Quality assessment problem for ESP acquisition by graduate students majoring in chemistry

Nowadays, particular requirements are being made concerning language training at nonlinguistic universities. The acquisition of Foreign Language for Specific Purposes by students of non-linguistic majors plays a fundamental role in their professional development. Federal state educational standards state the requirements of a specialist’s training in terms of competencies. Language training quality is assessed in terms of professional intercultural communication competence and maturity. Cutting-edge communicative technologies are being widely used in the training courses at nonlinguistic universities. When choosing the educational model, the focus is on the professional and communicative, as well as social and personal, development of the student. Contextual training techniques based on a social training model are in common use. It is crucial that the tasks selected are personally meaningful for students and result in new products. Special mention should be made of the methodological potential of interdisciplinary assignments and projects that expose students to situations similar to those they will have to deal with in their professional activities. Nevertheless, conventional methods of language training quality assessment do not simulate authentic professional communicative situations and cannot provide a complex assessment of professional intercultural communication competence. The method of conferences could be an alternative way for the final assessment. The author demonstrates that the method of conferences is relevant for the task of professional foreign language training in nonlinguistic higher educational institutions and provides an example of its use in the English language course of the master’s programme in chemistry at RTU MIREA.