307 Ekaterina Samorodova, Sofia Bakaeva: MEETING INTERNATIONAL LAW STUDENTS’ DEMANDS ... Ekaterina Samorodova UDK 341.4-057.875:81'243 Department of French Language DOI: 10.4312/vestnik.14.307-324 MGIMO University Izvirni znanstveni članek Moscow, Russia samorodova.ekaterina.78@mail.ru Sofia Bakaeva Department of French Language MGIMO University Moscow, Russia sophie1chloe@gmail.com MEETING INTERNATIONAL LAW STUDENTS’ DEMANDS FOR THEIR PROFESSIONAL FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING 1 INTRODUCTION Globalization, the creation of a single information space in the world, intercultural com- munication, and interstate cooperation, have changed the role of foreign languages in today’s society. Knowledge of a foreign language is now a prerequisite for employment in most areas of activity, especially in an international legal context. If earlier graduates of law faculties with knowledge of a foreign language were mainly sought after by state departmental structures, such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, now legal specialists with such training are in great demand in commercial organizations, as they can interact with foreign partners at a professional level. The new requirements imposed by employers on modern young professionals en- tail changes in approaches to teaching a professionally oriented foreign language in law schools and faculties. To date, according to federal educational standards, the main task has become to teach future graduates how to function at a high level in foreign language professional discourse. Such work requires a revision of the work programs and their corresponding train- ing materials. The inefficiency of teaching a foreign language for special purposes, while using educational materials and methods developed to master a foreign language for the purposes of everyday communication, has been noted in a number of studies (Burbat and Runge, 2007, Belenkova and Kruse 2017). Vestnik_za_tuje_jezike_2022_FINAL.indd 307 Vestnik_za_tuje_jezike_2022_FINAL.indd 307 24. 01. 2023 09:19:03 24. 01. 2023 09:19:03 308 VESTNIK ZA TUJE JEZIKE/JOURNAL FOR FOREIGN LANGUAGES The creation of new work programs for teaching foreign languages to international lawyers implies a clear understanding of what competencies students should acquire in this learning process. The identification and analysis of foreign language competencies required in the professional activities of international lawyers thus constitute the main goal of this study, which is not a one-sided imperative, directed from top to bottom – from the lecturer to the student – but instead on based on partnership, taking into account the opinions and wishes of undergraduate students who have already started to study international legal subjects. International legal specialization is one of the four main areas of training in the spe- cialty “jurisprudence” (40.03.01) (in addition to civil law, criminal law, and state law). The main features of this specialization are its versatility, since such a specialist requires knowledge not only of national and international law, the world economy, the theory and history of international relations and diplomacy, but also a deep knowledge of foreign languages. And it should be noted that here a foreign language no longer acts as a use- ful addition or option to the main profession, as is the case, for example, in civil law or criminal law specialization. Proficiency in a professionally oriented foreign language at a high level is the most important component, indeed the fundamental one, of international legal specialization, and implies a special set of competencies, that is, a set of knowledge, skills, and abilities that allow a specialist to carry out legal activities in the international arena. This thus requires the development of students’ interdisciplinary skills, which, ac- cording to specialists in many countries, are still in very undeveloped (Noy et al. 2017). Today’s requirements in the field of international legal activity mean that legal education needs to find new approaches and methods for foreign language lecturers in higher edu- cational institutions in order to optimize the process of training international lawyers. As such, the current study aims to address the following research questions: • What competencies do undergraduate students of the International Law Faculty master in the course of studying a foreign language in their specialty? • To what extent are the competencies acquired by undergraduate students of the In- ternational Law Faculty in the course of studying a foreign language in their spe- cialty significant for them? • What competencies would the undergraduate students of the International Law Fac- ulty want to master in the course of studying a foreign language in their specialty? In terms of teaching a foreign language in a specialty, it should be noted that there remains no consensus in the literature on which course of study at a university is the most effective way to start learning a professional foreign language. In Germany, the study of a foreign language in a specialty within the FFA frame- work (Fachspezifische Fremdsprachenausbildung), which is offered by universities as extended education, can begin both in the first semester of study in the chosen specialty Vestnik_za_tuje_jezike_2022_FINAL.indd 308 Vestnik_za_tuje_jezike_2022_FINAL.indd 308 24. 