Sustainable Development Goals and Educational Standards in

Forming of Communication Competence in RFL Training

Nina G. Keleberda

and Evgeniya V. Kazanskaya

Rostov Law Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, Rostov-on-Don, Russia

Rostov State University of Economics (RINH), Rostov-on-Don, Russia

Keywords: State Educational Standard, Education, Russian as a Foreign Language, Communicative Competence,

Digitalization.

Abstract: The article considers a number of issues of particular importance for understanding the trajectory of the

development of the influence of digital technologies on the formation of communicative competence in

training in the Russian language as a foreign language. The aim of the study was to study the process of

transforming the content and structure of communicative competence in state educational standards in the

conditions of digitalization of the modern education system. The study showed that the structure and content

of communicative competence has undergone significant changes. It was revealed that there is a gap between

the structure and content of communicative competence presented in the Standards 3 + + for specialty

40.05.01 level specialty and their interpretation according to GOST in the Russian language as a foreign

language, since in this specialty the implementation of communicative competence requires the possession of

modern digital technologies.

1 INTRODUCTION

The conceptual study of the influence of digital

technologies on training in the Russian language as a

foreign language began relatively recently: several

years ago and, above all, in foreign scientific and

methodological literature. In Russia, the

digitalization of education and its scientific

understanding began after the approval of the Federal

Target Program "Digital Economy" in 2018.

Currently, two areas of study of the digitalization

of education have been identified. The first focuses

on the complete automation of routine forms of

pedagogical practice, which are likely to be replaced

by e-learning forms. In this case, digital education is

identified with remote technologies (Filatova, 2019),

with information and communication technologies

(Nikulina, Starichenko, 2018).

Researchers focus on the methodological aspects

of learning, on the problems of improving the quality

of teaching (Suchkov, 2020), on the search for

adequate approaches to learning in the context of

digitalization (Pankov E.V., 2020). At the same time,

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3846-6717

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6225-6277

researchers, in particular E.A. Butina, note that the

terminology itself in the field of "digital" pedagogy is

still undeveloped (Butina, 2019). The penetration of

IT technologies into educational activities takes place

in the narrow sphere of the digital sector and is still

unsystematic.

The second direction is the integration of new

technologies into education for the development of

niche specialties that combine knowledge of IT

technologies and specialized professional knowledge.

We have done a short review of foreign and Russian

educational programs in the field of digitalization of

Russian language teaching as a foreign language, in

particular programmes such as the "Russian and

Slavonic Studies" from the University of Nottingham

, School of the Russian language as a foreign "School

of Russian Language" in the Republic of Belarus ,

"RAF Project" from IPR MEDIA , Langteach-online

project , teaching Russian language teachers as a

foreign language to organize and use digital

technologies in the learning process. If we summarize

the overview of these programs, then, firstly, we can

conclude that the basic components of

220

Keleberda, N. and Kazanskaya, E.

Sustainable Development Goals and Educational Standards in Forming of Communication Competence in RFL Training.

DOI: 10.5220/0011117900003439

In Proceedings of the 2nd International Scientiﬁc and Practical Conference "COVID-19: Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals" (RTCOV 2021), pages 220-226

ISBN: 978-989-758-617-0

communicative competence in any specialty are

technological knowledge and skills; secondly, it can

be argued that the digital transformation of language

training begins with a change in the content and

structure of communicative competence.

In foreign scientific literature, communicative

competence is determined in various aspects, in

particular, L. Tarvin, under communicative

competence, understands "the ability to use language,

or communicate in an adequate cultural and

communicative way in order to understand and

effectively and fluently perform social tasks in

conditions of extended interaction" (Tarvin, 2015:2).

Gabriel Pallotti makes differences between

communicative competence and linguistic

competence. By communicative competence, Pallotti

means efficiency, that is, the ability to achieve the

goal of communication, and fluency, that is, the

ability to do this quickly and without much effort

(Pallotti, 2017).

