Development of cognitive interest among foreign medical university students in the conditions of bilingual education

Statement of the problem. Analyzing the experience of working with students who do not speak or have poor knowledge of the Russian language, we have identified a number of difficulties faced by all participants in the educational process. Difficulties are associated with pronunciation, differences in English proficiency levels, cultural characteristics of bilingual students, etc. The purpose of the article is to identify the features of training and development of cognitive interest in the disciplines taught at the Department of Histology, Cytology, Embryology of Krasnoyarsk State Medical University to foreign students in English; consider bilingual education as a way of teaching at a medical university in modern conditions of a sharp increase in foreign citizens in educational institutions of higher education in Russia. All this is based on the study and analysis of psychological-pedagogical, medical, methodological literature, and personal work experience Methodology of the research is based on the theory and practice of cognitive interest development: - on ideas by S.L. Rubinstein, L.A. Gordon, M.F. Belyaev, etc., which defined ‘interest' as an ‘emotional', ‘emotional and volitional' orientation; - on theories focusing on the relationship between personality and reality (V.G. Ivanov, V.B. Bondarevsky etc.); - on works by researchers who consider interest as a motive for learning (N.G. Morozova, G.I. Shchukina, L.I. Bozhovich, N.M. Verzilin, D.I. Traytak, etc). We used the working definition of a cognitive interest, given by D.I. Traytak: “Cognitive interest is the emotional and volitional orientation of students' consciousness to the constant desire for active mastery of a subject” [Traytak, 2002]. Research results. The results of the study showed that the use of a variety of ways in the development of cognitive interest ensures the effectiveness of the process of forming skills and abilities of foreign students in the process of studying at a medical university. Teachers of the Department of Histology, Cytology, and Embryology at the KrasSMU apply a special approach to teaching bilingual students using an intermediary language (English). Conclusion. The analysis of teaching activities and the studied literature shows that the effectiveness of bilingual education, the formation of knowledge, skills, and competencies of English-speaking students in the process of studying disciplines at the Department of Histology, Cytology, and Embryology at a medical university is ensured by the development and growth of cognitive interest, a creative approach to learning.