Cognitive strategies for the assimilation of specialized vocabulary on industrial ecology in a foreign language by adult learners

Abstract

This study is devoted to the development and evaluation of the effectiveness of cognitive strategies for the assimilation of specialized vocabulary of industrial ecology in a foreign language by adult learners. The relevance of the work is due to the growing international cooperation in the field of environmental standards and the need to train specialists who are able to competently use professional terminology in a foreign language in real production and regulatory contexts. Adult learners face a double challenge: mastering complex environmental concepts and correctly verbalizing them in a non-native language, while traditional teaching methods often do not take into account their cognitive characteristics and professional experience. The work uses an integrated approach combining theoretical literature analysis and empirical methods. The theoretical stage included the identification of key terms of industrial ecology (environmental management, pollution control, waste management, resource efficiency) and the analysis of existing adult education methods. The empirical stage consisted of a series of surveys, testing, and interviews with focus groups of adult learners (n=60) who differ in language proficiency and professional experience. The methods of interview content analysis, correlation and factor analysis of test data were used. Two groups were experimentally compared: Group A, which used purposeful cognitive strategies (mnemonic techniques, associative maps, contextual learning based on real cases, self-control strategies), and Group B, which was trained using a standard methodology. The results showed a statistically significant advantage of Group A in all key indicators: terminology acquisition (oral speech: 76.48 vs 69.52 points, p<0.05; reading: 82.19 vs 80.05; translation: 78.34 vs 74.27), the proportion of active vocabulary (62.51% vs 55.89%) and the accuracy of its use in writing and various communicative situations (official correspondence, audit). The learning dynamics in Group A was also higher. The effectiveness of cognitive strategies turned out to be especially noticeable for complex, verbose terminology and directly correlated with the level of motivation and involvement of students. Professional experience in the field of production had a positive effect on the speed of assimilation. The study confirms that the systematic use of cognitive strategies (associative, mnemonic, contextual, and reflexive) significantly increases the depth, speed, and stability of learning specialized vocabulary of industrial ecology by adults in a foreign language. The data obtained substantiate the need to implement these strategies in professional retraining and corporate training programs, with an emphasis on practice-oriented tasks, a differentiated approach, and strengthening the motivational component to maximize the integration of terminology into real professional communication.