байқамағанын
көрсетті. Cауалнамада pеспонденттердің 33 % -дан астамы алған білімдерін одан əрі кəсіби дамыту
үшін сирек немесе мүлдем пайдаланбағанын жеткізді. Коммуникативті құзыреттілікті анағұрлым сəтті
қалыптастыру үшін университет оқытушыларына арналған əдістемелік ұсыныстар (мысалы,
студенттерді шығармашылық жəне қызықты тапсырмаларға тарту үшін «шынайы» материалдарды
пайдалану) келтірілген.
Кілт сөздер: кəсіби бағытталған ағылшын тілі, коммуникативті құзыреттілік, лингвистикалық
құзыреттілік, арнайы бағытталған тіл, кəсіби бағытталған тіл, студенттер, магистранттар, тілдік
дағдылар.

Г.Т. Уразбаева, А.А. Кабдиева

Формирование коммуникативной компетенции в вузе на занятиях
«Профессионально-ориентированный иностранный язык»:
проблемы и рекомендации

Целью профессионально-ориентированного курса английского языка является развитие коммуника-

тивной компетенции студентов, которая, в свою очередь, предполагает развитие языковой компетен-
ции студентов в их профессиональной сфере. В статье обсуждены основные вопросы формирования
коммуникативной компетенции. Опрос, проведенный среди студентов и магистрантов вуза в Нур-
Султане, Казахстан (N = 48, средний возраст — 26,5 лет), показал, что студенты не продемонстриро-
вали достаточного улучшения языковых навыков после завершения курса, и более 33 % респондентов
редко или почти никогда не использовали приобретенные знания английского языка для своего даль-
нейшего профессионального развития. Для более успешного формирования коммуникативной компе-
тенции, авторами даны некоторые методические рекомендации (к примеру, использование более ау-
тентичного материала для вовлечения студентов в творческие и увлекательные задания) для препода-
вателей вузов.
Ключевые слова: профессионально-ориентированный английский язык, коммуникативная компетен-
ция, лингвистическая компетенция, язык для специальных целей, язык для профессиональных целей,
студенты, магистранты, языковые навыки.

172 Вестник Карагандинского университета