SOFT SKILLS В ПРЕДСТАВЛЕНИИ ПРЕПОДАВАТЕЛЕЙ И СТУДЕНТОВ РОССИЙСКИХ УНИВЕРСИТЕТОВ В КОНТЕКСТЕ МИРОВОГО ОПЫТА

The changing nature of the economy and society at the information stage of the civilization development has led to a deep transformation of the labour market and new employability requirements. In addition to professional competencies, those cover a number of transversal skills that are termed as ‘soft skills’. As a consequence, the market economy countries actively pursue educational reforms that align soft skills with university curricula for bachelor and master students. As its market economy has been developing only for about 30 years, Russia is to face a challenge of working out a similar educational policy. To grasp the understanding of soft skills infusion into Russia’s university education, the authors conducted a study with a view to finding out the academic community’s perceptions of soft skills. The research entailed a theoretical and empirical stages, with the first one covering an analysis of literature on soft skills via comparative methods in order to come to a uniform definition and prevailing classification of soft skills (as a basis for questionnaires), and the surveying stage with 135 lecturers and 312 students involved. The findings implicate the participants’ perceptions of soft skills, most efficient academic disciplines and teaching/ learning techniques for fostering students’ soft skills and confirm the hypothesis that in Russia there are random soft skills inclusions in curricula and few practices to nurture the skills that justify the need for developing a new governmental policy to cover the gap.Изменение природы экономики и общества в условиях перехода к информационной стадии развития современной цивилизации привело к трансформации рынка труда и новым требованиям к рабочей силе, которые в дополнение к профессиональным компетенциям включают целый комплекс надпрофессиональных навыков, получивших название “soft skills”. Как следствие, в странах с рыночной экономикой активно проводятся образовательные реформы, предполагающие включение “soft skills” в качестве значимых ориентиров в программы подготовки бакалавров и магистров. Перед Россией, рыночная экономика которой развивается менее 30 лет, стоит задача разработки адекватной новым реалиям образовательной политики. Для понимания степени текущей интеграции “soft skills” в университетское образование в России, авторы провели исследование, нацеленное на выявление представлений о “soft skills” в академическом сообществе (студенческой и преподавательской среде). Эмпирическое исследование включало в себя теоретический и исследовательский этапы, предполагавшие соответственно анализ работ отечественных и зарубежных авторов в целях формирования предметного поля исследуемой проблематики и сопоставление существующих классификаций “soft skills” для конструирования их универсальной классификации, используемой далее для разработки анкет и проведения опроса, а также анкетирование 135 преподавателей и 312 студентов. Полученные результаты (универсальное определение и классификация “soft skills” выявленные представления российских студентов и преподавателей о “soft skills”, а также, по их мнению, наиболее эффективные академические дисциплины и методы обучения для развития “soft skills” у студентов) подтверждают гипотезу авторов о «точечных» включениях “soft skills” в учебные программы и почти полное отсутствие сложившихся практик их формирования, а также о необходимости проведения единой политики государства в данной области

Global patterns and environmental drivers of forest functional composition

Aim To determine the relationships between the functional trait composition of forest communities and environmental gradients across scales and biomes and the role of species relative abundances in these relationships. Location Global. Time period Recent. Major taxa studied Trees. Methods We integrated species abundance records from worldwide forest inventories and associated functional traits (wood density, specific leaf area and seed mass) to obtain a data set of 99,953 to 149,285 plots (depending on the trait) spanning all forested continents. We computed community-weighted and unweighted means of trait values for each plot and related them to three broad environmental gradients and their interactions (energy availability, precipitation and soil properties) at two scales (global and biomes). Results Our models explained up to 60% of the variance in trait distribution. At global scale, the energy gradient had the strongest influence on traits. However, within-biome models revealed different relationships among biomes. Notably, the functional composition of tropical forests was more influenced by precipitation and soil properties than energy availability, whereas temperate forests showed the opposite pattern. Depending on the trait studied, response to gradients was more variable and proportionally weaker in boreal forests. Community unweighted means were better predicted than weighted means for almost all models. Main conclusions Worldwide, trees require a large amount of energy (following latitude) to produce dense wood and seeds, while leaves with large surface to weight ratios are concentrated in temperate forests. However, patterns of functional composition within-biome differ from global patterns due to biome specificities such as the presence of conifers or unique combinations of climatic and soil properties. We recommend assessing the sensitivity of tree functional traits to environmental changes in their geographic context. Furthermore, at a given site, the distribution of tree functional traits appears to be driven more by species presence than species abundance

