Authors

In the era of glocalization, the effectiveness of university teachers’ research activities largely depends on their translation competences and capabilities required for undertaking research and presenting research findings in intercultural scientific settings. The paper highlights the fact that a modern university teacher (who is not a professional translator) is much involved in translation/interpretation activities as an amateur translator who uses translation for his research purposes and, thus, needs an appropriate level of translation education. The author suggests that the notion of “translation education of a university teacher-researcher” (as an amateur translator and mediator) should be conceptualized on the basis of a linguo-didactic consideration and interpretation of the EU’s four level competency-based profiles of the researcher depending on his status rank, the presence / absence of an academic degree and professional research responsibilities. The paper describes the linguo-didactic technology of developing translation and mediation indicators for evaluating the university teacher’s abilities and capacities to achieve a communication and research success in the glocalized multilingual & multicultural context of “Open Science. Open innovations. Open to the world”.

The article explores the existing linguo-didactic terms “phonetic competence”, “phonological competence”, “phonetic-phonological competence” in Russian scientific literature and defines the phenomenon within this work. The authors draw a line between phonological competence development in university students of linguistic and non-linguistic majors, as well as between productive and receptive phonological skills development considering the status of English as a lingua franca. The article reviews the main parameters of phonological competence assessment outlined in academic literature – intelligibility, comprehensibility and accentedness – in diachrony in order to define their relationship and suggest their translations for using in the Russian academic literature.

This paper critically reflects on the perspectives of developing value- oriented communicative education through co-learned languages and cultures which is designed with the view to the sociocultural context of human existence in a postglobal world burdened with geopolitical confrontation, political and economic conflicts, proxy wars, endless fake information attacks on the individual’s world vision. It gives an insight into the transdisciplinary basis for implementing an axiological approach to value-oriented language-and culture education as an outcome of the author’s transdisciplinary analysis of the Humanities researches and didactic reading of some draft documents related to Russia’s policy on preserving its traditional spiritual and moral values in modern society. It also discusses the purposes of introducing problem-oriented educational environment that may give Russian students an opportunity to master university disciplines in an innovative way in the classroom, and outside the university classroom, to be much involved into public speaking activities on critical issues of modern life and its values, as well as into research cooperation and science promotion in innovative areas of scientific knowledge. The reader’s attention is also drawn to some ways of creating a value-oriented and culture-bound research environment that helps to develop students’ competences needed to be able to act as a promoter of the dialogue of cultures and civilizations in their professional life, able to preserve cultural heritage and counteract modern cultural vandalism, cultural imperialism and cancel culture whenever she or he comes across it.

Although by now the need to create a problem-oriented educational environment in higher education when mastering academic disciplines (including FL as a university subject) has already been proven both theoretically and experimentally, nevertheless, the Linguodidactic analysis of 100 syllabuses in a foreign language as an academic discipline and 100 FL course-books (written by Russian university teachers & published in 2019–2023) shows the lack of orientation among most of their authors towards its creation due to their lack of awareness of the linguodidactic foundations of modeling a problem-oriented educational environment in a university educational context, integrating communicative-approach, problembased approach and sociocultural approach in teaching & learning a foreign language as a tool of intercultural communication. The article briefly summarizes the results of scientific understanding of the problem-based approach in education, its general and specific features with the view to the linguodidactic interpretation of the concepts of “problem-based learning”, “problem-based teaching”, “problem-based mastering of the discipline” in relation to teaching a foreign language the learner and his/her socialization by means of a foreign language, gives a description of a system of interconnected cultural and linguocultural problem-solving tasks and assignments, problem-oriented types of learners’ monolingual and bilingual activities, creative types of university students’ verbal activities in co-learning languages, including recommendations for the methodological design of cultural problem-solving tasks, with which the teacher starts forming a problem-oriented educational environment in the FL classroom and outside it.

We discuss theoretical issues connected with methodological construction of problem-solving tasks for development of polycode competence in the system of language tertiary education. As one of the salient genres of polycode texts we take British and American political cartoon and the process of its interpretation. Yet another object of discussion is formed by particular difficulties when we try to include this format into text analysis. It gives us grounds to single out key features of polycode texts, which make them different from traditional text format. Here we include lack of precise genre typology, combination of various semiotic codes, lacunas presence, clip character, specific nature of intertextual chains. We single out several stages in the process of polycode competence formation and development. In particular, problem-solving tasks aimed at identification and primary decoding of certain elements typical for any polycode text; problem-solving tasks aimed at interpretation of verbal and visual components; carrying out group project/group projects of scientific educational or scientific research, of cultural and discourse character; participation in culturally-oriented discussions; assessment of the level of student’s polycode competence formation when interpreting a certain genre of polycode text. In this article, we focus upon possible problem-solving tasks of the first two stages. As one of possible solutions, we suggest conceptual cognitive metaphor modelling and oppositions. The oppositions in this case are built on basic sociocultural values while metaphor modelling includes structural, orientational and ontological concepts, which can be further found out in various types of polycode texts. As possible advantages of this approach, we consider it giving ground for interdisciplinary connections in the course of professional foreign language training. It also enables to widen the scope of questions and topics discussed with students as well as introduce certain linguocultural and sociocultural phenomena. All this assists in building professional competence of a would-be specialist as far as foreign media and multimodal environment is concerned, including its destructive practices. We also describe results of the experimental work. As part of the experiment, we assessed student’s ability to recognise images, symbols, archetypes, linguocultural subjects and meanings, precedent phenomena, continuity of forms and structures, conceptual metaphors and models, conceptual oppositions, basic and transferred meanings, connotations.

This paper gives an insight into the major outcomes of the 2019–2023 MSU research project on investigating mediation as a language-and-culture bound communicative mode and as a new objective of modern tertiary language education in Russia. Mediation skills are thought to be of primary importance for the Russian academic elite’s intercultural communication in the world facing the war of values in which the academic elite is expected to act as a promoter of the dialogue of cultures and civilizations, able to preserve cultural heritage and counteract modern cultural vandalism, cultural imperialism and the policy of cancel culture whenever the latter happen to be in society. The paper starts with some introductory notes on the importance of the 21-st century terminology changes in language pedagogy because of a paradigmatic shift from traditional language skills as objectives of language education to 4 modes of communication (reception, production, interaction and mediation). It discusses the outcomes of the 2016–2021 international research projects on updating CEFR descriptors and on sharing pedagogical experiences in teaching and evaluating mediation skills. The author finds it necessary to rethink these research outcomes with a focus on the needs, objectives and training content of mediation education for different types of learners or trainees (MD / PhD students, PhD researchers of different ranks) and offers a linguodidactic vision of establishing a framework for a) teaching master’s degree students and PhD students to mediate a text & b) teaching university researchers/teachers to mediate concepts and to mediate communication. This conceptual framework is based on the 2018–2022 research results of several studies carried out to identify MD and PhD students’ needs to act as mediators in international academic settings, the needs, readiness and abilities of Humanities scholars to act as pluricultural mediators while participating in international scientific & educational communication.