The pedagogy of surprise as a leading concept for the development of the ESP textbook for transport university students

The subject of this study is the process of teaching English to students majoring in engineering at a transport university. The object of the research is the pedagogy of surprise as a concept for the textbook development. The authors consider the possibilities of the pedagogy of surprise, determine its content for teaching English to students in detail. Special attention is paid to developing tasks based on the sources of surprise: facts, methods, environment and student's own achievements. The surprise by the fact lies in the peculiarities of terminology and interesting facts of professional foreign culture. The methods includes a computer format for the tasks, the paradox of the educational situation. The environment is supported by the visual aids and the dialogic nature of the learning process. Surprise by one's own achievements is possible when students perform tasks using logical thinking and work at the limit of intellectual capabilities. The research was carried out at the Department of Foreign Language of the Russian University of Transport (MIIT) as part of the work on the Monolanguage project. As a result, a textbook, based on the ideas of the pedagogy of surprise, has been developed for teaching English to students of the Institute of Transport Technology and Control Systems. The theoretical significance lies in substantiating the possibility of using the pedagogy of surprise in English language classes at a university, determining the basic elements of the course to ensure continuity between the English language courses for general purposes and specific ones. The practical significance lies in the possibility of using the developed educational materials in practical pedagogical activities. The following conclusions were drawn. Pedagogy of surprise contradict neither the professionally oriented nor content and language integrated learning, serves developing the emotional sphere of students. The article outlines the directions for further research.

foreign language, transport university, English for Specific Purposes, pedagogy of surprise, source of surprise, foreign language communication, working programme, digitalization of railways, motivation, paradox