Academic Discourse and its Implications for Higher Education: Students' Cognitive Flexibility Development and its Backward Input in Academic Discourse Development

this paper is aimed at the Cognitive Flexibility analysis as a component of Sophisticated Thinking and possible prospects for its enhancement through both teachers' and students' academic activities. To test potential input of academic activities in cognitive flexibility development a special study was conducted. Throughout extra English classes with 5-month duration participants of the study (156 students in general) discussed research papers of their lectures as topics for the discussion. The papers were devoted to the students themselves as a part of the educational content interpreting and clarifying on the issues being of high interest among the youth. Thus, processing the papers supposed simultaneous students' involvement into academic activities. Prior to the experiment sessions and after, all participants were encouraged to pass Stroop Colour Word Test and Free association test to measure their current level of Cognitive Flexibility. After the last session on papers' discussion the students were simultaneously asked to perform Self-Reported Questionnaire. Both of the monitoring instruments are meant to verify each other to reveal and evaluate ongoing and subsequent levels of students' Cognitive Flexibility (degree of being categorical/rigid or lenient). This was measured by means of clarifying on the skills regarding utilization of elicited cause-and-effect connections; perceiving ability to be involved in teamwork; encouraging interest to new approaches of the renowned agenda; refusing from nonreversible reasoning; changing attitude to academic activities. The authors put forward the hypothesis suggesting a deliberate choice of the participants: as first and second-year students have vague motivation and relatively low level of Emotional Intelligence, they may have lowered Cognitive Flexibility. Still, five and six-year students are able to demonstrate far more developed skills mostly based on their working experience that supposes involvement into working atmosphere, thus contributing to enhanced Cognitive flexibility and less rigidity. Surprisingly, the results obtained through Self-Reported Questionnaires demonstrated the impressive rise in the participants Cognitive Flexibility level immediately after the third study session. The aforesaid witnesses that such activities allow research papers to be more practically-oriented, that, in its turn, inevitably increases their validity and further incorporation in formation of modern educational design

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE DEVELOPMENT THROUGH ENGLISH CLASSES: LEARNERS' DISPOSITION, MOTIVATION, AWARENESS

The paper is focused on Emotional Intelligence (EI), which is considered by the authors to be an integral constituent of Sophisticated Thinking. Being a complex phenomenon comprised of several structural elements (Critical Thinking, Cognitive Flexibility, Complex Problem Solving, Creativity, and Emotional Intelligence), Sophisticated Thinking can be developed through educational interaction. The same rule works for each of its constituents. The objective of Emotional Intelligence is to recognize the meanings of emotions and their relationships and to use them as a basis in reasoning and problem solving. Development of an ability to use emotions to enhance cognitive activities should include students' understanding that an emotion does not reflect only feelings, as it is an organised mental response to an event including physiological, experiential and cognitive aspects among others. This understanding should be based on students' disposition towards engaging into problem solving with and about emotions. The paper presents the provisional results of the ongoing multi-staged project. In a five-month study aimed at Emotional Intelligence development the authors paid special attention to the process of motivation building as a necessary part of the research aim. The participants were 147 second-year students of RUDN University (Moscow, Russia) who throughout their English classes performed purposely designed assignments targeted at detecting and enhancing level of disposition as well as motivation to integrate EI course in university curricula. The research is divided into three sessions each having a particular focus. All three sessions are preceded and followed by questionnaires ending with a final interview. All the participants were informed about the aims of the study and participated in the study willingly. The results collected from the study indicate that the students with intentionally developed and motivated disposition to emotional intelligence achieved much better results both in Emotional Intelligence formation and in building English language competence

A University Course of Intercultural Communication: Fostering Students' Skills and Competence

Motivation as a concept, motivating factors and the role of the teacher in the motivation mix have received considerable attention lately. Tertiary students seem to be the ones who have potent intrinsic motivation simply because completing a degree is not compulsory. Nevertheless, motivation is seen to be directly related to learners' performance and achievement. Thus, the study attempted to explore motivating factors for tertiary students in a specific educational setting – in a college where they are supposed to take up two foreign languages and study them both from scratch (or at best to continue one from of them from an intermediary level) simultaneously, the task made more challenging by the fact that the major language is an Oriental or an African one. Therefore, the aim of the study was to question the students about their perception of the motivating factors, including the importance of the figure of a teacher and the teacher type related to authoritarianism versus a more democratic management style; gender-related differences, if any, were of particular interest, as well as those concerning particular languages, namely European languages vs oriental ones. For this purpose, a questionnaire was devised, printed out and distributed among the students. The responses, which were given in the teachers' absence, were subsequently collected and analysed. The results of the survey suggest that intrinsic motivation is indeed the prevalent form of motivation for tertiary students in both Oriental/African and West European language, though the role of the teacher and relevant interesting materials and topics for discussion help foster the intrinsic motivation. A more democratic style of class management is seen by the students as preferable and more conducive to language learning

An overview of reviews as a trend maker in the field [Обзор обзоров как инструмент выявления трендов в исследуемой области знания]

