Academic Essay and Its Role in the Formation of Students’ Written Competence

Abstract

The article is devoted to a question of a role and the place of the academic (educational)
essay in terms of formation of writing academic competence of the university student. The concept
«academic» and its derivatives such as «academic competence», «academic writing», and « academic
literacy» traditionally contact with the learning of foreign languages. However this problem becomes
relevant in modern conditions of decrease in the general culture of students (speech, reader’s). It was
testified by the polemic of the last years among the Russian linguists and education researchers as well.
The description of the substantial and formal properties defining a genre «academic essay» are offered
in the article, also the essay typology depending on an educational or professional situation is described.
In conclusion of article, the author proposes the measures aimed at improving a training system, taking
into account specifics of preparation of the competitive expert with a more active inclusion of range of
educational essays (written works) including in forms of a final assessment