Foreign Language Specialists Share Insights from Teaching and Research Experience

On November 29–30, HSE University hosted the Third International Online Conference 'Languages, Education, Development' (HSE LED Conference). The conference was attended by more than a thousand participants, including researchers and teachers, methodologists, language education experts, administrators, and business representatives. They discussed the challenges of teaching and learning languages in today's world and presented their research findings.

The conference was organised by the School of Foreign Languages, a major HSE University subdivision that conducts research, offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral programmes, defines the overarching strategy for teaching foreign languages at the university, and facilitates the development and implementation of the foreign language teaching system across all HSE University campuses.

Ekaterina Kolesnikova

'At the conference, we look forward to sharing the results of the school's endeavours in research, education, and international projects. We welcome presentations from our colleagues at partner universities with great enthusiasm. The number of participants attending our conference has been steadily increasing each year, which is truly inspiring. In addition to its undeniable academic significance, the conference serves as a platform for fostering networking, establishing new contacts, and strengthening bonds within the professional community,' said Ekaterina Kolesnikova, Head of the School of Foreign Languages, in her welcoming address.

The conference participants represented educational organisations such as MGIMO University, RUDN University, MIPT, Herzen University, RANEPA, MGSU, Pushkin State Russian Language Institute, the Institutes for the Development of Education of the Republic of Tatarstan and the Kirov Region, Yaroslavl Higher Military School of Air Defence, and many others. The conference was also attended by colleagues from other countries. Prosveshcheniye Publishers was the key partner of the event.

Representatives of the HSE School of Foreign Languages, Pacific National University (PNU), Naberezhnye Chelny State Pedagogical University, and the Polytechnic School of Federal University of Rio de Janeiro made presentations during the plenary session.

Olga Egorova, Acting Director of the PNU Institute of Linguistics and Intercultural Communication in Khabarovsk, discussed the recent changes in language policy that have influenced foreign language education at her university.

'Now we can confidently assert that there has not only been a turn towards the East, but also an activation of the Eastern dimension in education,' said Egorova. 'In our case, this has manifested in the trend for our students to prioritise Chinese by selecting it as either their second or primary foreign language. Furthermore, the weakening position of the English language becomes even more apparent when analysing the preferences of prospective students in selecting European languages for their studies.'

Egorova further explained that while a few years ago, English was the preferred option among European languages for students, today, prospective students more frequently opt to learn French alongside an Asian or African language—primarily Chinese, but also Korean or Japanese. This trend is attributed not only to the specific geographical location of Khabarovsk, with its proximity to the border with China, but also to recent geopolitical developments, the resurgence of ties with Africa, and the increasing number of prospective students from francophone African states.

A presentation by Gulnur Polkina, Dean of the Faculty of Philology at Naberezhnye Chelny State Pedagogical University, centred on using virtual mobility to aid students in developing intercultural communication skills.

She mentioned that her university had established all the necessary conditions for the implementation of virtual mobility programmes. In the framework of the federal programme 'Teacher of the Future Generation of Russia,' her university, alongside other pedagogical HEIs in the country, has been equipped with technology and set up a technology park for universal pedagogical competencies and a Quantorium pedagogical technology park. Additionally, as part of the federal project 'Human Resources for the Digital Economy,' Innopolis University provided continuing training to teachers on the integration of digital technology into the educational process.

© HSE University

One of the pedagogical university's virtual mobility initiatives has been a joint project with Kyzylorda University in Kazakhstan to build students' linguistic and cultural competencies. Furthermore, the university has established open education centres offering courses in Russian, along with Russian language learning centres in Algeria and Turkmenistan. 'The existing political constraints have prompted an expansion of international projects through new collaborations with universities in Central Asia and Africa,' Polkina concluded.

Linguatest, a testing system for certification in foreign languages, was mentioned at numerous sessions throughout the conference. Speaking at the plenary session, Ekaterina Kolesnikova referred to Linguatest as an innovation that originated at the HSE School of Foreign Languages and has been implemented jointly with Russia's National Accreditation Agency for Education and Prosveshchenie Publishers. She described the system as a tool for identifying talent. 'We have developed our own system, including educational and methodological components, textbooks, and other materials, along with tools for assessing readiness for academic and business communication in a foreign language. English is merely the initial language we have incorporated so far,' she emphasised.

Presentations made during conference sessions spanned a diverse range of subjects, including artificial intelligence tools for teachers, intercultural communication with its contexts, trends, and prospects, challenges and solutions in the professional development of foreign language teachers, the pedagogical and educational potential of foreign-language digital communication on social networks, preparation for the Unified State Exam in English, and more.

One of the conference highlights was an expert interview with the HSE Vice Rector Sergey Roshchin, in which he elaborated on challenges and prospects of higher education and specifically on HSE University's experience. He addressed the relationship between universities and employers, discussed the advantages of microdegrees, explored the use of artificial intelligence in the educational process, and presented the findings from a recent study on the career trajectories of university graduates with honours degrees. These graduates seem to secure higher-paid jobs, marking the first time this finding has been supported by empirical evidence.