The authors consider the methodology basics of reviews as a prospective type of scholarly publications, their taxonomy and most popular review types (narrative reviews, bibliometric reviews, systematic reviews, reviews of reviews, scoping reviews, meta-analysis), as well as specific features of procedures and algorithms for conducting reviews. Top 100 of highly cited reviews on higher education from 2010 to 2019 published in high-ranking peer-reviewed journals and indexed in the international database Scopus is based on the traditional methodology that aims to sample the most essential and influential publications of the kind in a well-represented and unbiased way and to subject the sampled reviews to content, bibliometric, and linguistic analyses. based on the inclusion criteria, keywords and methods of objective selection and sampling of the publications to be reviewed and analyzed, the authors singled out the essential thematic clusters in Top-100 list (educational technologies, university, student, teaching, learning, assessment, etc.) and determined the key directions in the review field of study. Each cluster contains a brief description of the most important aspects and approaches to various topics related to higher education, an analysis of their novelty and existing gaps in the field. According to the rhetoric theory of scholarly text by John Swales named 'Moves and steps', the authors offer a uniform rhetoric schema of reviews, commenting on the text components and their contents. Such a schema may serve as a guideline for authors of reviews made up for international peer-reviewed journals. The most popular publications by citations and number of publications entail reviews devoted to the culture of higher education; educational technologies and peculiarities of their application in the new educational landscape; online education as a new dimension of education requiring a special ecosystem; academic ethics of university teachers; soft skills development necessary for successful professional development; academic and scientific libraries as new centers for scientific and academic communication. © 2020 Moscow Polytechnic University. All rights reserved

Academic Discourse and its Implications for Higher Education: Students' Cognitive Flexibility Development and its Backward Input in Academic Discourse Development

this paper is aimed at the Cognitive Flexibility analysis as a component of Sophisticated Thinking and possible prospects for its enhancement through both teachers' and students' academic activities. To test potential input of academic activities in cognitive flexibility development a special study was conducted. Throughout extra English classes with 5-month duration participants of the study (156 students in general) discussed research papers of their lectures as topics for the discussion. The papers were devoted to the students themselves as a part of the educational content interpreting and clarifying on the issues being of high interest among the youth. Thus, processing the papers supposed simultaneous students' involvement into academic activities. Prior to the experiment sessions and after, all participants were encouraged to pass Stroop Colour Word Test and Free association test to measure their current level of Cognitive Flexibility. After the last session on papers' discussion the students were simultaneously asked to perform Self-Reported Questionnaire. Both of the monitoring instruments are meant to verify each other to reveal and evaluate ongoing and subsequent levels of students' Cognitive Flexibility (degree of being categorical/rigid or lenient). This was measured by means of clarifying on the skills regarding utilization of elicited cause-and-effect connections; perceiving ability to be involved in teamwork; encouraging interest to new approaches of the renowned agenda; refusing from nonreversible reasoning; changing attitude to academic activities. The authors put forward the hypothesis suggesting a deliberate choice of the participants: as first and second-year students have vague motivation and relatively low level of Emotional Intelligence, they may have lowered Cognitive Flexibility. Still, five and six-year students are able to demonstrate far more developed skills mostly based on their working experience that supposes involvement into working atmosphere, thus contributing to enhanced Cognitive flexibility and less rigidity. Surprisingly, the results obtained through Self-Reported Questionnaires demonstrated the impressive rise in the participants Cognitive Flexibility level immediately after the third study session. The aforesaid witnesses that such activities allow research papers to be more practically-oriented, that, in its turn, inevitably increases their validity and further incorporation in formation of modern educational design

