Principles of Deliberate Practice in Professional Foreign Language Training of Technical University Students

Abstract

Current conditions characterized by economic instability and the need for intercultural communication lay new, higher demands on technical university graduates. The necessity for technical university students to develop the skills of using English language in solving professional problems encourages scholars and teachers to look for the optimal approaches in order to fulfill this purpose. One of such approaches, successfully used in many different fields, is deliberate practice. This paper is devoted to familiarize the reader with this approach and justifies the validity of considering professional foreign language training of technical university students as deliberate practice. The key principles of this approach are presented: student’s personal goal setting, maximum concentration, feedback, going out of the comfort zone and focus on practical activity. Also the role that mental representations play in professional foreign language competence development is determined. The empirically tested model and technology of the organization of students’ independent work based on their profession-oriented blogging in English and the fact that this activity can be identified with deliberate practice are suggested and proven effective. The process of technical university students’ profession-oriented blogging in English viewed as deliberate practice and tested as part of the conducted teaching experiment is described. The conclusion about the necessity of applying the principles of this approach to solving other optimization problems in professional foreign language training of technical university students is made.