No 2 (2016)

One of the problems any researcher of “learning and research activity” phenomenon faces is the selection or creation of the diagnostic tools for the assessment of achieving its goals by the students. As the range of the goals for the achievement of which it is possible to apply the learning and research activity as the form of training activity is very wide, the application of the tools existing in pedagogical literature is extremely difficult. The aim of this paper is the development of diagnostic tools for the achievement of goals of the learning and research activity of the students. The procedure of classification of possible goals of learning and research activity in the educational institution of higher education became the basis for the diagnostic tools development. In the result of the analysis of several Federal State Standards of Higher Vocational Education for the programs “Legal coverage of national safety”, “Administrative support” and of Secondary Vocational Education with the specialization in “Technology of milk and milk products”, “Economics and accounting”, the author determined three groups of goals: the strategic – the final application objectives within the frames of the whole educational process, the operative – the application objectives within the frames of teaching single academic discipline, and the tactical – the application objectives within the frames of a specified activity. On this basis, the author determined the criteria and the indices of their assessment: personal, characterizing the achievement of strategic objectives of the learning and research activity and reflecting in its indices the content of “general culture competencies”; functional, characterizing the achievement of tactical objectives of the learning and research activity and reflecting in its indices the subject purpose within the learning and research activity; and operational, characterizing the achievement of operative objectives of the learning and research activity and reflecting in its indices the content of special requirements necessary for research activity, and developed necessary tools – the expert’s checklist, the questionnaire for students. The reliability and validity of these tools are proved during the pilot study carried out on the base of Volsk Military Institute of Material Support.

This paper considers the results of the experimental proof of the efficiency of formation of translator’s professional competence within the “Automotive industry” subject area by the students-linguists on the thesaurus basis. The author describes the pattern of formation of future linguists’ translator’s professional competence that includes: a) teaching French-Russian automotive thesaurus; b) study guides on technical translation from French language into Russian; c) work program of practical course on technical translation from French language and the translator’s professional competence itself that is considered as the spectrum of general cultural and key professional competences, which include, firstly, the block of communicative competence with its components: linguistic, discursive and socio-cultural competences, and secondly, the block of translator’s competences, which includes the text-formative, technical and information-technology competence. The paper gives the statistical results of the experimental proof of the effectiveness of thesaurus approach application while forming the translator’s professional competence by future linguists within the automotive industry subject area and presents data of three-year pedagogical experiment, in which the students-future translators took part. The results of two selected subsets are considered: the first is the experimental one consisting of three subgroups of students (30 people) and the second is the control one, also consisting of three subgroups (30 people). Special attention is paid to the control of the process of formation of the translator’s professional competence that was carried out on the basis of specially developed pedagogical experiment course. The author determined the level of formedness of the translator’s professional competence of the students-linguists initially at the ascertaining stage (first control assessment), then at the forming, or finishing stage (second control assessment). The assessment was carried out in two stages taking into account ten parameters: pre-translational analysis was assessed in oral form according to five parameters, and the translation itself was assessed in written form according to five parameters as well. At the final stage of the experimental study, the control assessment in the form of the final examination (written translation) was carried out. The experimental results showed the definite effectiveness of implementation of developed thesaurus technology.

Language acquisition as the communication tool is the main condition for coherent speech development of a preschooler. Communication in the preschool age has the immediate nature. Oral speech includes many possibilities for the formation of coherent speech consisting not of the separate, irrelevant sentences but presenting the coherent statement: story, announcement, description. The ability to create various types of texts is one of the requirements specified by the state educational standards of preschool education to the level of preschoolers’ speech development as the interaction of language and thinking takes place just on the level of text that is the actual oral communication unit.

The authors analyzed the problem of speech development of preschool age children and the development of the coherent descriptive statement of early preschool age children in particular. The authors revealed the content of the notions of “text”, “description”, “coherent statement”, and “coherent descriptive speech” from the perspective of linguistic and psychological approaches, pointed out the text functional and ontological features that determine it as the result of speech-creative process, as well as the text verbal, syntactic, and semantic parameters from the point of view of an object and a subject of oral communication. The paper presents the characteristics of description as one of the forms of coherent monolog and analyzes the existing in the literature approaches to the development of the coherent descriptive statement of preschoolers of different age groups. The authors specified the content of work with children when teaching them description based on the linguistic characteristics of descriptive text distinguishing the preparatory, the principal and the final stages of work and suggested the methodology of teaching description for early preschool children and the methods of work at each stage.

The paper presents the theoretical and experimental study of interdisciplinary links application in teaching engineering disciplines. In order a student will understand the terminology within the active engineering task, the authors described the interrelation of this term understanding in other nontechnical disciplines. The links with other disciplines are built on the example of one engineering discipline. It allowed solving the engineering task by means of several methods using different disciplines. The authors determined the advantages and disadvantages of these methods as well as presented the recommendations on their application in engineering task solving. To follow up the theoretical study, the authors gave trial classes for the group of five-year students. Experimental study of interdisciplinary links application in teaching engineering disciplines was carried out according to the elaborated lesson plan. The paper presents the lesson plan and the lesson progress. Throughout the lesson, the authors used the visualization (machine models, 3-D models) that intensify the students’ activity. The students reinforced the material learnt during the lesson using the video clip. At the end of the lesson, within the frame of the topic learned, the modern technology designs and its development prospects were presented. In the result, the authors worked out the recommendations on the interdisciplinary links application in teaching engineering disciplines. During this study, the authors determined that while teaching it is necessary to use complex approach, which takes into account the study of machines and processes as a whole, in the system of knowledge, and not separately.