01. 2023 09:19:03 24. 01. 2023 09:19:03 309 Ekaterina Samorodova, Sofia Bakaeva: MEETING INTERNATIONAL LAW STUDENTS’ DEMANDS ... (e.g. foreign language for lawyers at Heidelberg 1 and Trier 2 Universities) and in the third semester of study in the chosen specialty (e.g. foreign language for lawyers at Münster 3 University) after passing entrance tests and thus confirming a level of knowledge suffi - cient for studying under the FFA program. An example of a professionally oriented study of a foreign language at the initial stages of study at a university can be found at Tomsk Polytechnic University, the pro- gram of which includes early language specialization (the details of this language train- ing can be found in the “Requirements for the level of foreign language proficiency of students of non-linguistic specialties of Tomsk 4 Polytechnic University”). At MGIMO, in accordance with the requirements of the curriculum, the acquisition of a foreign language of an international legal specialty within the framework of a bach- elor’s degree begins at the 3 rd year of foreign language education (3 rd year, first semester). Until the 3 rd year, students receive the necessary knowledge of a common language (first language – the B2 level, second language – the B1 level), as well as legal subjects. More- over, it should be noted that in groups of the first (main) language, teaching a foreign language in the specialty begins from the first semester, in the second semester in groups of the second language. International law is also studied from the 3 rd year. Thus, teaching the language in the specialty either goes in parallel with the teaching of international law, if we are talking about groups of the first language, or with some delay. In this context, the question remains open as to which course of study in a higher educational institution is the most optimal for studying a foreign language in a specialty in terms of students’ competence in matters related to their future professional activities and linguistic competence. Therefore, the authors of this paper have considered it appro- priate to identify the optimal – from the point of view of students, as equal participants in the educational process – course of study at a university where one can start a profession- ally oriented study of a foreign language, formulating the following research question: Which course, according to students, is the best way to start learning a foreign language in a specialty? This research is carried out as a part of a four-year undergraduate study of interna- tional lawyers in the first stage of their university education, since it is an independent level of education that gives the right to study a specialty. The research questions set out above constitute the so-called “horizon of expecta- tion” of students associated with the study of a foreign language in a specialty at a univer- sity. In this paper, the term “expectations” refers to the language competencies required by students in terms of their future professional activities. 1 https://www.jura.uni-heidelberg.de/studium/internationales/fremdsprachige_veranstaltungen.html 2 https://www.uni-trier.de/index.php?id=37841 3 https://spz.uni-muenster.de/ffa 4 https://pandia.ru/text/78/039/20522.php Vestnik_za_tuje_jezike_2022_FINAL.indd 309 Vestnik_za_tuje_jezike_2022_FINAL.indd 309 24. 01. 2023 09:19:04 24. 01. 2023 09:19:04 310 VESTNIK ZA TUJE JEZIKE/JOURNAL FOR FOREIGN LANGUAGES 2 LITERATURE REVIEW The horizon of student expectations is closely related to the problem of student satisfac- tion, which has become the subject of research in various scientific papers (Garcia-Aracil 2009, Langan et al. 2013). Nevertheless, we raise, for the first time, the question of the horizon of expectations of students at an international law faculty with regard to learning a foreign language in a specialty. From the point of view of students at international law faculties, there has been very little theoretical or empirical research examining the optimal course of studying a foreign language in a specialty. Looking at the programs of German and Russian universities, however, it is clear there are different approaches to this issue 5 . Although the actual topics of many scientific publications are an analysis of the quality of higher education (Strijbos et al. 2015, Strielkovski et al. 2018, Ramsden 1991, Fensham and Cumming 2013, Aitenova et al. 2020, Aleynikova 2021, Niyazova et al. 2018, Atabekova et al. 2018, Chigasheva et al. 2021), various approaches to com - petence-based vocational education (Kuijpers and Meijers 2012, Goźdź-Roszkowski 2016, Miloradova and Ishkov 2018, Krylov et al. 2021, Bylieva and Moccozet 2021, Chirkova et al. 2021, Schlabach and Hufeisen 2021, Arkhipova et al. 2017, Kalugina 2016, Polushkina and Tareva 2021), standardization of language education (Jerabkova 2021), or improving the quality of undergraduate education (Chocholouskova et al. 2018, Germuskova 2018), they do not address the problems associated with the quality of teaching a foreign language in a specialty, which are directly