In Russian scientific and pedagogical literature,

the concept of "communicative competence" was

considered from the point of view of the history of the

formation of definition. M.V. Sturikova defines

communicative competence as the ability to perceive

any statements and readiness to create his speech

works on the basis of formed knowledge of language

norms, skills and skills of their application, as well as

non-verbal language means, taking into account the

goals, attitudes and situation of communication.

Therefore, "the components (linguistic, discursive-

stylistic, rhetoric-pragmatic, etiquette-speech) are

among themselves in terms of consistent

complication and phased absorption by students"

(Sturikova, 2015).

One of the most pressing problems is questions

about the structure and content of communicative

education when transferring education to a distance

form, which from January 1, 2021 is enacted in the

Law. Therefore questions arise, firstly, about the

relationship between the structure of the Russian

Language discipline and the design of the

effectiveness of the results of teaching Russian as a

foreign language in e-learning mode; secondly,

methods of assessing the level of formation required

by the standard of communication competence of a

foreign student; thirdly, the unity of the

communicative and linguistic competencies of a

foreign student.

So, the goal of the study is to investigate the

process of transforming the content and structure of

communicative competence in state educational

standards and its impact on teaching the Russian

language as a foreign language in the conditions of

digitalization.

2 RESEARCH METHODS AND

MATERIALS

The following methods were used to achieve the goal:

methods of comparative, pragmatic and structural

analysis, as well as the descriptive method.

The three generations 3, 3 + and 3 + + of

Standards related to the language training of foreign

non-philologists were used as the study material: a

comparative analysis of the structure and content of

communicative competence given in the text of the

state educational standard on the Russian language as

a foreign second certification level (Standard B2) was

carried out, since its implementation gives the right to

conduct professional activities in Russian as a non-

philological specialist with definitions of

communicative competence in federal educational

standards of three generations.

In addition, the research material was the

programs of Russian and foreign courses, summer

schools in Russian as a foreign language for non-

philological students published in the public domain

on the Internet, such as mentioned above "Russian

and Slavonic Studies" from the University of

Nottingham, the school of Russian as a foreign

"School of Russian Language" in the Republic of

Belarus, "RKI Project".

3 RESULTS

In the course of the study, it was revealed that the

State Educational Standard for the Russian Language

as a Foreign Language, approved in 1998 by the

Presidium of the Council of the Educational and

Methodological Association of Universities of the

Russian Federation, remains in force in the teaching

of the Russian language as a foreign language until

now. Moreover, the specified Standard is not in the

standards, that is, it actually turns out to be optional

for execution.

The content and structure of the communicative

competence of the specified Second Level Standard

(B2) were analysed, since the scientific and

methodological literature describes the pedagogical

experience of forming communicative competence of

this level when teaching the Russian language as a

Sustainable Development Goals and Educational Standards in Forming of Communication Competence in RFL Training

221

foreign language in the field of higher education

abroad.

A comparative analysis of the content and

structure of communicative competence in the texts

of Standards of generation 3 + and 3 + + in legal

specialties and areas of training showed that the

structure and content of communicative competence

has undergone significant changes.

During the analysis, it was revealed that Standards

in Russian as a foreign language from 2001 correlates

with the Standard of generation 3 + + in the direction

of training 40.03.01 "Jurisprudence" undergraduate

level. However, there is a gap between the structure

and content of communicative competence as it is

presented in the Standard 3 + + for the specialty

40.05.01 "Legal provision of national security" level

of specialty, and the interpretation of communicative

competence according to the Standard in Russian as a

foreign language of 1998, since in this specialty the

implementation of communicative competence

requires the possession of modern digital

technologies.

Therefore, when entering the Faculty of Law at

the "speciality" level, the preliminary formation of

modern communication and technological

knowledge, skills and skills among students is

fundamental. Further education involves training in

the use of modern communication technologies.

For the purposes of scientific research, we

formulated a preliminary definition of "modern

communicative technologies".

4 DISCUSSION

The process of digital transformation of the value

content and structure of communicative competence

in state educational standards inevitably influences

the teaching of the Russian language both at the pre-

university stage and as part of the educational process

at a higher educational institution.

