Main goal
- Quality teaching of students of Navigation Faculty in compliance with the state educational standards, demands of the International Maritime Organization, and the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers
Main objectives
- practical, active acquisition of Maritime English by students that is necessary for their work on ships with multinational crews according to the guidelines stipulated by Model Course 3.17 “Maritime English” recommended by the International Maritime Organization
- developing students’ oral communicative proficiency in the English language in compliance with the training programmes “Maritime English” for the first and second-year students; “English for Specific Purposes” for the third and fourth-year students; “Business English” for the fifth-year students
- acquisition of the English language in written form, especially by master’s students
- teaching students on the basis of the principles of communicative and competency-based approaches as well as developing their competences in accordance with the requirements of the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers
- implementation of innovative teaching methods and technologies, in particular, deeper learning, active learning, blended learning which provide for students’ active involvement into the learning process and their skills improvement
Thus, the above objectives create the conditions for the department staff to carry out their activities in line with the imperatives of our times and at the level of the world educational standards, in particular, to train future seafarers who possess necessary competences for their work on board ships.
Main functions
- conduct practical lessons, consultations (to provide support for students in learning English), examinations and pass-fail examinations for full-time, part-time, distance forms of study, supervise students’ self-study in compliance with the approved training programmes
- monitor the quality of students’ studying the department disciplines and analyse the mid-year and final examination results
- elaborate and update the course books developed by the department teaching staff, tests on Moodle platform, methodological guidelines for teachers and students
- to elaborate training programmes of the department disciplines in time and with high quality
- conduct workshops on new teaching methods and technologies for the teachers and by the teachers
- conduct the scientific and practical conference “Innovative Tendencies in Teaching English for Specific purposes” (once per two years)
- collaborate with the teaching staff of the specialized departments (consultations, expert classes, course books content, mutual lesson attendance etc.)
- plan and promote qualification of the department teaching staff
- propose ideas on getting new furniture and equipment for implementing update teaching technologies and forming situational environment for speaking
- create a quality English language environment for developing students’ communicative skills beyond lessons
- involve students into research work with the aim of further participation in scientific conferences
- involve students into extracurricular activities conducted in English (“Speaking Club”, “Amazing Race”, student olympiads)
Development programme
- conduct research work in the topic “Implementation of active learning technologies into the training process to prepare students for effective maritime professional communication”: the relevance and considerable volume of the topic requires conducting research on such aspects as active learning strategies, methods of students’ active involvement and their implementation into blended and distance learning
- elaborate series of tasks for improving students’ writing skills and include them into the course books developed by the department teaching staff
- elaborate a new generation of course books to realize a tailored lesson based materials arrangement within topical modular planning
- realize consciously structured approach to the systematized self-study of part time students and students who study according to their individual plans
- Improve quality indicators of the teaching staff performance
The programme goals and objectives specified above can contribute to a higher level of the teachers’ awareness that effective mastery-based teaching and learning of Maritime English promotes mobility, flexibility and competitiveness of future seafarers. The teaching strategies suggested for further implementation should comply with these requirements.
Department location
English Language Department for Deck Officers is located in Room 305, Building 1 (20, Ushakova Ave.)