Development of foreign language communicative competence in the process of academic and professional interaction in a second foreign language

This paper examines the peculiarities of teaching German as a second foreign language in a railway university. The analysis emphasizes the inefficiency of traditional methods and the success of the bilingual approach, which consists in a harmonious combination of methodological principles of teaching the first and second foreign languages. The authors carry out a theoretical analysis of the fundamental principles of teaching a second foreign language: a comparative approach, the principle of reliance on the first foreign and native languages, an autonomous approach, a cognitive principle. The paper deals with the issues related to interference and transfer in teaching a second foreign language. Project methods (simulation, presentation speech, Lapbook-technology) tested by the author in the learning process are offered as learning technologies, the use of which facilitates effective mastering of foreign language skills and abilities. The syllabus of the course «A Second Foreign language» developed by teachers of the Rostov State Transport University in accordance with the new edition of the Federal State Educational Standard is analyzed. The conclusion is made that this syllabus satisfies the requirements put forward by methodologists to the process of teaching a second foreign language. The analysis of the organization of the educational process with the use of textbooks and a fund of assessment tools prepared for the course is expected to be the subject of our further research.