Introduction

         Foreign language communicative competence (FLCC) of technical students is considered to be the basis of their future professional contacts and cooperation in international programs,  research  and various  joint projects. Furthermore, intercultural communicative competence (ICC) appears to be an integral part of the professional competence of  modern technical specialists. In this regard, there is an increasing  demand  for enhancing  FLCC  of  technical graduates.

            Introducing the intercultural dimension into foreign languages education  and  developing  intercultural competence as an important component of FLCC  are   considered  by many scholars. (Galskova, Gez 2005; Elizarova, 2005; Ter-Minasova 2008; Khaleeva, 1989; Byram 2010, Corbett 2003, Kramsch, 1996; Liddicoat, 2003; Moran, 2001; Sercu, 2006, Song, 2008). However, some topical issues concerning teaching a foreign language to technical students demand further research.

         The purpose of this paper is to analyze academic literature on the problem and to define the content and structure of the intercultural professional communicative competence (IPCC) of technical students that will be an important prerequisite for efficient professional and scientific international contacts of future specialists.

Materials and Methods

         The analysis of the academic literature testifies that FLCC of technical students should be of an integrated, multilevel character and should possess a complicated structure.

         As practical experience shows, possessing only FLCC is not enough for successful interlocution of specialists on the world arena. Developing the ICC of technical students is of vital importance. ICC is now understood as the ability based on the knowledge and skills  to take part in intercultural communication through the creation of common values ​​for communicants and to reach a positive outcome for both interlocutors. [2, p.236].

         Recent studies have also proved that ICC of future technical college graduates  should be professionally  marked. In this context, intercultural professional communicative competence  becomes the prime aim of teaching a foreign language to technical students. It is qualified as an ability, formed within a limited range (defined by future professional needs, as well as training conditions), to take part in intercultural communication with a colleague, a representative of another culture, in the language of a communication partner [1, p.66].

Results and Discussion

         IPCC  as the goal of language teaching to technical  college graduates  appears to have  the following structure:

1) intracultural competence:  the willingness and ability of  non-linguistic students  to identify, recognize and interpret the concepts, ideas, norms and rules of their own professional language culture;

2) foreign culture competence:   the willingness and ability to identify, recognize and interpret the concepts, ideas, norms and rules of a foreign  professional language culture;

3) intercultural competence:  the willingness and ability of  non-linguistic students  to identify, realize, interpret, compare and discuss concepts, ideas, rules, regulations, and other components of their own and a foreign  professional language culture. [3, p. 98].

         These three competencies make up the structure of the macro-level professional intercultural communicative competence, and include subcompetences. Among them are the following:

·       Linguistic, responsible for a student mastery of professional thesaurus both in native and in a foreign language;

·       Sociolinguistic, which enables  to select and use the means of communication that are most relevant in situations of professional intercultural interaction; 

·       Socio-cultural, which implies the knowledge of socio-cultural context of the professional sphere and rules and regulations of professional communication in a foreign language;

·       Strategic, which is the ability to overcome difficulties in the process of professional intercultural interaction;

·       Discursive, the choice and usage of strategies for generation and perception of professionally oriented texts that are typical for native  and foreign language cultures;

·       Social, which is the ability to establish and maintain contacts on a professional level with colleagues of different age, social and other native groups in a foreign language culture.

Conclusion

         Thus, we can speak  about a complicated structure of IPCC of technical students which is a set of competencies and subcompetences and a construct of an integrated multilevel character. In this regard, the task of developing IPCC  is rather serious. The specifics of this competence will determine the features of its formation system, appropriate teaching materials  and creation of  a coherent methodological concept  built on the basic principles of education: communicative, cross-cultural, professional and self-educational. Developing  models of IPCC formation, which will define  the content of textbooks of English as a foreign language,  will facilitate the organization of foreign language  teaching and will enable to achieve the main goal - to  form IPCC of  students of non-linguistic specialties as a prerequisite for the successful professional, scientific and  academic contacts of future professionals on the international level in the form of joint projects, cultural exchanges, seminars and  other  activities.

2. Elisarova G.V. Kultura i obuchenie inostrannym yazykam: uchebnoe posobie dlya vusov. – St.P.: KARO, 2005. – 352 p.

3. Selyuzhitzkaya L.N. Mezhkulturnaya professionalnaya kommunikativnaya kompetentziya kak tzel’ yazykovoi podgotovki studenta neyazykovogo vuza // Prepodavaniye inostrannych yazykov v usloviyach internatzionalizatzii obrazovaniya: tezisy dokl. Mezhdunar. nauch.-prakt. konf. (Minsk, 1-2 fev. 2013). – Minsk: BGEU, 2013. – p. 97-98.