Ma students’ special competences as a key factor of modern education

The development of well-educated competent personality is one of the most important tasks of training future teachers at higher institution. It has been the subject of many research works. The main aim of the report is also to explore some aspects of the formation of foreign language teacher’s special competence. The Common European Framework provides a common basis of the development of language syllabus, curriculum, textbooks, controlling and etc. across many countries.

One of the main tasks of modern education is forming master students’ competences. Preparation of future teachers needs the formation of teachers’ special competences, like: intercultural, communicative, cognitive, scientific and technical and other professional competences. In the research we analyze necessary competences for the preparation of future FL teachers.

After joining Bologna process, Kazakahstani higher institutions are trying to develop educational process, to prepare skilled and competent professionals. It started in May the 22nd 2007, an International Seminar on the introduction of the credit system of education was held at the presence of the Minister of Education and Science Mr. Z.K. Tuimebayev in Taraz (Kazakhstan). The Ministry of Education and Sciences of Kazakhstan in cooperation with the University of Taraz organized this large conference to commit all the universities in the country in introducing ECTS with the goal of joining the Bologna Process.

The project was devoted to introducing ECTS credits in the universities of Kazakhstan. This lay down the basis for future exchanges which involved researchers, academics and students. It has the prospective of expanding the project to other Central Asian countries like: Uzbekistan, Afganistan, Tagikistan, Turkmenistan.

Bologna process is also European joint system of higher education based on the principles of educational functions. Key positions within the Bologna process are:

• competitiveness of European education; convergence of national educational systems;
• process of restructuring higher educational process, providing for reform of national higher education systems,
• the introduction of multi-level higher education;
• adoption of a system of academic credits;
• control the quality of education;
• development of academic mobility and faculty exchange;
• oriention to the student-centered

For Kazakhstan, Bologna process a means of protection and improvement of higher education and scientific research in the European region, means of increasing transparency and mobility. Bologna process recognizes the place of higher education in the public domain, focus on quality, increase would require an increase in public investment in the system, and its professionals.

One of the aims of Bologna process included the education of competent professionals. So, un our article we are concerned with special competences of a foreign language teacher. Much has been told about key competences of a teacher. Most of them related to the professional knowledge and skills of a person in a certain trade. For instance, according to Berkimbayev K.M. and Kerimbaeva B.T.: “Competence is translated from the Latin «competentia» means a subject a person is versed in, a special area of knowledge and experience. A person who is competent in a certain area possesses a certain standard of knowledge and skills which makes it possible for him to judge soundly about this very area and act efficiently in it” [1].

For instance linguistic competences have been discussed for a long time and are used by specialists in the area of methods of teaching foreign languages where the communicative competence is also analyzed. Recently the concept of «competence» has started to be studied at the level of general didactics, general pedagogic and methodology. It can be explained by its system-practical functions and its integration role in general education.

Competence is a totality of interrelated qualities of a person (knowledge, skills, experience, command of methods of working), assigned with respect to a certain sphere of objects and processes and necessary for efficient and productive activity in respect to them [2].

In our research we want to give detailed classification of special competences of a foreign language teacher. Special competences are characteristics of a professional teacher of foreign language. As a teacher of FL has to acquire not only a foreign language, but also speak and teach foreign language properly, he should have communication skills. Linguists and language teachers remember the discussions from 1960s on the concept of "communicative competence". Actually communicative competence is one of the key competences of foreign language teacher, as he profession deals with steady communication with students. The idea of «communicative competence» is not a new one in methodology of teaching foreign languages.

The main and important type of key competences of a future FL teacher is regarded as linguistic competence, because the main function of an FL teacher is to teach foreign language and its linguistic peculiarities.

Linguistic competences is defined as knowledge of, and ability to use, the formal resources from which wellformed, meaningful messages may be assembled and formulated. Here we distinguish:

1. lexical competence;
2. grammatical competence;
3. semantic competence;
4. phonological competence;
5. orthographic competence;
6. orthoepic

Each of the above listed linguistic competences has its own distinctions and definitions according to its acquisition and functions.

