Competence of Would-Be Specialists of Physical Education and Sports: Urgent Problems of Studying Language for Special Purposes

Abstract

The article presents the results of the knowledge of standard Lithuanian language and language for special purposes
of the would-be specialists of physical education, sports and primary education. It discusses the problems of teaching
and learning standard language and the language for special purposes. The research data are interpreted in the
context of globalization. They encourage us to think over the urgent problems of using the national language while
students continue their studies and make their careers in Europe. The article emphasizes the necessity of creating
the learning environment corresponding to the needs and experience of learners. The research object is the studies
of standard language and language for special purposes of would-be physical education and sports specialists. The
research subject is the language competence of would-be physical education and sports specialists. The aim of the
research is to reveal the urgent problems of studying standard language and the language for special purposes. The
research results suggest that at the beginning of the course of the language for special purposes the teachers should
evaluate the students’ knowledge and skills of standard Lithuanian in order to create a learning environment cor-
responding to the needs of learners. Would-be specialists of physical education need methodical recommendations
how to develop their pupils’ spoken language in physical education lessons. The course of the fundamentals of such
methods should be associated with teaching standard language and the language for special purposes in a higher
school. In the course of standard language and the language for special purposes for physical education specialists
and sports coaches it is necessary to clearly defi ne the requirements of the systemic language course and the objec-
tives of communicative language teaching. The most important thing is that specialty teachers should pay attention
not only to the content of students’ written work, but also to the use of professional terms and the inaccuracy of word
building or style mistakes.

Keywords: language for special purposes, standard language, higher education.