TEACHING ENGLISH FOR SPECIAL PURPOSES: METHODS OF ACADEMIC READING SKILLS DEVELOPMENT

Reading comprehension is a key-competence within knowledge-based societies. The increasing role of innovations, human capital, cognitive development, professional mobility and knowledge sharing in the globalized world implies the need for university students to master academic reading skills in foreign languages. This paper focuses on methods of academic reading skills development of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) students. The emerging new formats of digital literacy require new reading skills and strategies. In spite of extensive research, there is still little consensus on the reading strategies which ESP learners need to cope with reading texts of different formats, sign systems, genres and styles. The research objectives include the analysis of current approaches to ESP learners' reading skills development such as information technologies, Critical Discourse Analysis, Critical Pedagogy, feminist and gender approaches. The analysis of literature and the long-standing teaching practice inspired the author to put forward a hypothesis that the efficient methodology for ESP learners' reading skills development could be based on the combination of Critical Pedagogy strategies and information technologies methods. To confirm the hypothesis a pilot study was carried out. The research methodology included observation, interviewing, testing of students and the analysis of their academic performance and behaviour. The participants were Russian-speaking students of ESP seeking Master's degree in Social Sciences at Peoples' Friendship University of Russia. Two groups took part in the experiment: the experimental group which received Critical Pedagogy instruction in a computer-networked environment and the control group which was engaged in traditional classroom activities. The results of the reading comprehension test show that students of the experimental group performed better than the control group. The results of the study confirm that the combination of Critical Pedagogy principles with information technologies methods could have a positive impact on students' reading comprehension development. The author comes to the conclusion that such instruction could contribute to ESP academic reading skills development for university students.