Practical implementation of blended learning in terms of English as a foreign language at technical universities

The present day economic and political situation requires specialists who are both knowledgeable in their field and able to communicate in a foreign language as there are a lot of opportunities for professional development and exchange of experience, as well as overseas career prospects. This is especially true for professionals in technical areas such as gas, oil and electronics. Tomsk universities are known for their high level of educational standards, but there is a clear lack of academic hours allocated for learning foreign languages in technical higher schools. That is why we are looking for new ways of reinforcing foreign languages acquisition by our students to make them better equipped for the future. In our paper we discuss opportunities of adopting blended learning for teaching foreign languages at National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University. The topic under consideration is urgent as blended learning provides opportunities for students to master a foreign language to the degree required of today's specialists in technical areas and allows us as teachers to accomplish this task in the limited amount of academic hours allocated for studying foreign languages by the curriculum. The discussion in the present paper is based on the results of incorporating blended learning in one of the courses offered by NR TPU in academic year 2014/2015.