Cuba: TEFL off the Grid

The objective of this paper is to share the author’s points of view concerning the teaching and learning process of English as a foreign language in Cuba. The author does not claim to speak on behalf of the Cuban EFL teaching community, and the views expressed in this paper are the result of his personal practice only, and not necessarily those of the Cuban educational institutions. The writer wishes to thank all those who have contributed to his professional formation- whose list would be too long. The author remarks that all shortcomings, errors, and inaccuracies found in this paper are his fault only.

Development of Administration Professional Competences in Brazilian Public Universities: A Multicase Study in Florianópolis

The article aims to investigate how the development of competences applied to the professional formation of the egress administrator of public municipal higher education institutions in the Florianópolis region occurs under perspective of teachers and coordinators of the bachelor's degree in administration course. For this, a qualitative and documentary research was carried out, using a structured questionnaire applied to 20 people as a data collection instrument, including 2 course coordinators and 18 professors from the studied institutions who teach the subjects whose contents are related to professional formation from the administrator. The results show that the new national curriculum guidelines encourage the development of competences. In this context, despite the effort to comply with such devices, there is some misalignment between the teaching plans and the pedagogical project of the course. Difficulties in implementing formation based on competence and lack of institutional stimuli are also perceived.

SOME PSYCHOLOGICAL FEATURES OF YOUTH AGE

The author in his article examines the psychological characteristics of adolescence. Highlights the patterns of development of adolescence as the main period of professional self-determination, assimilation of the role of a specialist, entry into «adult» life, which lead to the successful professional formation of a future specialist.

VALUE ORIENTATIONS OF FUTURE LAWYERS IN THE PROCESS OF PROFESSIONAL FORMATION OF AN INDIVIDUAL

Проанализированы результаты эмпирического исследования ценностных ориентаций будущих юристов в процессе получения высшего образования. Рассмотрена динамика профессионального становления личности на разных этапах обучения. Использовался Ценностный опросник Шварца. Применение Н-критерия Краскела - Уоллиса позволило выявить значимые различия между исследуемыми группами. В ходе исследования были выявлены статистически значимые различия по шкале «Универсализм», что свидетельствует о том, что выбор респондентами профессии юриста не был случаен. При интерпретации различий полученных данных можно сделать вывод о том, что за близкими количественными показателями по первому и четвертому курсам скрывается разное содержание. Выявленные на уровне тенденции показатели по шкалам «Самостоятельность», «Стимуляция», «Безопасность» и «Власть» свидетельствуют о наличии психологических предпосылок для внутреннего напряжения между профессиональным долгом и стремлением к ценностям, включенным в эти шкалы, совокупный эффект от которого может оказаться весьма ощутимым. The results of an empirical research of the value orientations of future lawyers in the process of obtaining higher education are analyzed. The dynamics of the professional formation of a person at different stages of training is considered. The Schwartz Value Questionnaire was used. The application of the Kruskal-Wallis H-test revealed significant differences between the studied groups. The study revealed statistically significant differences on the «Universalism» scale, which indicates that the respondents' choice of the legal profession was not accidental. When interpreting the differences in the data obtained, it can be concluded that similar quantitative indicators for the first and fourth courses hide different content. The indicators identified at the trend level on the scales «Independence», «Stimulation», «Security» and «Power» indicate the presence of psychological prerequisites for internal tension between professional duty and the desire for values included in these scales, the cumulative effect of which can be very noticeable.

Features of a prospective teacher’s professional formation in the educational environment of a pedagogical university

The paper considers the concept of professional formation and its projection on the professional training and professional activity of the prospective teacher through the concepts of formation and development. As a result of the analysis of existing views on the phases, stages and periods of professional formation, the main ones were identified, which are due to the time frame - the period before choosing the institution where professional training will be carried out, the actual professional education and the period of it. Having analyzed the set of competencies (subject, general pedagogical, professional-communicative, managerial, innovative, reflective) provided by the Federal State Educational Standard in relation to the teachers profession, as well as referring to the models of Hard-skills and Soft-skills, we identified indicators (skills) of the professional development of the prospective teacher and invited the 3rd-year students of the Institute of Russian Language and Literature of the Volgograd State Socio-Pedagogical University to evaluate these skills in the order of their significance. The assessment was carried out on a 5-point scale, where 1 point is an absolutely insignificant indicator, 2 - rather insignificant, 3 - rather significant, 4 - significant, 5 - very significant. As a result, we were able to build their gradation and divide them by areas, as well as allocate 3 levels in the process of professional development. Taking into account these levels, we considered how the educational environment can influence the professional development of future teachers through educational, extracurricular activities and through the environment.

