Students’ english-language competence in reading formation by means of journalistic texts

Abstract

The article analyzes the theoretical prerequisites for students’ of higher pedagogical educational institutions English-language competence in reading formation, highlighting the goals of its formation and the difficulties that arise during training. It has been found that reading instruction is subject to practical, educational, developmental, and upbringing goals. An analysis of the difficulties that arise in the process of teaching reading has allowed us to identify the objective and subjective factors that cause them. The practical significance of journalistic texts used for teaching students to read in English has been clarified, as the information contained in such texts has a high aesthetic, educational and developmental potential for the formation of English reading competence. The author defined the requirements for journalistic texts (authenticity; representation of various types and genres of texts; themes; novelty and relevance of information; compliance with the level of reading skills, age interests, and needs of students) and sources of their selection (various Internet resources). The stages of learning to read journalistic texts at higher educational institutions are analyzed. The study concluded that students’ English-language competence in reading formation is an essential component of student’s foreign language communicative competence formation while studying in higher pedagogical educational institutions.