Expanding Opportunities for Professional Development through the Use of Integrated Teaching

Abstract

The article highlights the problem of introducing integrated teaching the students majoring in economics in the educational process of Ukrainian tertiary non-linguistic schools. It presents the peculiarities of the immersion into a foreign language environment arising from the acquisition of the professional knowledge in a foreign language. Some strategies for integrated teaching are suggested: 1) systematic repetition of the linguistic and professional material; 2) use of each language unit, which is under study, in its maximum possible linguistic and professional environments and in the connection with the previously learned material; 3) implementation of a major subject (Microeconomics) and a foreign language (English) integration in the educational process of Ukrainian tertiary schools. The programme duration was 4 months. A total of 90 students majoring in economics participated in the programme of integrated teaching. After the completion of the programme the students’ professional knowledge and foreign language proficiency were assessed and their feedback collected and analyzed. Data were obtained from pre-and-post assessment tests of language and professional proficiency. Results indicated the effectiveness of the suggested educational strategies, the use of which provided a possibility of the transition from training period to a real professional communication.