Improving multilingual competence in higher education: An integrated framework for parallel learning of two foreign languages

Objectives: The study aims to create a comprehensive framework for the effective organization of parallel teaching of two foreign languages in higher education in Kazakhstan, accounting for linguistic, psychological, didactic, and technological aspects. Methods: We used theoretical (modeling, analysis, and generalization) and empirical methods (pedagogical experiment, testing, questionnaires, and methods of mathematical statistics) in the research. An original structural and content model of parallel learning was developed, including interrelated blocks for the integrated formation of speech activity skills and a lexico–grammatical base in each of the languages. The effectiveness of the proposed model was confirmed during the pedagogical experiment, which was based on the Al-Farabi Kazakh National University and with the participation of 30 students in the specialty “Foreign Languages: Two Foreign Languages.” Results: According to the results of the experiment, the group that was trained according to the developed model achieved statistically significantly higher indicators in comparison with the control group for such criteria as the volume of lexico–grammatical material learned and the level of development of receptive (reading, listening) and productive (speaking, writing) types of speech activity as well as motivation to language learning. Conclusions: The obtained data indicate that the use of the developed model of parallel learning contributes to the improvement of the level of formation of students’ polylingual communicative competence. Implications: The study contributes to the theory and practice of multilingual education and offers a scientifically substantiated and experimentally tested tool for the implementation of parallel language teaching in higher education for the training of multilingual specialists capable of effective communication and activity in the global professional space.