Hypothesis 1. The informative and structural

transformation of the communicative competence of

the Standard 3 + and 3 + + generations, due to the

transition to digital learning technologies, indicates a

change in the content, in particular, of legal

education, which corresponds to the universal world

trends in education in general.

Hypothesis 2. The state educational standard in

the Russian language as a foreign language

correlates/does not correlate with the requirements

made by the Standard 3 + + to the level of formation

of communicative competence in undergraduate and

specialty in legal specialties.

The main topic of the study receives an exhaustive

justification from the point of view of linguistic

philosophy, since teaching the Russian language as a

foreign language is based on the search for ways and

opportunities for dialogue and mutual understanding

between deeply different, often undivided cultural

and historical entities and the ideas and realities

operating in them.

N. Chomsky (Chomsky N., 1972), using the term

"linguistic competence," combined in this term the

knowledge of the speaker-listener of the language, as

well as the representation as the actual

communicative component, that is, the actualization

of the language in a specific situation. However, D.

Hymes (Hymes D., 1972) believed that there is a

significant omission in Chomsky's definition: there is

no socio-cultural component implemented in

communication as an interpretation of cultural

behaviour. In the structure of communicative

competence, D. Hymes identified four components:

1. Language capabilities: the availability of

appropriate language tools and tools to achieve the

purpose of the communication.

2. Implementability: the complexity of a

grammatically correct message may be the reason for

its inadequate interpretation by communicants.

3. Appropriateness: speaking authentically to

expectations of interaction in a cultural context.

4. Event: actually, an act of utterance.

The first component of communication through

the introduction of digital technologies using online

learning formats requires a new interpretation of the

capabilities of the language to achieve message goals.

An analysis of scientific and methodological

literature on the problems of online learning showed

that the main problem is not so much the choice of

one or another teaching tool, but the problem of the

quality of student training. This is especially

important when teaching Russian as a foreign

language, since the toolkit has long existed, and

various online courses offer their services in this

direction. However, such courses do not set

themselves the goal of preparing a foreign applicant

for training according to Russian educational

standards of generation 3 + +. Studies of methods and

techniques for virtual teaching of foreign languages,

including Russian as a foreign language, have shown

that the capabilities of the language must be

supplemented by knowledge of digital technologies,

as well as the ability to quickly place information in a

virtual environment.

The second component - implementability - is the

main reason for the difficulties for foreign students

studying Russian law, since the specifics of the legal

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language are manifested in the formalization of

logical, causal relations and in the wide variety of

means of formalizing these connections in practical

argumentation. Researchers (Petrova I.L., 2006;

Emeline O., 2011) note the complexity of translating

a legal text.

For example, it is difficult to understand the

syntactic construction with the subject and the

spoken, expressed nouns, as well as homogeneous

and heterogeneous minor terms, with the involved

turnover in the real and suffering pledge within one

simple sentence: "Therefore, the essence of law is the

general will due to the material and socio-cultural

conditions of the life of society, the nature of the

class, social groups of the population, individual

individuals as a result of coordination, a combination

of private or specific interests, expressed in law or

otherwise, recognized by the state and therefore

acting as a general scale, measure of the behaviour

and activity of people" (Kuznetsov O.Y., 2006).

The third and fourth components are oriented

towards reaching agreement and, in the words of Yu.

Habermas, constitute the communicative action itself.

The success of communication action consists of

more or less stable cooperation, in which participants

can coordinate their plans of action, avoiding

conflicts and risks to interrupt the interaction. The

degree of cooperation depends on the level of

communication competence, the ability of actors to

agree on their own plans of action and pursue their

own goals only if they agree on the specific situation

and the expected consequences. Consent cannot be

imposed on the other party, consent cannot be

imposed on the interlocutor by manipulation.

Consent is based on common beliefs, so a

language student finds himself in a privileged

position, while for foreign students who are speakers

of different traditions, reaching agreement in

everyday academic communicative practice is

complicated by a small amount of

prepositional/background knowledge, which requires

them to work hard to reach agreement. A foreign

student has limited ability to interpret the context due

to the small amount of general background

knowledge that forms a social community

(community) (Habermas Yu., 2007:242).