For example, the definition given by Canale and Swain (1980) has long been viewed as the standard one in applied linguistics. They prescribe this term into four components:

• Grammatical competence: this includes the knowledge of the lexicon, syntax and semantics, or words and rules in In teaching grammatical competence is not only the ability to recognize and produce the distinctive grammatical structures of a language and to use them effectively in communication, but also teachers’ role in explanation and developing grammatical accuracy of his learners’ grammatical competences. Here. The teacher has to acquire all the grammatical structures and sends them to his learners effectively and develops the learners’ grammatical competences through practice.
• Sociolinguistic competence: it refers to the appropriateness of communication depending on the context including the participants and the rules of In teaching foreign language teaching materials should be connected with social life, in real communication. Through teaching authentic materials, like: words, phrases, lexical sets in different texts, stories, audio, video materials and etc. a teacher develops leaners’ awareness in social life.
• Discourse competence: this is concerned with the cohesion and coherence of utterances in a discourse or cohesion and coherence in
• Strategic competence, it means appropriate use of communication strategies especially when communication fails [3]. All these above said competences are closely connected with each other. In teaching a foreign language a teacher needs to develop his skills while learning foreign language and teaching The first two competences perceived by learning FL and develop his practical skills in teaching. The second two types of competences are more complicated and depend on his cognitive awareness of a situation. They are more related to educational process.

Linguistic competence is possession of a system of information and knowledge about the foreign language pertaining to its levels (phonetics, grammar etc.) as well as an ability to use this knowledge in practice. The linguistics aspects of communicative competence are those that have to do with achieving an internalized functional knowledge of the elements and structures of the language [6, 48].

One of the teachers’ key special competences is phonological competence is the ability to recognize and produce the distinctive meaningful sounds of a language and linguistic means, including: consonants, vowels, tone patterns, intonation patterns, rhythm patterns, stress patterns any other suprasegmental features that carry meaning (A suprasegmental is a vocal effect that extends over more than one sound segment in an utterance, such as pitch, stress, or juncture pattern). Related to phonological competence is orthographic competence, or the ability to decipher and write the writing system of a language [4].

Generally educational competence is an ability to make use of rational ways of intellectual work and to make independent progress in the chosen area of study [5].

Subject competence is a totality of knowledge, experience, skills which are formed during the process of studying a subject. Subject competence, acquired during the process of studying a language as an educational subject and characterizing a certain level of language, includes the following types of competence – linguistic, speech, communicative competence, etc [6, 218].

Professional competence is an ability of a teacher for successful professional activity. It includes knowledge of didactics, psychology, linguistics, psycholinguistics, theory and methods of teaching foreign languages and other sciences which are important for a successful and effective activity of a teacher, possession of professional skills (constructive, organizational, communicative) and skills in organizing students’ activity and in the management of this activity.

Professional competence is one of the main goals of training in any Teacher training University [7, 238]. And this competence includes:

• linguistic competence,
• speech and communicative competence,
• methodological competence is an ability to use the foreign language with a view to achieving professional purposes as well as an ability to teach the

Lexical competence is the ability to recognize and use words in a language in the way that speakers of the language use them. Lexical competence includes understanding the different relationships among families of words and the common collocations of words [8, 252].

Speech competence (is a part of communicative competence) is a command of the methods of forming and formulating thoughts using the foreign language, and an ability to use these methods in the process of speech perception and speech production [8, 254].

Discourse competence is used to refer to two related, but distinct abilities. Textual discourse competence refers to the ability to understand and construct monologues or written texts of different genres, such as narratives, procedural texts, expository texts, persuasive (hortatory) texts, descriptions and others. These discourse genres have different characteristics, but in each genre there are some elements that help make the text coherent and other elements which are used to make important points distinctive or prominent [9].

