The role of podcasts for students’ communicative competence development in teaching a foreign language at a technical university

This study is devoted to a topic that is relevant today – students’ communicative competence development at a technical university through the use of digital resources in the process of teaching a foreign language. The relevance of the topic is due to the process of digitalization of the higher education system in modern society and the active introduction of information technologies into the educational process. The paper gives a definition of «communicative competence», considers different scientific approaches to this concept and its structure. In addition, an analysis of modern educational Internet resources aimed at developing students’ listening comprehension skills is given. Such a comprehensive analysis presented in the paper allows us to conclude about the practical significance of the study, since teachers can use it when teaching a foreign language at a higher education institution. Using the example of «the British Council» website, podcasting methods are considered as one of the most convenient and productive ways to develop the necessary skills – listening, speaking, reading and writing. The conducted research allows to draw a conclusion about the significant role of podcasts for students’ communicative competence development in teaching a foreign language at a technical university.