If we specify this situation in relation to the

formation of communicative competence among

foreign students receiving legal education, then

according to the theory of a level approach, the

structure of communicative competence of a lawyer

initially differs from the structure of the same

competence for other non-linguistic specialties. This

difference is due to specific laws of legal thinking.

For example, language norms in legal texts differ

from the ways in which legal arguments are

expressed, combining linguistic means of law-

making and law enforcement practice with various

stylistic options for constructing statements,

including dialect, argotic and others. In the context of

the application of the distance learning format, at least

partially, the socio-cultural context is replaced by a

virtual one.

We compare the wording of communicative

competence, as it is contained in the Standards of

generation 3 + and 3 + +, using the example of the

training direction 40.03.01 - Jurisprudence,

undergraduate level.

Table 1: Communicative competence in the Standards of

generation 3 + and 3 + +.

the Standard (3+) the Standard(3++)

Ability to

communicate orally and

in writing in Russian

and foreign languages to

solve problems of

interpersonal and

intercultural interaction

(

-4

)

Ability to carry out

business communication

in oral and written forms

in the state language of

the Russian Federation

and in the foreign

language (s) OK-4.

As we can see from Table 1, the general cultural

competence (OK-4) of the Generation 3 + Standard

interpreted the term "communication" as

communication in Russian and foreign languages to

achieve interpersonal and intercultural harmony, and

not for professional interaction. In this case, the study

of the Russian language by foreign students at the

undergraduate level fell under the concept of "foreign

language" and could be regulated by the requirements

for the level of proficiency in a foreign language. The

generation 3 + standard proceeded from the axiom

that the communicative competence is based on the

language component.

The 3 + + Standard of the undergraduate level has

complicated the structure of communicative

competence, emphasizing its stylistic component.

Consequently, higher requirements are placed on the

quality of pre-university language training of

foreigners, since, after completing the first year of

undergraduate studies, a foreign student is obliged to

speak Russian at a level sufficient to distinguish

language elements of different styles and select those

that relate to business style. But, despite the

transformation, this interpretation coincides with the

requirements of the Standard for the Russian

language as a foreign level B2.

In the Generation 3 + + Standard, general cultural

competence is OK-4 replaced by universal OK-4 for

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both undergraduate and specialty. The universal

nature of communication will mean the development

of creativity of thinking, imagination, which goes

beyond the rational control of the individual. But this

is a topic for a separate conversation.

We compare the content of communicative

competence in the Standard 3 + + undergraduate,

specialty and Standard on Russian as a foreign year

1998.

Table 2: Communicative competence in the Standard 3 + +

and Standard on Russian as a foreign language of 1998.

Standard (3 + +)

training directions

40.03.01 -

Jurisprudence

level bachelor

ree

Standard (3 +

+) For specialty

40.05.01

National

security law

enforcement

Standard in

Russian as a

foreign

language.

Level of B2.

OK-4. Able to

carry out business

communication in

oral and written

form in the state

language of the

Russian Federation

and foreign

language (s)

OK-4. Able

to use modern

communication

technologies,

including in

foreign

language (s), for

academic and

professional

interaction

When solving

communicative

problems within

the framework of

this level, the

foreigner should

be able to

verbally

implement not

only simple, but

also complex

intents, as well as

blocks of speech

intents that model

the actual

As can be seen from Table 2 at the level of B2

training in the Russian language as a foreign

language, the task is to form a skill in modelling a

communicative process based on blocks of speech

intents. At the same time, the content of the same

communicative competence OK-4 in Standards 3 + +

for undergraduate and specialty fundamentally

different in content and structure. For a bachelor's

degree, proficiency in style standards is necessary; for

a specialist, the most important component of

knowledge, skills and skills is the ability to use

Russian-language digital technologies for academic

interaction.

