Developing Scientific Analytical and Communication Skills in Humanities Students at The International University

التسامح التداولي لتجاوز نمط الكم لدى متعلمي اللغة الإنكليزية بوصفها لغة اجنبية

بيلا أ. بولغاروفا

جامعة الصداقة بين الشعوب في روسيا التي تحمل اسم ب. لومومبا ) جامعة رُدِن، موسكو، الاتحاد الروسي

ملخص البحث:

تشرع الدراسة الحالية في التحقيق في التسامح التداولي لدى المتعلمين العراقيين للغة الإنكليزية بوصفها لغة اجنبية لتجاوز نمط الكم. بالإضافة إلى ذلك، تسعى إلى تسليط الضوء على قدرات المتعلمين العراقيين في استنتاج الاستدلالات التداولية من العبارات التي تحتوي على تجاوز لنمط الكم.  تم استخدام نوعين من مهام تقدير الجمل. مهمة تقدير الجمل الثنائية للتحقيق في التسامح التداولي، ومهمة تقدير الجمل الثلاثية للتحقيق في كفاءة المتعلمين التداولية. شملت الدراسة مجموعتين من المشاركين. تضم المجموعة الأولى 50 مشاركًا من طلبة السنة الثانية، والثانية تضم 50 مشاركًا من طلبة السنة الرابعة؛ حيث قامت كلا المجموعتين بتقدير العبارات التي لا تقدم الكم الكافي للمعلومات. تشير نتائج بيانات مهمة تقدير الجمل الثنائية إلى أن المتعلمين العراقيين يظهرون تسامحًا تجاه تجاوز نمط الكم. ومع ذلك، تشير نتائج مهمة تقدير الجمل الثلاثية إلى أن المتعلمين العراقيين ليسوا كفوئين بما يكفي لاستنتاج استدلال تداولي. تسعى الدراسة الحالية إلى توفير فهم شامل لقدرات المتعلمين في اللغة الإنجليزية بوصفها لغة أجنبية على استنتاج الاستدلالات التداولية.

الكلمات المفتاحية: التسامح التداولي- الإبلاغيَّة- التلويح السُّلَّمي- نمط الكم

الكلمات المفتاحية: الروسية، اللغة الأجنبية، متعدد التخصصات، الاتصال، تحليلي، انساني، دولي

1.Introduction

Russian and foreign students from around 160 countries have been studying at Peoples Friendship University of Russia named P. Lumumba (RUDN University) for more than 60 years, and more than 10,000 foreign students are currently studying at the university. "Over the years, the University has trained over 200,000 professionals for more than 170 countries, helping to strengthen and develop Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Latin America and the CIS regions. Numerous distinguished alumni have emerged at the helm of ministries, governments and states. The university's serious achievements in the field of education have enabled it to occupy one of the leading places not only in the Russian Federation, but also in the entire post-Soviet space" - Peter Kucherenko [1].

     Studying Russian as a foreign language starts at the preparatory department upon entering RUDN University, and from the very beginning, the whole methodology of teaching Russian for foreigners is based on the future profession and national-cultural peculiarities of the students.

Since all major subjects in the specialty are taught in Russian, the formation of communicative skills of scientific style of speech is included in the general training program at the preparatory department.  Thus, the teacher faces a complex task: formation of communicative skills in a foreign language for students, consideration of national and cultural peculiarities of students, interdisciplinary approach and development of skills in academic and professional sphere, as well as analytical thinking and ability to structure new material in a foreign language.

The whole process of studying at the Preparatory Faculty is a comprehensive, professional approach, taking into account the period of cultural adaptation, personal characteristics of students and the principles of friendship and mutual respect between representatives of different countries. Groups are formed according to the principle of common specialization, Russian as a foreign language is taught in one group for representatives of different countries and different language families at the same time. In order to ensure successful professional communication in a foreign language, teachers are required not only to master the methodology of teaching Russian as a foreign language and their knowledge of the subject matter, but also to show a caring attitude towards each student and provide guidance and support throughout the entire period of study.

