Improving Students’ Cognitive Competence in Higher Educational Institutions (On the Example of Foreign Language Teaching)

Cognitive competence — the capacity to process, integrate and apply knowledge flexibly — is a decisive factor in the academic success of university students. In the domain of foreign‑language teaching, cognition interacts with metacognition, motivation and linguistic proficiency, forming a multilayer construct that determines how effectively learners internalise and transfer linguistic knowledge to communicative situations. The present study investigates pedagogical interventions aimed at enhancing cognitive competence among second‑year undergraduates majoring in English Philology at two Uzbek universities. A quasi‑experimental design compared a cognitively‑enriched syllabus that embedded problem‑based tasks, dialogic reflection and inductive grammar discovery with a conventional skills‑driven curriculum. Cognitive progress was measured with the Adapted Scale of Cognitive Competence (ASCC) and triangulated via think‑aloud protocols. Quantitative results demonstrate a statistically significant improvement in the experimental group (p < 0.01), while qualitative data reveal heightened strategic awareness and transfer of knowledge across disciplinary boundaries. The findings confirm that systematic cognitive scaffolding within foreign‑language instruction not only accelerates linguistic attainment but also cultivates transferable intellectual skills essential to contemporary higher education.