This book is a result of the investigative attempts of linguistics professionals to identify and meet the challenges of developing communicative competence in future engineers, economists and other such specialists. The unifying feature of all the contributions brought together here is the active involvement of the authors in practical instruction of English for specific professional purposes at the tertiary (bachelors’ and masters’ programs) level in Russia. This volume covers a number of relevant areas in this field, including new developments in methodology, approaches to course and materials design, and the contribution of language theory to foreign language teaching in a professional context.

The unique teaching approach advocated in this book denounces the traditional practice of transferring classical methodology of communicative-oriented teaching to language classes for students with a non-linguistic or non-teaching professional orientation. The underlying idea of this volume is that a change in professional context implies a change in language teaching methodology, including materials, techniques and target competences. The ideas and experiences analysed here will appeal to anyone interested in the current trends in foreign language teaching and learning and particularly to educationalists.