related to the com - petencies acquired and their relevance to the students’ future professional activities. Meyer (2017) analyses the experience of teaching a foreign language at the Faculty of Law of the University of Turku (Finland), and notes that the formulation of the goals of teaching a foreign language in a specialty, which are quite general, lead to their in - dependent development by teachers, who also choose the methods for achieving them (Meyer 2017). In another study, the aim was to study the lexical, syntactic, and gram - matical competencies the students acquired. An analysis of a number of studies (Vyushkina 2016, Khudoykina and Lysenko 2017) shows that they do not answer the research questions examined in the current work – What competencies do undergraduate students of law faculties master in the course of studying a foreign language in their specialty? To what extent are the competencies acquired in the course of studying a foreign language in a specialty significant for un- dergraduate students of law faculties? What competencies do undergraduate students of law faculties want to master in the course of studying a foreign language in a specialty? 5 https://www.jura.uni-heidelberg.de/studium/internationales/fremdsprachige_veranstaltungen.html https://www.uni-trier.de/index.php?id=37841 https://spz.uni-muenster.de/ffa https://pandia.ru/text/78/039/20522.php Vestnik_za_tuje_jezike_2022_FINAL.indd 310 Vestnik_za_tuje_jezike_2022_FINAL.indd 310 24. 01. 2023 09:19:04 24. 01. 2023 09:19:04 311 Ekaterina Samorodova, Sofia Bakaeva: MEETING INTERNATIONAL LAW STUDENTS’ DEMANDS ... 3 MATERIALS AND METHODS It is now common practice to carry out research based on the opinions of students ob- tained through various surveys (Langan et al. 2013, Richardson et al. 2007, Williams 2014, Jara and Mellar 2010). This study is based on an analysis of data obtained from a survey of undergraduate students in the 3 rd and 4 th years of the International Law specialization studying English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, and Chinese at MGIMO. The au- thors deliberately limited the survey participants to bachelor’s students, as this is a bet- ter context to answer the focal research questions. All the respondents took part in the survey, which was conducted anonymously, on a voluntary basis through Google Forms. The survey participants were told its goals and objectives, and the questionnaires con- tained both closed and open questions. In order to determine the optimal course (year) of study in which it is advisable to introduce a foreign language in a specialty in a non-linguistic university 67 people were interviewed from the 3 rd (55.2%) to 4 th (44.8%) years, most of whom were women (70.1%), and aged 19 (17.9%), 20 (43.3%), 21 (34.3%), 22 (1.5%), or 23 (3%), and learning English (42%), French (28.5%), German (14%), Spanish (11%), Italian (2.7%), Portuguese (0.9%), or Chinese (0.9%). The questionnaire (No. 3) that collected individual assessments of the competen- cies that students master when studying a foreign language in their specialty received 63 responses from undergraduate students. Four people who did not meet the require- ments to complete the survey responded, three master’s students and one 2 nd year stu- dent, and their responses were not included in the data. As a results, this questionnaire was completed by 59 undergraduate students in the 3 rd (40.6%) and 4 th (59.4%) years at the ages of 17 (1%), 19 (6.7%), 20 (42.4%), 21 (37.2%), 22 (8.4%), 23 (1%), and 24 (1%), of whom 64.4% were female and 35.6% were learning English (48%), followed by those learning German (24.6%), French (17.3%), Spanish (8.1%), Italian (1%), and Dutch (1%). With regard to the survey examining the competencies that 3 rd and 4 th year students want to master (questionnaire No. 2), 59 responses were received, 62.7% from wom- en and 37.3% from men, in the 3 rd (33.9%) and 4 th (66.1%) years, aged 19 (10.2%), 20 (39%), 21 (42.4%), 22 (2.3%), or 23 (1.7%) years old, and studying English (46%), French (22%), German (21%), Spanish (9%), Portuguese (1%), and Italian (1%). The list of competencies given in questionnaires No. 2 (for individual assessment of the competencies student want to acquire in the course of studying a foreign language in a specialty) and No. 3 (individual assessment of competencies that students actually master) was compiled on the basis of an analysis of the literature and the authors’ own teaching experience. In the open part of both questionnaires the respondents can add any further competencies or comments. Vestnik_za_tuje_jezike_2022_FINAL.indd 311 Vestnik_za_tuje_jezike_2022_FINAL.indd 311 24. 01. 2023 09:19:04 24. 01. 