INTERNATIONAL STUDENT CONFERENCE AS A MEANS OF DEVELOPING ACADEMIC COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Abstract

The study highlights 20-year experience of organizing international student conferences in foreign languages as a framework for holistic development of academic communication skills. Conventional ESP syllabi suggest passive learning strategies, which replicate those of general English courses. Students are offered pedagogic materials which aim at reiterating the knowledge that instructors and textbooks provide. However, there exists a substantial gap between reproducing academic knowledge and becoming an independent actor in the selected field of expertise. In this sense it seems crucial to outline a framework for active independent learning for budding professionals to achieve academic autonomy at a reasonable pace. To reach this objective, we have been organizing international student conference for the LSP students at RUDN university, which is not a standalone event, but a part of ESP curriculum. Conference preparations are designed as multiple interventions aimed at developing linguistic and extra linguistic skills alike. The course on conference preparation is designed in line with the major subjects and overall academic competence of the participants. Every year Bachelor’s students write and present a research paper, which starts as a teamwork on a synopsis of studies on a given topic and eventually results in successful defense of a Bachelor’s thesis in a foreign language of the student’s choice.