Обзор обзоров как инструмент выявления трендов в исследуемой области знания

The authors consider the methodology basics of reviews as a prospective type of scholarly publications, their taxonomy and most popular review types (narrative reviews, bibliometric reviews, systematic reviews, reviews of reviews, scoping reviews, meta-analysis), as well as specific features of procedures and algorithms for conducting reviews. Top 100 of highly cited reviews on higher education from 2010 to 2019 published in high-ranking peer-reviewed journals and indexed in the international database Scopus is based on the traditional methodology that aims to sample the most essential and influential publications of the kind in a well-represented and unbiased way and to subject the sampled reviews to content, bibliometric, and linguistic analyses. Based on the inclusion criteria, keywords and methods of objective selection and sampling of the publications to be reviewed and analyzed, the authors singled out the essential thematic clusters in Top-100 list (educational technologies, university, student, teaching, learning, assessment, etc.) and determined the key directions in the review field of study. Each cluster contains a brief description of the most important aspects and approaches to various topics related to higher education, an analysis of their novelty and existing gaps in the field. According to the rhetoric theory of scholarly text by John Swales named 'Moves and steps', the authors offer a uniform rhetoric schema of reviews, commenting on the text components and their contents. Such a schema may serve as a guideline for authors of reviews made up for international peer-reviewed journals. The most popular publications by citations and number of publications entail reviews devoted to the culture of higher education; educational technologies and peculiarities of their application in the new educational landscape; online education as a new dimension of education requiring a special ecosystem; academic ethics of university teachers; soft skills development necessary for successful professional development; academic and scientific libraries as new centers for scientific and academic communication.Авторы рассматривают методологические основания обзоров как перспективного вида научных публикаций, их таксономию и наиболее популярные виды обзоров (нарративный, библиометрический, системный, обзор обзоров, обзор предметного поля, мета-анализ), а также особенности процедур и алгоритмов их проведения. Обзор 100 самых высоко-цитируемых обзоров по проблематике высшего образования за 2010-2019 гг., опубликованных в высокорейтинговых научных рецензируемых журналах, индексируемых в международной базе Scopus, составлен на основе традиционной методологии, целью которой является репрезентативный отбор наиболее значимых источников, контент-анализа, библиометрического и лингвистического анализа данного вида публикаций. Базируясь на соответствующих критериях включения и ключевых словах анализируемых публикаций, авторы выделяют основные тематические кластеры в Топ-100 (образовательные технологии, университет, студент, преподавание, обучение, оценивание и др.) и определяют тенденции в данной предметной области. Каждый из тематических кластеров содержит описание основных подходов к проблематике высшего образования, анализ их новизны и существующие пробелы в предметном поле. На основе риторической теории научного текста Дж. М. Свейлза авторами приводится обобщённая риторическая схема текста обзора, с комментариями по содержанию всех составных частей, которая может стать практической рекомендацией для авторов при подготовке обзоров в международные научные рецензируемые журналы. Наиболее популярными по количеству цитирований и количеству публикаций оказались обзоры, посвящённые культуре высшего образования, педагогическим технологиям и особенностям их применения в новом образовательном ландшафте, онлайн-образованию как новому измерению образования, требующему формирования особой экосистемы, академической этике преподавателей вузов, формированию компетенций, необходимых для успешного профессионального развития, академическим и научным библиотекам как новым центрам коммуникации

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE DEVELOPMENT THROUGH ENGLISH CLASSES: LEARNERS' DISPOSITION, MOTIVATION, AWARENESS

The paper is focused on Emotional Intelligence (EI), which is considered by the authors to be an integral constituent of Sophisticated Thinking. Being a complex phenomenon comprised of several structural elements (Critical Thinking, Cognitive Flexibility, Complex Problem Solving, Creativity, and Emotional Intelligence), Sophisticated Thinking can be developed through educational interaction. The same rule works for each of its constituents. The objective of Emotional Intelligence is to recognize the meanings of emotions and their relationships and to use them as a basis in reasoning and problem solving. Development of an ability to use emotions to enhance cognitive activities should include students' understanding that an emotion does not reflect only feelings, as it is an organised mental response to an event including physiological, experiential and cognitive aspects among others. This understanding should be based on students' disposition towards engaging into problem solving with and about emotions. The paper presents the provisional results of the ongoing multi-staged project. In a five-month study aimed at Emotional Intelligence development the authors paid special attention to the process of motivation building as a necessary part of the research aim. The participants were 147 second-year students of RUDN University (Moscow, Russia) who throughout their English classes performed purposely designed assignments targeted at detecting and enhancing level of disposition as well as motivation to integrate EI course in university curricula. The research is divided into three sessions each having a particular focus. All three sessions are preceded and followed by questionnaires ending with a final interview. All the participants were informed about the aims of the study and participated in the study willingly. The results collected from the study indicate that the students with intentionally developed and motivated disposition to emotional intelligence achieved much better results both in Emotional Intelligence formation and in building English language competence

The impact of growth regulators on grape varieties in the Urals

The article presents data on the effectiveness of the use of drugs on the structural components of the productivity of grape varieties. Research objects of growth regulators are Zircon and Mival Agro. Tests were carried out on table grape varieties Arkadia and Kodryanka. The same cultivars without treatment served as control. In the experiment with the use of Mival Agro the maximum indicator of the average bunch weight of the Arkadia variety was higher by 28.0% in comparison with the control, for the Kodryanka variety the indicator increased by 30.2%. In terms of productivity in the bush in the Arkadia variety the increase was 70.8%, in the Kodryanka grape variety it was 77.5% higher than the control variant when exposed to a similar preparation. Processing of experimental bushes in the variant Mival Agro showed the maximum increase in yield per hectare in the variety Arkadia by 70.0 %, in the variety Kodryanka by 78.1 % in comparison with the control option. Growth regulators have a positive effect on the productivity and yield of grape varieties, the most significant indicators are in the variants of the experiment with the use of the drug Mival - Agro