    Instruction in scientific style of speech is integrated into the curriculum as early as 4-5 weeks after the start of the course, since students have already mastered the basics of communication in Russian. The gradual introduction of scientific style vocabulary and speech constructions starts, analytical thinking develops, students learn to read and understand scientific style texts, write down and listen to lectures, perform tasks and even prepare small reports on the subject matter.

All textbooks include the necessary lexical minimum, take into account the level of language proficiency and are built according to a step-by-step principle (the material becomes more complex as the vocabulary increases), each textbook necessarily contains a dictionary with translation into several foreign languages and all necessary comments (all words are built according to the principle of blocks - grammar, thematic and other characteristics are taken into account), communication skills, and combining the standard classical approach of humanities knowledge and new technologies.

      After graduating from the preparatory department, all foreign students take the B1 certificate exam in Russian as a foreign language and continue their studies in the first year already in groups with Russian students. Classes in Russian as a foreign language continue in separate language groups throughout the entire period of study. In this way, the preparatory course lays the foundations for communication skills, professional skills and analytical thinking. During the year, students have time to adapt and socialize to the new academic-professional and cultural environment, as integration into a multi-polar and interdisciplinary educational format takes place gradually and in stages.

Examples of New Humanitarian Interdisciplinary   Programmers and Discussion

It is worth noting that the RUDN University teaches in English, where knowledge of Russian is not required, as all communicative and professional skills are formed through teaching in English.  This form of teaching also necessarily takes into account national and cultural specificity of students and interdisciplinary approach, as well as the level of English of each student (as a rule language groups are formed depending on the initial level of English when entering the University). The university has a huge number of master's and postgraduate programs in English. Dissertations are also defended in English.

At the Faculty of Philology of RUDN University, the formation of students' communicative and scientific-analytical skills also continues throughout the entire stage of training. In recent years, the faculty, with the support of the Dean of the Faculty of Philology of the RUDN, Professor, Doctor of Sciences, Head of the Department of Mass Communications of the RUDN University, Viktor Vladimirovich Barabash, as well as the University administration, has opened new areas of humanities combining a classical and interdisciplinary approach: Big Data Journalism (master's program, training is conducted in Russian), International Journalism (Postgraduate studies, training is conducted in English), Global and Digital Media (Master's program, the training is conducted in English) and other programs.  In the near future, it is planned to open scientific directions for the introduction of AI into humanitarian knowledge together with scientists from India and other countries.

Fig.1. Professors of RUDN Global and Digital Media Master's program with graduates

In addition, teachers and students jointly develop initiative scientific topics, publish articles on research clusters and annually hold conferences with students and colleagues from different countries. This helps to expand the network of professional contacts and integrate students into a global scientific network.

The motivation for opening new programs is driven by global trends, in which digitalization, artificial intelligence technologies and humanities disciplines are closely intertwined: «The transformation and development of humanities education is determined by the processes of informatization. The development of humanities education involves the implementation of the principle of openness of humanities education to social practices and the principle of its accessibility without age and geographical location. The introduction of info-telecommunications accelerates the creation of a single information space, provides access to the information resources. The development of humanities education is aimed at implementing an interdisciplinary approach that ensures the effectiveness of the development and application of humanitarian knowledge and form a conscious responsible choice in a variety of cultural meanings, cultural self-determination. It ensures the rigor and accuracy of the methodological and technical side of humanities education» [2]. Humanities students need to master new competencies in order to successfully integrate into the rapidly developing professional environment, actively participate in Russian and international research projects, and be part of the professional community. It is worth emphasizing that learning a foreign language (for Russian students) as well as Russian as a foreign language (for foreign students) is a compulsory module of the educational program of each year of study.