Professional training should create the conditions for the disclosure of the student’s individuality opportunities. Self-actualization is regarded as one of the most important resources that should intensify in the training of students. Specific features of vocational training can take into account different components of self-actualization. An empirical study of self-actualization profiles of students in various educational programs has involved 50 student-athletes and 45 psychology students. It has been found that for the total sample of subjects the most developed parts are the following components: “knowledge about the human nature”, “capacity for spontaneity”, “creativity”, a high level of “self-esteem” and the fact that self-actualization does not depend on gender characteristics. Self-actualization profiles of psychology students and student-athletes have the similar pattern, and significant difference between the profile factors has not been identified. At the same time, it has been found that student-athletes have a higher factor of creativity, self-acceptance and independence in their actions. Psychology students, on the contrary, have more developed such factors as spontaneity, sensitivity, and self-esteem. The research has revealed a problematic area of psychology students’ self-actualization: high self-esteem and lack of self-acceptance can provoke emotional burnout and dissatisfaction with themselves and their profession. Based on these results, the author can conclude that the development of self-actualization as an integral characteristic requires the development of spontaneity, creativity, and temporal competence; it is important for psychology students to increase confidence factors to themselves and the world, greater flexibility in behavior; students-athletes should expand the boundaries of self-esteem. The instrument of the components of students’ self-actualization can become coping behavior. Reducing in the use of “escape-avoidance” coping and increase in “planning of the problem solution” and “creativity” will contribute to the development of self-esteem and reliance on their own values.

The paper covers the study of psychological aspects of the development of communicative tolerance of the students of the college of education. The author introduces the major approaches to the definition of tolerance and the meaning of this concept in Russian psychological science. The paper presents the generalized definition of communicative tolerance as the framework characteristic reflecting the level of personal tolerance for unpleasant and unacceptable mental states, qualities and actions of the interaction partners.

The author carried out the comparative analysis of tolerant and intolerant attitudes of the students – future representatives of socionomy and signomy types of professions. The organizational methods (comparative method in particular), psychognostic methods and methods of quantity-quality (statistical) data processing were used as the methods of study. In the result of psychological diagnostics, the author revealed that the students of the college of education participated in the study had the middle level of communicative tolerance, which can be expressed in the form of situational, professional and typological tolerant and intolerant attitudes. In the paper, it is statistically proved that the level of general communicative tolerance of the students – future representatives of signomy type of professions is averagely higher than that of the student – future representatives of socionomy type of professions. However, part of the students representing the signomy type of professions at the initial stages of learning demonstrates such intolerant communicative attitudes as self-righteousness and intolerance while evaluating other people that can hinder their professional interaction. Special attention should be focused on the “Social work” specialty students who demonstrated such intolerant communicative attitudes as the inability or unwillingness to understand or accept individual peculiarities of other people. The results of the study proved the importance of the diagnostics and development of communicative tolerance and certain intolerant attitudes of the students of the college of education for the improvement of their vocational training.

The paper studies such form of deviant behavior as addiction, names the authors who conducted pioneer research in formation of special scientific branch of knowledge – addictology, which deals with the study of addictions and addictive behaviour. A review of scientific literature on the investigated problem is presented. The authors interpret the factors as the causes, driving forces of any phenomenon. As psychological factors affecting the development of propensity for addictive behavior among university students, the types of personality (extraversion, neuroticism), types of accentuation of the character and personality traits are distinguished. An empirical study was organized and conducted, which revealed similarities and differences in the manifestation of the propensity for addictive behavior in young men and women, as well as connection between specific forms of addiction with the considered psychological factors. Factor analysis was used to clarify the content of the psychological factors of the structure. Description and analysis of the results are presented in this paper. Three psychological factors have been identified: emotional and volitional, interpersonal and communicative, and conative. Each of them corresponds to the specific component in the structure of propensity for addictive behaviour of university students, and carries out its functional role in the development of this tendency. The analysis of identified psychological factors shows the influence of specific variables of each factor on the manifestation of the university students' propensity for addictive behaviour. The psychological factor, a “trigger” for addictive implementation, is the interpersonal and communicative factor, then conative (as the specific behavior features of a person in the state of addictive implementation) and emotional-and-volitional – associated with obtaining and maintaining of intense emotions. Understanding of the psychological factors of structure makes it possible to influence and transform them, and thereby prevent the development of young people’s propensity for addictive behavior.

The timeliness of the topic of the study of personal subjective well-being in the process of adaptation to the foreign cultures is caused both by the intrascientific reasons involving deeper understanding of relations between the adaptation as the process and the personal satisfaction as the complex social and psychological phenomenon and the social and economic necessity of the increase in the number of foreign citizens subjectively satisfied with their education and living in Russia. The objective of the study is the comparative analysis of subjective well-being of Chinese students in the process of adaptation to the foreign culture in the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (Moscow). One hundred twenty Chinese students of matched by gender sample being at different stages of adaptation to foreign culture (less than one year – forty students; about three years – forty students; more than five years – forty students) participated in the study with the application of three methodologies of the inquiry type. The results of the comparative analysis show that the students of the first group demonstrate the lowest adaptedness at the absence of goals in life, low personal growth, submissiveness, negative evaluation of oneself and the environment. The students who are at the stage of adaptation for about three years demonstrate the instability of adaptedness, medium degree of self-acceptance, emotional discomfort, and the willingness to manage the environment at its low positive evaluation. The students who are at the stage of adaptation for more than five years demonstrate the largest adaptedness at high personal growth, self-acceptance and acceptance of other people, satisfaction with the everyday activity, the desire to manage the environment. The authors specified factor structures of test groups indicating the relations of adaptedness and inner control of three groups of test students; the relations of disadaptedness and escapism of the students with the adaptation of about three years. The revealed peculiarities can be taken into account when creating the programs of psychological support of adaptation of Chinese students in Russian internationally oriented university.