THE LEXICAL APPROACH IN TEACHING ENGLISH FOR ECONOMICS ONLINE

The article is devoted to the topical problem of teaching English for Special Purposes (ESP) to students of Economics. The authors consider ESP teaching in the context of transferable skills. It is absolutely necessary for students to foster these skills to become qualified and successful specialists in any field. The authors' focus is teaching English for Economics with the help of modern information technology. The presence of a significant number of terms and idiomatic expressions in English for Economics makes the Lexical Approach especially effective while fostering the foreign-language professional competence of future economists. To determine the level of students' awareness of various Internet services that can be used for teaching ESP, including those aimed at training and drilling certain language skills, an online Google Forms survey was conducted. Due to the threat of coronavirus proliferation, St Petersburg State University switched to distance learning in the blink of an eye. Students have learnt a large number of Internet services. Foreign language teachers have been using them daily, not only for homework, but also for online activities in class. The survey was completed by 1,892 students of St Petersburg State University. The results of the survey strongly indicate a high level of IT competence of the students. The most popular platforms and services are identified, including those that form foreign language competence using the Lexical Approach. (C) 2020 Published by European Publisher.