About department

The concept of continuous cross-cutting foreign language education, along with the need to enhance the competitiveness of Ukrainian specialists in various fields of science and technology, has prompted the Faculty of Linguistics to ensure that the university produces highly qualified staff capable of teaching foreign languages for professional purposes.
In 2006, the Department of English for Engineering No. 1 was established in response to new guidelines for foreign language training and has been successfully operating ever since. Since its inception, the department has been led by highly qualified academic staff, experienced organizers, and dedicated professionals from Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, who have significantly contributed to its development. Notable leaders include Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Professor Nataliia SAIENKO; Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Associate Professor Yuliia OLIZYKO; Candidate of Philological Sciences Yana HRYSHCHENKO; Candidate of Philological Sciences Oksana SEMIDA; and Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor Inna AHMAD.
From 2022 to 2024, Doctor of Philology, Professor Artur H. GUDMANIAN served as the Head of the Department, making substantial contributions to its scientific and pedagogical activities and establishing new traditions that continue to thrive today. Since 2024, Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Professor Olena MOSKALENKO has taken on the role of acting Head of the Department. She is actively developing the department’s scientific and international activities, promoting participation in educational and scientific projects, internships, and events, while also enhancing the department’s corporate culture and professional image.
Currently, the department comprises 29 qualified academic staff members, including 1 professor, 10 PhD holders (8 of whom are associate professors), 2 doctors of philosophy, 7 senior lecturers, and 13 lecturers. Since the department’s founding, 37 graduates from the Faculty of Linguistics have joined its staff.
The department is dedicated to advancing its research activities. The Faculty of Linguistics publishes a category B scientific journal, Advanced Linguistics, with Olena Moskalenko serving as the editor-in-chief. This journal encompasses a wide range of research areas, including general linguistics, sociolinguistics, pragmatics, cognitive science, psycholinguistics, discourse studies, paralinguistics, emotiology, linguistic anthropology, corpus linguistics, comparative and historical linguistics, computer linguistics, intercultural communication, literary studies, pedagogy, and foreign language teaching.
The department’s scientific activity aligns with the initiative theme of the Faculty of Linguistics titled “Strategies for Ensuring the Quality of Professional and Foreign Language Training of Future Specialists in a Polytechnic Higher Education Institution” (registration number 0120U104866). The scientific and pedagogical staff engage in in-depth research, publish articles in leading domestic and international journals indexed in the Scopus and Web of Science databases, and defend dissertations on essential topics related to teaching methods for specialists in various engineering disciplines. For several consecutive years, the department has organized the International Scientific and Practical Conference “Corpora and Discourse,” which unites highly qualified specialists, translators, teachers, and scholars from around the world.
The department offers courses such as “Practical Foreign Language Course,” “Practical ESP Course,” “Practical English for Business Communication Course,” “Practical English for Scientific Communication Course,” and “English for Research” to more than 4,500 full-time and part-time students from the Educational and Research Institute of Energy Saving and Energy Management – IEE, Educational and Research Institute of Institute of Nuclear and Thermal Energy – IATE, Faculty of Electronics – FEL, Faculty of Electric Power Engineering and Automatics – FEA and Faculty of Chemical Technology – XTF.

The department’s development focuses on several key priority areas:

1. Providing highly qualified instruction in English for professional and academic purposes.
2. Fostering international cooperation and engaging in educational projects.
3. Developing educational and methodological support for teaching various educational components.
4. Researching foreign language training for future specialists in a polytechnic higher education setting.
5. Offering advisory assistance to higher education students and preparing them for participation in competitions, conferences, and international programs.
6. Developing methods and strategies for translating technical documentation, including installation instructions and technical specifications.
7. Conducting research and developing terminology databases to facilitate the effective translation of terms in engineering and technology.
8. Training students in specific vocabulary and speech structures necessary for engineers working in international team projects.
9. Utilizing innovative technologies and software to automate technical translation and enhance its quality.
10. Studying the impact of cultural differences on international technical communications and their effect on collaboration effectiveness.

The department actively collaborates with graduating departments of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute and related departments of other higher education institutions. Annually, scientific conferences are held in which first- and second-year students present their research on global scientific achievements, while senior bachelor’s and master’s students deliver presentations in English on their research and participate in international projects.
A high level of English communicative competence in language instruction is achieved through communicative methods and the implementation of custom courses on the Sikorsky platform. By the end of the first level of education, students attain B2 and C1 language proficiency levels at the second and third levels of higher education.
The department staff actively explores current methodological issues related to teaching English for professional and academic purposes. Academic staff members undertake internships at leading universities in Ukraine and abroad, hold CELTA professional certification, and enhance their skills through training at the British Council in Ukraine and various professional language education organizations (IATEFL, TESOL, UATLA, UERA, UACLiP, etc.).
Over the past 16 years, significant projects have resulted from a long-term partnership with the British Council in Ukraine, particularly through the English for Universities project. This collaboration led to the development of the Conceptual Framework for State Policy on the Development of English in Higher Education in Ukraine, created in concert with the expertise of the department’s specialists.