Complex communicative and cognitive tasks in teaching a foreign language to students of information technology training areas

Importance. The information technology sphere has been defined by the President of the Russian Federation as one of the priorities for the development of the country’s economy and maintaining its independence status. Higher education in the field of information technology makes a significant contribution to the formation of the personnel of the industry. The purpose of education at the university is to form a highly professional personality of an IT specialist with a range of competencies. Among them, competencies related to the ability to independently obtain the necessary information, constantly update professional knowledge and experience in the rapidly developing technology sector play a special role. The need to catch up with more successful players in the field of high-tech solutions (USA, China, South Korea) determines the important role of a foreign language in the professional training of computer science students. The focus of the research is on a specific type of foreign-language educational activity – complex communicative and cognitive tasks designed to model the conditions of interrelated foreign-language communicative and intellectual activities of students.Research Methods. To conduct the research, theoretical methods are used: the study of scientific literature, analysis, generalization, synthesis of the main provisions, on the basis of which practical methods are implemented – modeling and description of students’ speech-thinking activity in the course of solving complex communicative and cognitive tasks.Results and Discussion. The theoretical justification and practical illustration of the algorithm for creating a complex communicative and cognitive task are presented. The principles of learning based on complex communicative and cognitive tasks are highlighted, an algorithm for selecting content and teaching methods are presented. A specific example of a task for the purposes of higher education is given.Conclusion. The authenticity of the quasi-professional experience obtained during the learning process can be achieved through the integration of communicative and intellectual activities in the professional field. The “brainwork-speech” dichotomy can be implemented in practical pedagogical activities on the basis of complex communicative-cognitive learning problems.