Developing EFL Lexical Competence at HE third level: Academic Inculturation & Research Publication Vocabulary

Abstract

The topicality of the article is determined by the necessity of creation and introduction the innovative methodology for PhD candidates within the course “English for Research Publication Purposes” in order to develop EFL lexical competence at the third level of Ukrainian HEIs.

Objective: the existing sources analysis of lexical material selection; development of a well-grounded system of exercises for studying lexical clusters within the discipline “English for Research Publication Purposes”; determination of the basics of academic inculturation of PhD candidates.

Methods: analytical method – national and foreign researchers’ findings analysis; cognitive analysis of “academic inculturation” concept; synthesis of lexical clusters from academic genre into main categories and subcategories to build a reasonable system of exercises on this basis; forming conclusions and recommendations.

Results: (1) showed the necessity of introduction and pedagogical support of “English for Research Publication Purposes” course at third-level Ukrainian HEIs; (2) revealed the need of a thorough study of “academic inculturation” concept to outline key determinants of the notion; (3) the most common three-, four-, and five-word phrases in academic texts, and their Ukrainian equivalents were determined; (4) three main functional categories of academic lexical clusters were distinguished to practice the task-based activities; (5) a well-grounded system of exercises was developed to teach the most common lexical clusters used in research papers.

Conclusion: the offered system of tasks proposed within “English for Research Publication Purposes” course aimed at developing of academic writing skills and ultimately at the formation of EAP lexical competence at the HE third level; it was found that the determinants of “academic inculturation” of Ukrainian PhD candidates require further, more thorough consideration.