RESEARCH OF INTERNALITY, MEANINGFUL ORIENTATIONS AND STATUS OF IDENTITY AS A CRITERIA FOR THE PROFESSIONAL DIRECTION OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Формирование профессиональной направленности, приобретение навыков, умений, знаний, успешная адаптация к учебной деятельности, положительная динамика развития индивидуально-психологических качеств выступают условиями профессионального становления студента. Психодиагностический инструментарий исследования составили методики диагностики уровня субъективного контроля Дж. Роттера, смысложизненных ориентаций Д.А. Леонтьева и статусов профессиональной идентичности А.А. Азбель. Результаты исследования демонстрируют наличие сознательного выбора профессии и учебного заведения у студентов, достаточно высокий уровень интернальности как способности анализировать происходящие события и контролировать поведение, а также сформированную профессиональную идентичность. The conditions of the professional formation of the student's personality are studied: the formation of a professional orientation, the acquisition of the necessary professional skills, abilities, knowledge, successful adaptation in work, the positive dynamics of the structure of individual psychological qualities. The results of a psychodiagnostic study of the psychological criteria of the professional orientation of university students studying in different directions are presented.

THE PARADIGM OF DIALOGUE INTERACTION AS A WAY OF THE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF FUTURE TRANSLATOR

In the article we’ve shown that the professional development of the person takes place through qualitative changes that facilitate the emergence of a completely new level of its integrity. The latter involves qualitative changes in the characteristics of the person, the transformation personal characteristics which have already been formed, fairly consistent guidelines, values ​​orientations, motives of behavior under the influence of constantly changing social relations. Also, the professional development of the person is carried out as a result of restructuring its orientation. At the same time, the professional orientation of the person is the result of a contradictory combination of socialization, that is emphasized on the mastery of a person with socially significant experience and culture and provide individualization (the process of the development of intelligence, will, aesthetic taste, creative abilities of the person, etc.). In the process of professional development of the person occurs the formation of the subject’s integrity. This integrity consists of: 1) subordination of all elements of the structure of the personality, the subject’s orientation, which ensures the continuity, the length of all periods of person’s professional development; 2) to acquire the necessary professionally significant qualities, properties and characteristics. We’ve proved that significant features of the professional formation are found in the process of finding the person’s individual ways of performing professional activity, which is accompanied by the formation of individual personally meaningful (including creative experience), professional self-consciousness, a system of professional motives, personal meanings, values ​​and senses. The analysis of scientific researches, which in one way or another one deals with the problem of professional formation, shows the unity of researchers’ opinions that professional formation is a dynamic process of transformation (or restructuring) personal and professional qualities, characterized by self-determination, self-improvement, self-education, self-actualization, self-realization, actually shaping one’s consciousness. Thus, professional development can be showed as a long process of mastering the profession. Thus, the analysis of the scientific literature indicates that the process of professional formation can be represented in two ways: the scheme of procedural reproduction (as a temporary sequence of stages, periods, parts) and the structure of professional activity (as a set of ways and means of performing professional activity, when their compliance is not a temporary determination, but a targeted presentation and realization). Professional formation is also understood as the development of person’s professional competence, as a process of mastering the means of solving professional problems and tasks, as well as mastering models of making professionally significant decisions. We identified the main stages of the professional development of a specialist: a preparatory (pre-university) stage, associated purely with the choice of profession; the initial (university) stage, during which professionally important skills, characteristics and personal traits are formed; the main (postgraduate) stage as a period of the development of personal qualities of the man facilitating his/her full self-realization in the professional activity. At this stage the formation of the professional as a person takes place. So, we have to admit that the problem of the development of the person of translator is a dynamic process that constantly unfolds in time and space, proceeds from the moments of formation of professional intentions to full realization of oneself in the process of creative professional activity, the main contradiction of which is the contradiction between unique personality traits and objective requirements of the leading professional activities the significance of which is that it should be led to further development of the person. It was emphasized that by realizing himself/herself in the leading professional activity, the person gradually changed, which led to the restructuring of the motives of his/her leading activity, to the formation of new properties, qualities and characteristics of the person, which are extremely important for professional activity in general.

Training as a means of successful professionalization of applicants for higher education in quarantine

The article presents a model of training as an innovative pedagogical technology for successful professionalization of future professionals in quarantine and distance learning. The pedagogical conditions and features of educational and professional training to ensure the formation of professional competencies in students are determined. The principles and methods of application of training pedagogical technology in the context of integration approaches to the organization and content of distance learning in higher education institutions are analyzed. The role of development of pedagogical skill of the teacher-trainer as a factor of qualitative preparation of future experts in unpredictable situations of their professional formation is noted.