Language, Individual & Society, Volume 15, 2021

Abstract: The requirements of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) have caused significant pressure on doctoral programmes. In this context, doctoral students are expected to be not only technologically literate but fluent in foreign languages, especially English as it has become a lingua franca of science and technology. The author attempts to identify the most effective ways of improving English language skills of doctoral students. Following from the competence-based approach as a methodological basis for the implementation of the modern educational standard for doctoral studies, the author presents the concept of the university textbook that was specially designed to develop linguistic and communicative competencies of doctoral students at the Faculty of Manufacturing Technologies within the compulsory discipline “English for Doctoral Students”. Special attention is being paid to the learning modules and their content designed to develop target competencies. Learning modules were created in virtual learning environment and implemented into the Moodle platform of the Technical University of Košice as the online English language course for doctoral students. The course in available at http://web.tuke.sk/fvt-engeru/ to serve the needs of the Faculty of Manufacturing Technologies as well as other technically oriented faculties and universities.