2023 09:19:04 312 VESTNIK ZA TUJE JEZIKE/JOURNAL FOR FOREIGN LANGUAGES The answer to the main problem examined in this paper, as formulated in its title, lies in a thorough analysis of the questionnaires completed by the students, and a comparison with the results presented in the related theoretical literature. The research work can be divided into three stages. The first stage is purely theoretical. The initial analysis of the research literature was aimed at identifying the current degree of understanding of the four research questions formulated in this paper. Then a selection of literature on problems related to the focal re- search questions was made for the purpose of analysis and synthesis, a critical assessment of the information contained in the earlier works, revealing aspects of scientific interest to the current study. The criteria for selecting information were its relevance, adequacy, representativeness, and sufficiency in relation to the research questions. In the second stage, questionnaires were developed for conducting a written survey related to the four research questions, and the survey itself was carried out in order to de- termine the required level of foreign language proficiency for studying a foreign language in a specialty, as well as identifying and evaluating the significance of the competencies that students of international law faculties master and want to master when studying a foreign language in their specialty. The essence of this method lies in the fact that the respondents make their value judgments on the questions asked based on their own knowledge and experience in the relevant field and intuitive-logical analysis. The method is based on the following premises: • the survey participants have an idea about the problem under study and, in this re- gard, are considered as a high-quality source of information; • the generalized opinion of the survey participants, obtained by processing the re- sults, is close to reliable. The most effective type of survey is an anonymous one, which makes it possible to combine the need to involve a significant number of respondents, to form judgments without the direct participation (influence) of the questionnaire’s compiler(s), and to receive answers in the appropriate format to sim- plify further processing of the results. For the convenience of this study’s survey participants, the questionnaires they were given included leaflets containing basic information about the survey and recommendations for filling out the questionnaires. The quality of the survey results depends on the number of survey participants and their competence. According to the basics of the theory of mathematical data pro- cessing, an increase in the number of survey participants leads to an increase in the reliability of the results. In order to solve the problems considered in this paper, 67 students were involved in the survey for the first research question, 63 students for the second and third research questions, and 59 students for the fourth research ques- tion, which is sufficient for such surveys. Vestnik_za_tuje_jezike_2022_FINAL.indd 312 Vestnik_za_tuje_jezike_2022_FINAL.indd 312 24. 01. 2023 09:19:04 24. 01. 2023 09:19:04 313 Ekaterina Samorodova, Sofia Bakaeva: MEETING INTERNATIONAL LAW STUDENTS’ DEMANDS ... The research carried out within the framework of this work relate directly to the per- ceptions and analyses of university students with regard to learning a foreign language in a specialty at a university. In this regard, the involvement of 3 rd - and 4 th -year undergradu- ate students from non-linguistic universities in the survey is justified. Third-year students already have experience of higher education and an understanding of the problems under consideration, and are capable of analysing and comparing facts. Moreover, by this time the vast majority of students have formed an opinion about the required level of profi- ciency in a foreign language in the specialty, as well as about what skills it is advisable to develop when learning a foreign language from the standpoint of future professional activities. Students who have been studying law for three years and have already begun to study special disciplines are considered as subjects with a sufficient level of knowledge in order to competently answer the questions asked as part of this study. The students were asked in questionnaire No. 1 the following closed question: “In your opinion, in which course (year) of study as a part of a bachelor’s degree is it ad- visable to introduce a foreign language in a specialty?” Initially, the participants in the survey had to indicate the university where they study, the direction (profile) of training, the course (year) of study at the university, the foreign language being studied, their gen- der and age. Then the participants had to choose the appropriate course (year of study) from the proposed 1 st , 2 nd , 3 rd , 4 th , in which, in their opinion, it is advisable to introduce a foreign language in a specialty. The responses were based on the individual judgment of each survey participant based on his/her personal experience in the field of studying foreign languages and legal subjects. The respondents could only choose one answer. Questionnaire No. 3 was compiled for an individual assessment of the competencies that students master in the course of studying a foreign language in a specialty in a non- linguistic university, and it consisted of two parts. In the first part the students needed to assess the competencies that they have mastered when learning a foreign language in a specialty at the university, choosing from a list of competencies taken from the literature: translation of international legal acts, participation in discussions, work with