Innovation in Language Learning

Foreign languages for academic purposes prepare students for the specific academic requirements at the tertiary level of education. English as the language of international exchange aims not only to improve students’ level of English, but also to develop the language skills necessary for the academic environment, such as reading research articles in the students’ scientific disciplines, understanding vocabulary of the field, listening to lectures, taking notes, discussing scientific problems, presenting the results of their research, critical thinking, time management, etc. As regards the situation of EAP (English for Academic Purposes) in Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies (LBTU), the study course “English for Research professionals” is included in the 1^st year of the curriculum of the doctoral study programme. A blended learning approach has been implemented in the course. The aim of the present article was to investigate the development of academic skills of doctoral students in the framework of the study course “English for Research Professionals” therefore a survey was carried out to investigate doctoral students’ opinion regarding essential academic skills in foreign languages. The findings showed that reading, reviewing and evaluating scientific literature, using formal academic style in writing, as well as presenting the research results in front of the peers were selected as the most required academic skills. The survey also examined the participants’ perceptions of whether these academic skills were developed in the study course “English for Research Professionals” in the blended learning format. Conclusions of the findings are presented in the end of the article.

Keywords: English for academic purposes, academic skills in foreign languages, blended learning