Visualization tools as a method of working with text in the specialty "Economics" in the Chinese audience

Introduction. New requirements for the competencies of economic specialists in an intensively changing international situation dictate the need to apply a new format for teaching the language of the specialty in a foreign language (in this case, in Russian), a format characterized by maximum efficiency and productivity and focused on the specifics of students. It is also necessary to define learning strategies for working with text in the specialty as a basic element in the development of professional competencies among students. The new format of teaching the language of the specialty necessitates the use of information visualization technology as one of the most advanced at the present time. The purpose of the study is to identify / establish a set of the most effective visualization tools when working with the language of the specialty in the profile "Economics" in the Chinese audience. Methods and materials. The experimental basis of the study was a group of Chinese students of the economic profile of Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University (Russian Federation). A total of 40 students took part in the experiment. The questionnaire developed by the authors included questions concerning the specifics of the visual component, the degree of difficulty / lightness of the text depending on the type of visual medium, as well as the percentage of efficiency of processing, assimilation and reproduction of information. Results. It was revealed that Chinese students, when working with economic texts, perceive infographics better as visual accompaniment – 25% and a flowchart – 25%, that is, these components facilitate the primary perception of the text. The students pointed out the low informative content of the graph and its complementary nature, 36% of respondents considered the text with the graph to be the most difficult, 19% also considered the drawing to be uninformative. When comparing texts with different types of visualization, the text with a diagram was called absolutely easy, and the text with a graph was called absolutely difficult. In turn, the majority of respondents indicated that when retelling a text, they are more often guided by a plan, keywords and a scheme created on the basis of the text. 36% of Chinese trainees considered a diagram to be the most preferred way of visualization in the text, 24% – infographics and 16% – keywords. The drawing and graph were considered uninformative. Conclusion. The conducted experiment confirmed the peculiarities of the perception of texts in the specialty by Chinese students, and also helped to identify the most effective visualization tools for this contingent. The data obtained can be used to create textbooks on Russian as a foreign language for Chinese economics students.