Uzbek universities to pilot training program “English for special purposes”

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Starting from new academic year, 22 universities of Uzbekistan are ready to pilot a new training program “English for special purposes” in 11 areas.

The new program, aimed at preparing the reform of teaching English for non-philological specialties, was initiated in 2016 by the British Council in cooperation with the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Special Education, the University of World Languages and the Republican Scientific and Practical Center for Development of Innovative Methods of Teaching Foreign Languages.

At the moment, the program includes the following areas: agriculture, engineering, medicine, pharmaceutics, management, journalism, tourism, philology, information technology, culture, textile and light industry.

The goal of the project is to develop a holistic approach to teaching and learning English for special purposes in the country’s universities. The project intends to introduce an integrated approach in development and implementation of a new curriculum, curricula, teaching materials, assessment criteria and training in English for special purposes.

At the moment, during the implementation of the project in 2016, a basic study was conducted in 31 non-philological institutions of higher education to examine existing standards, evaluation criteria, teaching practices, materials, curricula and curricula based on data collected from students, teachers, responsible officials and employers.

Aptis test of the British Council was conducted among a certain number of teachers in all universities participating in the project.

A comprehensive approach to teaching of English for special purposes in Uzbekistan was developed based on the collected data. In September 2017 and January 2018      , trainings were held for the project team to develop a more modern and flexible curriculum with an emphasis on English for special purposes, enabling universities to adapt curricula and materials to the needs of their students and employers.

The next stage of the project is commencement of piloting a new training program in 11 directions in 22 universities of the country from the beginning of September 2018. For this purpose, on 27-29 August, the British Council and the Republican Scientific and Practical Center for the Development of Innovative Methods of Teaching Foreign Languages will organize a three-day training for 65 teachers from all regions of the republic.

Speaking about the project, Saida Irgasheva, coordinator of the projects of the British Council, noted: “The new program “English for special purposes” is designed taking into account the wishes and needs of students, teachers and employers and meets the modern requirements of knowledge and skills of English among graduates of universities. To create the program, we invited English teachers from all universities of the country, who themselves make up the curriculum, proceeding from the specifics of their direction. In this way, students can learn the language with a big focus on their future profession, working out their professional topics, a special vocabulary and speech constructs that they will directly encounter in the workplace. Another important aspect of the program is that we train teachers on use of the Moodle platform, so that they can create tasks, download resources and discuss topics in online mode. This, in turn, will help the independent education of students.”