international legal documentation in a foreign language, interpretation and commentary of international legal acts in a foreign language, negotiating on international legal issues, solving a legal problem in a foreign language, carrying out business correspondence in a foreign language, representing and conducting court cases in international courts in a foreign language, and speaking in courts in a foreign language. The second part of the questionnaire was an open question: “What competencies, in addition to those indicated in the proposed list, did you master in the course of studying a foreign language in your specialty at a university? Please specify the competencies and assess them on a scale from 5 to 0.” This assessment was again based on the individual judgment of each sur- vey participant based on his/her personal experience. Before answering questions, the questionnaire participants needed to write down the name of the university, the direction (profile) of training, as well as the year of study at the university (the course in which Vestnik_za_tuje_jezike_2022_FINAL.indd 313 Vestnik_za_tuje_jezike_2022_FINAL.indd 313 24. 01. 2023 09:19:04 24. 01. 2023 09:19:04 314 VESTNIK ZA TUJE JEZIKE/JOURNAL FOR FOREIGN LANGUAGES the respondent is currently studying), the specialty language being studied, their age and gender. When the students were asked to rate each competence from 5 to 0, the scale had the following meaning: 5 – competence with very high significance; 4 – competence with high significance; 3 – competence with average significance; 2 – competence with low significance; 1 – competence with very low significance; 0 – competence that has no significance. Several competencies can be assigned the same number of points. In the second part of the questionnaire, the respondents were asked to give some additional competencies that are significant, and again to assess them on a scale from 5 to 0 points, with the same meaning as above. In order to implement the fourth point of the study, the students were given question- naire No. 2 to learn about the competencies they wanted to master in the course of study- ing a foreign language in a specialty in a non-linguistic university, based on the list of competencies given in questionnaire No. 3. Before answering the questions the students had to indicate the name of the university, the direction (profile of training), as well as the year of study at the university (the course in which the student is studying), the specialty foreign language studied, their age and gender. The students then rated the competences listed, and in the second, open part of the questionnaire added more or made comments. The third and final stage of the study was the analysis of the questionnaires, by sum- marizing and systematizing the answers, as well as deriving deductions and conclusions based on them. Before analysing such data, it is advisable to start with an assessment of its quality in terms of the following parameters: to what extent the survey participants followed the recommendations for filling out the questionnaires, how complete the an- swers are, how many respondents filled out those parts of the questionnaires where it was required to provide additional competencies in the study of a foreign language in a specialty, and thus show a creative approach and make their own proposals. The qual- ity of filling out the questionnaires indicates the degree of students’ interest in the issues considered in this study, as well as in the search for possible ways to solve them. Special attention should be paid to the processing of answers written by students on additional competencies (the second parts of questionnaires No. 2 and No. 3), since these proposals were formulated by each survey participant, taking into account their individual under- standing of the problem under consideration. Recurring competencies should be grouped and considered as one type of competence, where it should be remembered that the same competence may be expressed using different words. After grouping, additional com- petencies should be analysed for similarity in content with the competencies listed in Vestnik_za_tuje_jezike_2022_FINAL.indd 314 Vestnik_za_tuje_jezike_2022_FINAL.indd 314 24. 01. 2023 09:19:04 24. 01. 2023 09:19:04 315 Ekaterina Samorodova, Sofia Bakaeva: MEETING INTERNATIONAL LAW STUDENTS’ DEMANDS ... the questionnaires and derived from the literature. If the additional competencies repeat the content of those from the list, then these duplicate “additional” competencies are excluded from further processing of the results. Additional competencies that are rarely found in the answers should be singled out in a special group – as these require separate consideration. 