Learning a language involves learning how to relate these different types of discourse in such a way that hearers or readers can understand what is going on and see what is important. Likewise it involves being able to relate information in a way that is coherent to the readers and hearers.

Functional competence refers to the ability to accomplish communication purposes in a language. There are a number of different kinds of purposes for which people commonly use language [9, 105].

The pragmatic aspects of communicative competence are those that have to do with how language is used in communication situations to achieve the speaker's purposes [10,145].

Cultural competence is a totality of knowledge about the country of the foreign language. Such knowledge provides the learner with a certain level of skills and experience in using national-cultural component of the language, speech etiquette and non-verbal means of communication. Cultural competence is the ability to understand behavior from the standpoint of the members of a culture and and to behave in a way that would be understood by the members of the culture in the intended way. Cultural competence therefore involves understanding all aspects of a culture, but particularly the social structure, the values and beliefs of the people, and the way things are assumed to be done [10, 148].

Linguo-Cultural Competence is knowledge of national customs, traditions, features of the country of in question; an ability to extract culturally relevant information from units of the language and an ability to use this information to achieve effective communication [10, 149].

Strategic Competence (compensatory competence) is an ability to fill gaps in the knowledge of the language, speech and social experience during the process of communication in foreign language [10, 64].

Social Competence is an ability to have communicated successfully with other people. A wish for entering communication is explained by the presence of need, motives, a definite attitude toward the future partners of communication and personal experience. An ability to enter communication requires an ability to behave adequately in a social situation and to manage it [11, 73].

Socio Cultural Competence means familiarity of students with national cultural specific features of linguistic behavior and an ability to use those components of socio cultural context. That are relevant for production and perception of speech from native speakers’ point of view: customs, rules, norms, social conventions, rituals, social stereotypes, knowledge of regional geography etc [12].

Sociolinguistic competence is the ability to interpret the social meaning of the choice of linguistic varieties and to use language with the appropriate social meaning for the communication situation [13].

Interactional competence involves knowing and using the mostly-unwritten rules for interaction in various communication situations within a given speech community and culture. It includes, among other things, knowing how to initiate and manage conversations and negotiate meaning with other people. It also includes knowing what sorts of body language, eye contact, and proximity to other people are appropriate, and acting accordingly [14].

In conclusion, the problem of future professionals’ competences is very complicated and has multi-lateral aspect. It is considered under the subjects as: philosophy, pedagogics, psychology, social sciences and many other social arts sciences. Every subject has its own approaches to the study of competence. In our turn, we consider the term ‘competence’ as the formation of future foreign language teachers’ professional skills. For this matter, it is necessary to get into theoretical bases of future teachers’ general knowledge and general special competences. In conclusion, investigation of future teachers’ competence is very urgent nowadays at our universities. Training the future teachers’ competence needs complex programs which takes into account all the aspects of the future professional. In our article, we paid attention and classified all the necessary special competences of future foreign language teachers. Each type of special competences need to be analyzed thoroughly, it will be the next topics of our further analysis.

1. Berkimbayev K.M., Kerimbaeva B.T. Key competences of a teacher of English language/ http://www.rusnauka.com/7_NMIW_2011/Pedagogica/2_81189.doc.htm
2. Hymes D. On communicative competence. In: B.Pride and J.Holmes.Sociolinguistics-Middlesex:Penguin Books LTD, 1972.-67
3. Canale, and Swain, M. (1980). Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second language teaching and testing. Applied Linguistics 1, 1-47.
4. Canale, M.Swain.From communicative competence to communicative language pedagogy. Language and Communication. London: Longman, 1983. 122 p.
5. Brown , Malmkjaer K., Williams J.Performance and competence in Second Language Acquisition.Cambridge University Press, 1996. – 25-34 p
6. Brumfit Communicative Methodology in Language Teaching – Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1984 – 88 p.