Methodological, Academic and Scientific work of the Department
Methodological, academic and scientific work of the Department
Methodological and academic work of the Department
The Department considers it very important to constantly update and improve the curriculum for undergraduate and postgraduate students of natural science faculties. Rather few contact hours and absence of entrance examinations in English impose ever-increasing demands regarding the level of English the graduates acquire.
Methodological and academic work of the Department is based on:
1. the functional-communicative method of teaching English at nonlinguistic faculties;
2. teaching the four main language skills (reading, speaking, listening and writing) as well as translation of specialized literature from English into Russian;
3. the grade-rating system of assessing the students' progress that allows to increase their responsibility for the results of training and to intensify extracurricular activities;
4. a wide use of ICTs both in class and for organizing students’ independent work.
The task of bringing all MSU graduates to the B2 level of proficiency in English according to the CEFR required a major restructuring and optimization of the whole teaching process. In close cooperation with the administration of the Faculty of Biology a new three-stage model of teaching English at the bachelor, master and doctoral levels is being currently developed. If successful, the model could later be introduced at other MSU science faculties.
In 2014, the Department developed and tested a final B2 certification bachelor examination in specialized English which has been held annually at the Faculty of Biology ever since. In accordance with the international requirements, the examination consists of five sections (reading, lexical and grammar test, listening, speaking and writing) and is based on rigid quantitative and qualitative criteria that allow to assess the skills mastery levels in biological ESP. To effectively prepare the undergraduate students for the examination, a wide range of textbooks and manuals for biologists with different initial levels of language proficiency were developed, many of which have been published by the leading publishers and distributed throughout the country.
The increased level of language proficiency of the undergraduate students enabled the Department to completely restructure the teaching process at the next level of higher education. The master course program focuses on the acquisition of professional-communicative competence in the academic and research areas of activity, including listening to lectures in English and taking notes as well as presenting the results of one’s own research in English, orally and in writing. In the 2013/14 academic year, a new master's degree course was introduced at the Faculty of Biology to be given in English: "Intercultural communication in general, academic and professional spheres" (Prof. L. V. Polubichenko). Since 2017, the final master’s examination in English has been held in the format of an international conference. At the master’s level, moreover, it became possible to reintroduce to the Faculty of Biology the study of other modern languages (German, French, Spanish).
In 2017, the teachers of the Department took part in the first enrolment selection of students for the master's programs of the Biological Faculty in the Joint MSU-PPI University in Shenzhen (China), and tailored English teaching programs to the requirements of the new university. Since September 2017, the Department teaches students of this university.
In 2018, restructuring English teaching programs reached the final, postgraduate level of higher education at the Faculty of Biology.
The staff of the Department develop teaching materials in English for students of natural sciences. These textbooks and manuals are first released in a limited quantity print run by the Instant Print Center of the Faculty, then they are tested in the educational process, and when the necessary revisions have been made, the textbooks and manuals are published by central publishing houses and distributed throughout the country. Here is a list of some recent publications of the Department:
- Kozharskaya E.E., Kozlova O.N., Kolesnikov B.M. et al. (edited by L.V. Polubichenko). English for the science field of "Biology". M., Publishing house "Academy", 2014
- Doltmurziev D.O., Kolesnikov B.M., Popova M.G. English textbook for biophysicists, M., FFLAS MGU, 2014
- Alikhanova I.A., Mikheeva E.V. Collection of exercises and tests in English to prepare for the final exam for the undergraduate course. Manual for the 4th-year students of the Faculty of Biology. M., FFLAS MSU, 2015
- Kazantseva S.Yu. A manual for the 2nd-year students of the Faculty of Soil Science. M., FFLAS MSU, 2015
- Mikheeva E.V., Alikhanova I.A. Collection of tasks to prepare for the international certification exam for high school students with answers, Newspaper "Sakartvelos Matsne" LLC, Tbilisi, Georgia, 2016
- Kozharskaya E.E., Morgun N.L., Shevyrdyayeva L.N. (edited by L.V. Polubichenko). English for natural sciences. Textbook and exercises for academic undergraduate education. M., Publishing House Yurayt, 2016
- Glinskaya NP, Afanasova V.V., Doltmurziev D.O., Cherezova T.L. (edited by N.P. Glinskaya). English for health professionals. English for Medical Students: textbook and exercises for universities. Publishing House Yurayt, 2016
- Kozharskaya E.E., Morgun N.L. (edited by L.V. Polubichenko). Handbook for the development of listening skills for students of biological sciences (English). M., FFLAS MSU, 2016
- Egorova O.A., Kozlova O.N., Kozharskaya E.E. (edited by L.V. Polubichenko). English. Ecology, soil science and environmental management. Textbook for academic undergraduate education. M., Publishing House Yurayt, 2017
- Shevyrdyayeva L.N. The English language for biologists. Naturally Speaking (B1-B2). Training manual for academic undergraduate education. M., Yurayt Publishing House, 2018
In 2018, the curricula and syllabi of the Department for the bachelor, master and doctoral levels of education at the Faculties of Biology, Soil Science and Fundamental Medicine were updated and published:
· Collection of programs of the Department of English for Natural Sciences of the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Area Studies, MSU: Faculty of Biology. – M., MSU, Faculty of Biology, 2018, 96 p., ISBN 978-5-9500298-3-7;
· Polubichenko L.V., Egorova O.A. Collection of programs of the Department of English for Natural Sciences of the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Area Studies, MSU: Soil Science faculty. – M., K.D.U. (Publishing House “University’), 2018, 128 p., ISBN 978-5-91304-839-4;
· Polubichenko L.V., Glinskaya N.P. Collection of programs of the Department of English for Natural Sciences of the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Area Studies, MSU: Faculty of Fundamental Medicine. – M.,K.D.U. (Publishing House “University’), 2018, 118 p., ISBN 978-5-91304-847-9.
The teachers of the Department are actively engaged in scientific work, participating in international, all-Russian and MSU conferences on linguistics, cultural science and teaching methodology, in joint projects, in the work of the National Association of Applied Linguistics, the Union of Translators of Russia and other professional organizations, attending meetings of dissertation councils, etc.
Associate Professor N. P. Glinskaya works on a doctoral dissertation in the field of terminology, Associate Professor O. A. Egorova’s doctoral research focuses on the role of folklore in modern culture, and Associate Professor L. N. Shevyrdyayeva works on a doctoral dissertation on the Language of the Modern Judicial Discourse. Several teachers of the Department work on their candidate dissertations (S. Yu. Kazantseva, A. Yu. Volkova, I. V. Kharlamenko, N. A. Protopopova, A. A. Fursova). They regularly share the results of their research with the colleagues.
Supplementary education at the Department
The Head of the Department Professor L. V. Polubichenko supervises the Faculty program of professional retraining "Translator in the sphere of professional communication" (1500 hours) which annually employs from 6 to 8 members of the Department (see: http://www.ffl.msu.ru/study/dep/translation.php). They teach practical English language skills and different types of special translation courses.
In 2018, the Department developed a new supplementary professional training program "Life and Earth Sciences: Teaching and Research " (in English), targeted at natural scientists and lasting for 1 academic year (2 semesters: 314 academic hours): http://www.bio.msu.ru/doc/index.php?ID=593). The program is taught by senior teacher O. N. Kozlova and consists of three modules, corresponding to the three main types of professional activities in which it is expected to improve the previously gained and develop new professional competencies:
Module 1. Scientific presentation: Lectures and reports in English.
Module 2. Academic letter in English.
Module 3. Everyday communication in the academic field.