Academic literacy as the basis of medical science: training course for medical students

Scientific research plays a fundamental role in modern medical practice and is an important aspect of medical education. It appears relevant to involve medical students in research activities, develop their research competence and academic writing skills. This study aims to describe the structure of the course «Foundations of Academic Literacy in English for Medical Students» and analyze the prospects and challenges of its integration into the educational process of a medical university to foster research competence among medical students. The article describes the training process within this course, designed for third-year medical institute students. The training process focuses on teaching the fundamentals of academic discourse, developing the ability to work with scientific literature, and cultivating skills to critically evaluate and interpret information, apply research methodology, formulate evidence-based reasoning, present arguments, and ultimately generate new knowledge. As a result of completing the course, students develop academic literacy – a higher-order competence that includes complex skills in textual and linguistic activities. Possession of this competence enables students to successfully integrate into the international scientific community in the future.