In our study, we will focus in particular on the last of the opened programs, called Big Data Journalism. The program was opened last year and is the most innovative and interesting in terms of shaping analytical thinking, creative computational mathematics, algorithms, linguistics, project management; opportunities for international, multilingual and interdisciplinary work; any data set will be a source for journalistic work and its analysis will be delivered in the best possible way: as a data article, a separate Internet project or an online dashboard. The program was inspired and directed by Sergei Vodopetov, PhD in Political Science, Associate Professor at the Department of Mass Communications and Chairman of the RASO Digital Communications Committee. "Big Data Journalism" is a new-format digital master's program with a clear focus on training practitioners capable of demonstrating high performance in real-world working environments. Traditional media is still relevant, but already faces fierce competition in the digital environment- social networks, recommendation systems and advertising networks are all systematically creating a market many times larger than that of classical media. Therefore, being skilled in working with audiences, profiles, search results and other data is no longer a technical task but a serious media management task. This program is not just useful and promising. It is about a new superpower in the digital world [3].

The educational program's teaching process is oriented towards distance work, but also has a face-to-face block - at least 25% of the total teaching volume - and includes lectures, practical classes, and project assignments. The advantages of the program are: the opportunity to work on a supercomputer; classes are taught by subject specialists in digital journalism, philology, linguistics, programming, innovation and management.

The course curriculum, in addition to the required courses - journalism and foreign languages - includes special blocks not characteristic of classical journalism:

Block 1: Open data.

- the concept of open data and how to work with it;- Russian and foreign data packages - sources; - Implementing and implementing both data management and open data provision;

- Preparing a project based on open data.

Block 2: Ethics of digital communication.

- new digital media environment;

- legal basis for dealing with big data;

- legislation on personal data;- ethical standards for working with big data;- digital etiquette.

Block 3: Media measurement

- Principles and data of digital media measurement;- Application of data for corporate or personal purposes.

Block 4. Data journalism.

- parsing, cleansing and analysis of data;

- mechanisms for presenting data projects;

- Data mining algorithm; - Product management in the media.

Block 5. Programming in Python and R.

Block 6. ERP and CRM systems.

Block 7. Practice.

The program of studies contains several blocks: a block with programming and algorithm-making skills, a communication-analytical block, and a media-research direction as a source of big data. Graduates will enter the labor market or their own business with a range of skills and abilities in creating IT products experience in project management and a specific data-driven communication language, as well as the ability to mine unique  knowledge, including from open sources. All this will allow graduates to be competitive and successful in the global digital communications market.

     Students can get an internship in the department's own laboratories and multimedia studios, as well as in leading Russian and international media and media holdings. At the end of their studies, each student will have a portfolio with their own creative multimedia projects and Data-driven investigative journalism.

Today, the niche for professionals who can analyze and work with big data in the media and communications field is virtually vacant. The program's graduates will be in high demand in modern digital media and special projects, and in the fields of PR and Product Management. Global statistics show that the average annual rate of growth in profits of the digital media sector until 2020 is 9.7%.  This means that the demand for specialists working in data journalism will grow [4].

 Conclusions

The process of building scientific analysis and communication skills of humanities students at an international university requires not only national and cultural sensitivity, gradual professional and personal integration into the educational environment, but also development of speech skills in the language of instruction, interdisciplinary approach and continuous mentoring by professors. In addition, modern classical liberal arts education programs are constantly improving and integrating into the digital world, which poses new challenges for universities and of course requires new professional competences from the professors themselves.

References

1.We are trusted: RUDN University will prepare specialists for 160 countries. URL: https://www.rudn.ru/media/news/international-cooperation/nam-doveryayut-rudn-podgotovit-specialistov-dlya-160-stran?ysclid=leljb2gvsl691183822. Date of reference: 19.01.2024.

2.Kravtsov YS, Oleksiuk  MP, Halahan I M, Lehin V  B & Balbus T  A). Development of humanities education in the context of interdisciplinary approach and informatization. Linguistics and Culture Review, 2021;5(S2):580-587. https://doi.org/10.21744/ ling cure.v5nS2.1392.

3.Big data journalism. https://www.rudn.ru /education/educational-rograms/51654?ysclid= leljydy6w9480563826. Date of reference: 20.01.2024.

4.Barabash V.V., Vodopetov S.V., Bulgarova B.A. Data Journalism. Sovremennye informacionnye tehnologii i IT-obrazovanie = Modern Information Technologies and IT-Education. 2021; 17(4):871-879. doi: https://doi.org/10.25559/SITITO.17.202104.871-879.