Problems of training pre-service teachers of a second foreign language (German based on English)

The article deals with the results of a study of the problems and difficulties of training pre-service teachers of a second foreign language (German based on English) and suggests ways to overcome them in order to improve the efficiency and quality of teaching. Based on many years of experience in teaching German as a second foreign language and the analysis of the results of the questionnaire of undergraduate students majoring in A4 ″Secondary Education″ (specialisation A4.021 ″English Language and foreign Literature″), the main problems in training pre-service teachers of a second foreign language were identified. These include the lack of a standard curriculum and standard requirements for the level of proficiency in a second foreign language by graduates of higher education institutions, insufficient classroom hours, a lack of textbooks that take into account the experience of learning the first foreign language (particularly German based on English), and insuff icient development of methods for teaching a second foreign language in higher education institutions. Other problems include the low quality of second foreign language teaching in general secondary education institutions, gaps in students’ philological training, and insufficient development of learning strategies and communicative and cognitive skills necessary for comparative language learning. Possible ways to optimise second language teaching with regard to the identified problems are considered. The key areas of improvement include: developing textbooks and manuals for the second foreign language, particularly German based on English, taking into account modern teaching concepts; training teachers and lecturers to teach the second foreign language; increasing the number of classroom hours for future teachers to study it; developing a methodology for forming students’ learning-strategic competence through comparative study of the second foreign language based on the first (German after English).