THE ROLE OF A FOREIGN LANGUAGE IN DEVELOPMENT OF PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCE OF MEDICAL STUDENTS

Abstract

The article examines the role of a foreign language in the professional modern medical students’ competence formation. First of all, the key features of the situation in modern Russian society and, in particular, in the medical education system are considered. Based on the economic and socio-cultural processes’ analysis is proved that the level of foreign language proficiency of the most physicians, both practicing and future, does not meet the modern society requirements. In this regard, possibilities that learning a foreign language provides for the development of the modern specialist’s competencies are demonstrated. The main ways of optimizing the foreign language teaching in the Russian medical universities are demonstrated, aimed at developing students’ relevant competencies and professionally significant qualities of future doctors.