Language education in Russian technical universities: evolution, new vision and prospects

Nowadays and in the near future, language skills and the ability to communicate in a foreign language are crucial for personal development and professional careers of engineers as members of global scientific and economic community. The reality demonstrates that the language education in Russian technical universities does not fully comply with its goals. Aims of and the overall approach to teaching foreign languages in different time periods in Russia evolved under the influence of the changing political regimes and the resulting social and economic transformations. In this paper, the authors analyze the processes that characterize different development stages of language education in Russian technical universities to reveal the logic behind the social function and objectives of teaching foreign languages from the historical perspective. Based on the analysis the authors specify the goals and some didactic tools that can increase efficiency of the existing resources allocated for language training in Russian technical universities.