4 RESEARCH RESULTS The fi rst research question asked the students the best time to start teaching a foreign language in a specialty. Just over a third (35.8%) of students consider the 3 rd year at university to be the best time to start studying the language in their specialty, while a slightly smaller group (34.3%) chose the 2 nd year. The proposal of 28.4% of students to start teaching a foreign language in a specialty from the 1 st year is due to the fact that they already have a good level of English profi ciency when they enter the university. In most cases, learning other foreign languages starts from the very beginning of the process. Only 1.5% of the students were in favour of starting to study a foreign language in their specialty in the 4 th year. The analysis of the responses to questionnaire No. 3 made it possible to identify what competencies students master in the process of studying a foreign language at MGIMO, and thus answer the second research question (Fig. 1): Figure 1: Competences being mastered by international law students during the professional foreign language learning 98 97 88 83 80 77 76 76 76 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 international legal acts translation participation in discussions work with international legal documents in a… international legal acts interpretation and… negotiating on international legal issues legal case solving in a foreign language business correspondence in a foreign… representation and management of court… court presentation in a foreign language Vestnik_za_tuje_jezike_2022_FINAL.indd 315 Vestnik_za_tuje_jezike_2022_FINAL.indd 315 24. 01. 2023 09:19:04 24. 01. 2023 09:19:04 316 VESTNIK ZA TUJE JEZIKE/JOURNAL FOR FOREIGN LANGUAGES Fig. 1 clearly shows that most students master all the competencies that were des- ignated as the main competencies of an international lawyer, namely: international legal acts translation, participation in discussions, work with international legal documents in a foreign language, international legal acts interpretation and commentary in a foreign lan- guage, negotiating on international legal issues, legal case solving in a foreign language, business correspondence in a foreign language, representation and management of court cases in international courts in a foreign language, and court presentation in a foreign language. The almost one hundred percent mastery of such competencies as the transla- tion of international legal acts and participation in discussions indicates that the strongest emphasis of the program of teaching a foreign language in a specialty is on these types of professional activities. Furthermore, the results of this survey also show that the students also master a number of additional professional competencies that were not on the list, such as writing scientifi c papers in their specialty and working with national legislation texts. The results of questionnaire No. 3 made it possible to answer the third research ques- tion – to what extent the competencies acquired in the course of studying a foreign lan- guage in a specialty are signifi cant for the undergraduate students. The most signifi cant of the competencies acquired in the course of learning a foreign language, that is, those that received 4 or 5 points on the assessment scale, are the following (Fig. 2): Figure 2: Competences, assessed by MGIMO students as the most signifi cant for their future professional activities as international lawyers, scoring 4 or 5 points on the assessment scale 62 62.4 43.4 28 30 19.7 29 26.7 12 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 international legal acts translation participation in discussions work with international legal documents in a… international legal acts interpretation and… negotiating on international legal issues legal case solving in a foreign language business correspondence in a foreign language representation and management of court… court presentation in a foreign language Vestnik_za_tuje_jezike_2022_FINAL.indd 316 Vestnik_za_tuje_jezike_2022_FINAL.indd 316 24. 01. 2023 09:19:04 24. 01. 2023 09:19:04 317 Ekaterina Samorodova, Sofia Bakaeva: MEETING INTERNATIONAL LAW STUDENTS’ DEMANDS ... The following competences acquired by the students in the study of a foreign lan- guage were given a low signifi cance, with 1 or 2 points (Fig. 3): Figure 3: Competences of low signifi cance for the MGIMO international law students (with 1 or 2 points), which they master during the professional foreign language learning The following competencies that MGIMO students of the law faculties master in foreign language classes were rated as having no signifi cance, and thus 0 points on the rating scale, for their future careers (Fig. 4): Figure 4: Competences not signifi cant for future international lawyers (0 points) that MGIMO students acquire during the professional foreign language learning 1.6 3.3 12 8.4 5 18.6 11.8 5 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 international legal acts translation participation in discussions work with international legal documents in a foreign language international legal acts interpretation and commentary in a foreign language negotiating on international legal issues legal case solving in a foreign language business correspondence in a foreign language court presentation in a foreign language 10 10 15 22 23 0 5 10 15 20 25 negotiating on international legal issues legal case solving in a foreign language business correspondence in a foreign language court presentation in a foreign language representation and management of court cases in international courts in a foreign language Vestnik_za_tuje_jezike_2022_FINAL.indd 317 Vestnik_za_tuje_jezike_2022_FINAL.indd 317 24. 01. 2023 09:19:04 24. 