At the specialist level, communication in the

Standard 3 + + is understood in at least two ways. The

first and most common is the interpretation of

communication technologies in the sense of

programs, content and electronic means of

communication, with the help of which distance

learning (e-Learning) is carried out. The format of

distance education, enshrined by Law from January

1, 2021, according to researchers, can be

implemented in three options: fully online training

using computer multimedia programs, combined

online and offline training, which focuses on the

student's independent work, and contact training with

web support. Currently, for teaching Russian as a

foreign language in the academic community, it is

customary to consider as the most effective contact

training with web support. In particular, Bikmaeva

L.U. believes that "Using a video engine through the

demonstration of video highlights on a large screen

through a multimedia projector develops visual and

auditory memory, imagination, thinking; contributes

to the observation of the features of oral speech,

gestures, facial expressions; largely solves the

problem of interest "(Bikmaeva, 2018).

A comparative analysis of Russian and foreign

scientific and methodological literature showed that

there are serious differences in the content, methods

and methods of teaching foreign languages in the E-

learning or online learning format in Russia and

abroad. This means that a foreign student must at least

own Russian-language versions of electronic

educational platforms in order to acquire specific

professional knowledge.

The second approach is due to the

interdisciplinary and, more broadly, intercultural

nature of communication as such, that is, the ability

to conduct dialogue. Teaching language is impossible

outside the sociocultural context. The language is

understood as "a social semiotic construction" (Faten

Baroudi, 2017). With this approach, the most

important component of teaching a foreign language,

including Russian as a foreign language, are cultural

patterns, such as aesthetic, realized in art, or

anthropological, implemented in folklore or, say, in

the traditions of national cuisine and so on - all these

symbols of everyday culture are inherent in the

language and inevitably mean the transmission of

cultural patterns through the teaching of a foreign

language and vice versa. It is the sociocultural context

that gives the language its proper importance and

ensures mutual understanding in the dialogue.

In the context of our theme, digitalization of

education involves transcending traditional scientific

fields and integrating various areas of human

knowledge into learning. Moreover, due to crossing

the boundaries of traditional disciplines,

digitalization has epistemological restrictions. This

means that participants in the educational process can

be radically different, do not have an agreed goal or

consensus, and, therefore, the teacher of the Russian

language as a foreign language cannot reduce the

methods and methods of teaching to general rules or

logic. In this context, the formation of communicative

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competence as an ability to conduct dialogue is

fundamental. The dialogue has a completely

pragmatic meaning, described by M. Bakhtin

(Bakhtin, 1994). Being interactive in nature, dialogue

becomes a universal means of learning.

Based on the above, we have proposed a third

approach in interpreting the content of the term "use

of modern communication technologies."

Communication technologies, on the one hand,

should be understood not only the ownership of

digital technologies in the form of electronic

programs, but also the speed of information

exchange, the ability to find, analyse big data,

generate new information and place it in a virtual

space, that is, "virtualize" (Kondakov, 2018).

Thus, communicative competence within the

framework of mastering the Russian language as a

foreign 3 + + generation can be understood as a

complex of abilities necessary for effective and

adequate interaction in a radically different virtual

linguistic and sociocultural environment. The

communication competence of generation 3 + for

foreign students in legal specialties should be

interpreted as "the ability to update in Russian the

necessary information from the legal information

bank, generate new information and place it publicly

in a virtual environment." This definition is

preliminary and to be discussed.

5 CONCLUSIONS

Summing up, we note that this study can contribute to

the development of public international discussions

on approaches to understanding and forming the

structure and content of communicative competence

in the context of teaching the Russian language as a

foreign language in the latest conditions of

digitalization of higher legal education. In this article,

the issues raised remain open, for example, the

question of formal academic and informal study of

the Russian language as a foreign language in the

international educational space (in various courses, in

private/commercial language schools, etc.), analysis

of the digitalization processes of both teaching and

teaching the Russian language as a foreign language.

Further research is needed to develop a common

understanding and interpretation of approaches and

methods for the formation of communicative

competence in the framework of teaching the Russian

language as a foreign language.

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