QUALITY ASSURANCE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING IN THE INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION: METHODOLOGICAL DIMENSION

Abstract

The problem of quality of foreign language teaching in the institutions of higher education (IHEs) is one of the most important factors of Ukraine’s integration into the European Higher Education Area. In the article the author studies the methodological aspects of the problem of quality of foreign language teaching and analyzes the conditions of quality assurance of foreign language teaching in IHEs. For this purpose she identifies the essence of the concept of foreign language teaching and examines a range of concepts and terms that reflect assurance of its quality. It is specified the term teaching in native as well as in English-speaking discourse. The process of foreign language teaching is studied from the perspective of system approach. Moreover, the meaning of such concepts as quality of foreign language teaching and organizational and pedagogical conditions are specified. According to the author, ensuring the quality of foreign language teaching becomes possible by creating certain organizational and pedagogical conditions, namely: 1) the analysis of learners’ needs; 2) the relevance of the content of foreign language teaching to the academic and general professional environment of a future specialist; 3) ensuring the variability of teaching technologies; 4) organization of assessment and feedback while teaching. It should be mentioned that the conditions were selected with reference to the process of foreign language teaching in non-linguistic specialties in HEIs. The article is addressed to LSP teachers, scientists and researchers who are interested in the field of language education and the problem of quality assurance of teaching.