01. 2023 09:19:04 318 VESTNIK ZA TUJE JEZIKE/JOURNAL FOR FOREIGN LANGUAGES The most signifi cant competencies acquired while studying a foreign language in the specialty, according to the majority of students of MGIMO law faculties, are participa- tion in discussions and translation of international legal acts. The fourth research question, which examined the competencies that undergraduate students of the law faculties want to master in the course of studying a foreign language in a specialty, as chosen from a list, is answered by analysing the responses to questionnaire No. 2, with the data shown in Fig. 5: Figure 5: Competences that international law students want to master during their professional foreign language learning From the proposed list of competencies, the majority of students studying a foreign language in their specialty consider it necessary for their future professional activities to master such things as working with international legal documentation in a foreign language, negotiating on international legal topics in a foreign language, participating in discussions in a foreign language, translating international legal acts, presenting in courts in a foreign language, representing and conducting court cases in international courts in a foreign language. For half of the students, mastering business correspondence in a foreign language is relevant. The students also noted that one of the necessary competencies of an international lawyer is the ability to conclude contracts in a foreign language, which they feel they have not been able to master in the process of learning a foreign language as part of their courses. The results of the study reveal some contradictions between the program of teaching a foreign language in the specialty and the expectations of students, although the majority 83 47 50 66 55 85 80 76 47 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 negotiating on international legal issues legal case solving in a foreign language business correspondence in a foreign language court presentation in a foreign language representation and management of court… work with international legal documents in a… participation in discussions international legal acts translation international legal acts interpretation and… Vestnik_za_tuje_jezike_2022_FINAL.indd 318 Vestnik_za_tuje_jezike_2022_FINAL.indd 318 24. 01. 2023 09:19:04 24. 01. 2023 09:19:04 319 Ekaterina Samorodova, Sofia Bakaeva: MEETING INTERNATIONAL LAW STUDENTS’ DEMANDS ... of do master those competencies that they consider important in the activities of an inter- national lawyer. An exception is the practice of drafting contracts in a foreign language, which is not given attention when teaching a foreign language in a specialty at MGIMO. Moreover, little time and attention is devoted to solving legal problems as one of the main activities in teaching the language in a specialty. The year or course in which the students begin learning a foreign language in a spe - cialty is in line with their expectations. However, the high second preference for starting such classes in the 2 nd year, favoured by 34.3% of students, is only just behind the 3 rd year (35.8%), which suggests teaching a foreign language could start a year earlier, especially for those stu - dents who, upon entering university, have a high basic level of foreign language proficiency. 5 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS This paper first developed a list of competences which was then given to a group of international law students to assess their significance in relation to learning a foreign lan- guage in a specialty. The students were also given the opportunity to indicate any other competencies that, in their opinion, should be developed in this context. The analysis of the questionnaires in the framework of the study made it possible to identify the compe- tencies necessary both from the point of view of lecturers and students, and these were as follows: translation of international legal acts, participation in discussions, work with international legal documentation, negotiating, and presenting in courts. Mastering these competencies, which are all cognitive in nature, will allow graduates to make indepen- dent decisions in their future professional activities. An analysis of the competencies that international lawyers plan to master and are currently mastering in foreign languages – such as English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, and Chinese – makes it possible to assess the requirements for the professional competencies of lecturers conducting the related classes. Pedagogical and linguistic universities produce linguists-teachers of a wide profile, many of whom go on to teach in non-linguistic universities, with Russia having more of these than linguistic ones. If previously the study of a foreign language in a non-linguistic university was more of a formality – in fact, graduates of such universities did not need to know a foreign lan- guage in their specialty, since in their professional activities, they did not have the need, or often even the opportunity, to apply the knowledge acquired in practice – now special- ists with knowledge of a foreign language are in great demand among employers, both in government agencies and commercial organizations. Therefore, today’s foreign language lecturers should not only have linguistic competencies, but also have sufficient knowledge of the specialty of the language being taught, in our case, international law, which sug- gests the special specialized training of such specialists. For the full development of the competencies of students studying international law, as discussed in this paper and which Vestnik_za_tuje_jezike_2022_FINAL.indd 319 Vestnik_za_tuje_jezike_2022_FINAL.indd 319 24. 