Regional aspect in foreign language education (sociocultural competence)

Abstract

The regional aspect of language education plays a significant role in the development of sociocultural students’ competence. The implementation of the regional component in university education is rarely considered, the issues of determining its content and role in the development of student competencies are not sufficiently developed. The way linguistic disciplines are currently taught in universities is undergoing a qualitative change, helping it meet the requirements of educational modernization, while the content and teaching methods are updated, and a competency-based approach to professional training is developed. The sociocultural competence occupies an important position together with the development of linguistic competence of students. The article presents the project results “Teaching the German language with the regional material” for the students of “45.03.01 Philology: Foreign philology (German language and literature)”. A preliminary survey showed that 76 % of students from 52 respondents were interested in studying regional material in the foreign language. The results discovered that our pedagogical approach increased the level of regional sociocultural competence of students, which contributed to the development of students' competency in the dialogue of cultures.