01. 2023 09:19:04 24. 01. 2023 09:19:04 320 VESTNIK ZA TUJE JEZIKE/JOURNAL FOR FOREIGN LANGUAGES are necessary in the work of international lawyers, a foreign language lecturer not only needs to know legal terminology, but also to know the subject. A survey similar to the one conducted in this study could also be carried out as part of the research into the learning of foreign languages in other specialties, which would make it possible to formulate specific competencies that lecturers of non-linguistic universities should teach their bachelor’s stu- dents and which lecturers of foreign languages need to improve their qualifications in or- der to be able to provide high-quality and professional teaching in this context. 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Cilj prispevka je opredeliti, na kateri stopnji izobraževanja bi bilo na mednarodnih prav- nih fakultetah najbolj smiselno začeti s poučevanjem tujega jezika stroke, katere jezikovne kompe- tence bi morali študenti osvojiti in kakšen je pomen ocenjevanja teh kompetenc. Gradiva in metode. Predstavljamo izsledke raziskave, ki je obsegala analizo znanstvenih del ruskih in tujih raziskovalcev ter analizo rezultatov ankete, v katero so bili vključeni študenti 3. in 4. letnika mednarodnega prava na Moskovskem državnem inštitutu za mednarodne odnose (MGIMO), ki se učijo pravnega jezika. Pri delu smo se opirali na metode primerjalne in sistem - ske analize. Rezultati. V prispevku iščemo odgovor na vprašanje, kakšna raven jezikovnega znanja je po mnenju študentov potrebna za začetek učenja tujega jezika pravne stroke ter katere jezikovne kompetence študenti pridobivajo v času študija prava in kakšen pomen jim pripisujejo. Doprinos k znanosti. V pričujočem delu predstavljamo in analiziramo jezikovne kompetence, ki so nujne za opravljanje poklica mednarodnega pravnika, z namenom optimizacije učenja tujega jezika stroke. Gre za prvo raziskavo, ki temelji na analizi mnenj študentov. Vestnik_za_tuje_jezike_2022_FINAL.indd 323 Vestnik_za_tuje_jezike_2022_FINAL.indd 323 24. 01. 2023 09:19:05 24. 01. 2023 09:19:05 324 VESTNIK ZA TUJE JEZIKE/JOURNAL FOR FOREIGN LANGUAGES Uporabnost. Rezultati naše raziskave so lahko osnova za razvijanje novih pristopov in metod, katerih cilj je optimizacija strokovnega usposabljanja študentov mednarodnega prava ter oblikova- nje programov usposabljanja na področju tujega jezika za študente nejezikovnih študijskih smeri. Ključne besede: tuji jezik stroke, mednarodni pravnik, strokovna usposobljenost, zgodnja profe- sionalizacija, usmerjeno poklicno izobraževanje, mednarodno pravo ABSTRACT MEETING INTERNATIONAL LA W STUDENTS’ DEMANDS FOR THEIR PROFES- SIONAL FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING Introduction. In today’s world, the profession of international lawyer has acquired a new status. This fact inspired the authors of the article to think about the need to analyse the foreign language competencies which international law students should obtain. Aim. The objective of this article is to identify the best time to start the legal foreign language course at international law faculties; the competencies which law students acquire and want to ac- quire; and an assessment of the significance of the competencies acquired in the course of the legal foreign language training of law students. Materials and methods. This article is a study based on an analysis of Russian and foreign sci - entists’ related works, and the results obtained during the surveys of 3 rd - and 4 th -year international law students at MGIMO studying a language. Both comparative and system analysis methods were used. Results. This research reveals the students’ views on the best time to start learning the foreign language, the foreign language competencies acquired and wanted by the students, and their sig- nificance for their future careers. Scientific novelty. Identification and analysis of the language competencies necessary for in- ternational lawyers’ professional activities, with aim of improving foreign language studies in this context, with the results for the first time based on students’ opinions. Practical significance. The results of the present study can serve as a basis to develop new ap- proaches and methods to improve the training of international law students and to create specialty foreign language training programs for non-linguistic students. Keywords: professional foreign language, international lawyer, professional competence, early professionalization, vocational-oriented education, international law Vestnik_za_tuje_jezike_2022_FINAL.indd 324 Vestnik_za_tuje_jezike_2022_FINAL.indd 324 24. 01. 2023 09:19:05 24. 01. 2023 09:19:05