In the context of increasing competition for the attention of academic journal editors, an author’s ability to effectively present a research idea at the stage of preliminary inquiry is gaining critical importance. This article examines the genre of the academic pitch (a concise presentation of a proposed article to an editor) as a meaningful form of scholarly interaction that requires precision, audience awareness, and motivational transparency. The first part of the article explains the growing relevance of pitches within current publishing practices and outlines their core rhetorical functions: articulating a clear research focus, identifying the target audience, justifying the timeliness of the topic, and presenting the author’s expertise. Drawing on editorial experience and an analysis of academic writing guides, the article then identifies common mistakes made by authors and offers practical strategies to avoid them. In conclusion, the pitch is positioned not as a mere formal element accompanying a manuscript, but as a legitimate mode of academic expression that can strengthen research culture and enhance the effectiveness of scholarly communication.

Introduction:  In contemporary labor markets, foreign language proficiency is increasingly recognized as a form of economic capital that influences employability, wage levels, and career mobility. While English remains the dominant working language in globally oriented industries, emerging trade partnerships and geopolitical real alignments are driving demand for linguistic diversification. However, empirical evidence on language-related labor market outcomes remains limited in non-Western contexts, including Russia.

Purpose: To examine the structure of demand for foreign language skills in the Russian labor market. It investigates variations across sectors and regions and assesses whether specific languages are associated with wage premiums.

Materials and Methods:  A total of 1,257 job postings with explicit foreign language requirements were collected from three major Russian employment platforms (hh.ru, SuperJob, and Avito) during the first quarter of 2025. The postings were manually annotated and categorized using ISCO-08 and Russian occupational codes. Descriptive statistics, frequency distributions, and salary comparisons were performed using Python (pandas, seaborn, scikit-learn). A control group of 980 language-neutral postings was selected for comparative salary analysis, matched by industry and job level.

Results:  English was the most frequently required language, accounting for 84.7% of all mentions, followed by Chinese (5.2%), Korean (3.4%), and German (2.9%). The median salary for language-required positions was 94,500 RUB, compared to 72,000 RUB for language-neutral postings. The highest language premiums were observed for Mandarin Chinese (+32,000 RUB) and German (+29,000 RUB). Sectoral analysis revealed that language-related wage advantages were most pronounced in IT, finance, and procurement. Regional variations indicated stronger demand for Asian languages in the Far East and Turkic or Arabic languages in the Volga and North Caucasus regions.

Conclusion:  The findings confirm that foreign language skills constitute a significant and unevenly distributed asset in the Russian labor market. While English maintains its dominance, regional and sectoral patterns reflect growing linguistic diversification due to economic reorientation. These insights contribute to ongoing debates on language policy, educational alignment, and the economic value of multilingualism in transitional economies.

Introduction: The contemporary system of secondary vocational education faces the dual challenge of developing students’ professional competencies and supporting their career self-determination. Increasingly, educators seek instructional approaches that integrate subject content with career-building goals.

Purpose: To explore the potential of integrative learning as a tool for shaping career orientations among vocational college students.

Materials and Methods: A mixed-methods design was employed, including observation, student surveys (n = 72), written reflections, and thematic content analysis. The empirical basis of the study was a team-taught (binary) lesson in mathematics and English, designed in accordance with the professional focus of students majoring in logistics and tourism.

Results: Behavioral indicators demonstrated a high level of professional engagement: 87.5% of students actively participated in case discussions, 66.7% showed semantic initiative, and 61.1% displayed signs of career-related reflection. Thematic analysis of student statements revealed four dominant categories highlighting the perceived connection between education and professional trajectories.

Conclusion: The findings suggest that even a single integrative lesson, when explicitly linked to students’ future professions, can serve as a catalyst for the development of career orientations and agentic positioning. The proposed approach can be scaled within the vocational education and training (VET) system as a pedagogical means of supporting students’ career self-determination.

Introduction: Against the backdrop of increasing globalization and the transnational nature of the geological profession, foreign language proficiency has become a key prerequisite for professional mobility, participation in international projects, and access to up-to-date scientific knowledge. However, the content of language courses offered in Russian universities often fails to align with the specific professional needs of future geologists. This misalignment between educational preparation and professional expectations calls for empirical investigation.

Purpose: To identify the linguistic needs, preferences, and genre-related deficits of geology students in Russian universities, and to assess the degree to which current language courses meet their professional communication demands.

Materials and Methods: This study employed a mixed-methods design combining quantitative and qualitative approaches. A structured questionnaire was administered to 150 third- and fourth-year geology students from three major Russian universities (RUDN University, Lomonosov Moscow State University, and the Russian State Geological Prospecting University). Participants were deliberately selected based on the absence of prior training in academic writing or scientific communication. The questionnaire included scaled, open-ended, and semi-open questions aimed at identifying CEFR-level self-assessments, preferred languages, perceived importance of various language activities, and genre-specific difficulties. Additionally, 15 semi-structured interviews were conducted to deepen the findings. Survey data were analyzed statistically, while interview transcripts were thematically coded (Braun & Clarke, 2006).

Results: Findings indicate that English is overwhelmingly perceived as the primary language for professional communication (97%), especially in relation to reading scientific literature, writing reports, and engaging in international collaborations. The most frequently reported skill deficits concern academic reading and professional writing. Only 11% of students believe that their current language courses fully address their professional needs, while over 30% rate them as inadequate. Interview data confirmed limited genre competence and highlighted a strong demand for more professionally immersive language instruction. Students also expressed high motivation to develop their linguistic proficiency and emphasized the importance of practice-oriented language learning.

Conclusion: The results point to an urgent need to restructure foreign language education for geology students in favor of ESP-oriented programs tailored to disciplinary specifics. Core directions for modernization should include genre-based instruction, a balanced focus on written and oral professional communication, and interdisciplinary collaboration between language instructors and subject-matter experts. The findings may inform the development of applied teaching modules and serve as a foundation for revising foreign language curricula in technical and natural science programs.

Introduction: Spoken and written academic discourse in the university context serves not only communicative but also formative functions. Through mastering both modalities, future professionals learn how to present knowledge within their disciplinary fields. However, differences between spoken and written forms of academic discourse are rarely addressed as a pedagogically significant issue. These distinctions are especially underexplored in local educational contexts, where systematic training in multimodal academic communication is often lacking.

Purpose: This study aims to identify rhetorical and structural differences between spoken and written forms of academic discourse in a professionally-oriented university environment and to explore how these differences can be used to improve the preparation of students, doctoral candidates, and university instructors.

Materials and Methods: The corpus for this research consisted of 60 texts: 30 spoken (recordings of academic presentations) and 30 written (published academic articles), collected from respondents representing four academic and professional domains - law, information technology, education, and biomedicine. The study employed methods of corpus annotation, discourse analysis, and frequency-based statistics. The analysis focused on five key parameters: cohesion, authorial stance, nominalization, rhetorical structure, and audience-directed communication strategies.

Results: The findings reveal stable modality-based distinctions: spoken discourse is marked by greater authorial explicitness, direct engagement strategies, and a prevalence of verbal constructions, while written discourse is characterized by a higher degree of nominalization, conceptual density, and formalized rhetorical presentation. These differences are further accentuated across educational levels: instructors demonstrate the highest degree of rhetorical awareness, while students show the least. Doctoral candidates occupy a transitional position and require specific pedagogical support.

Conclusion: Spoken and written academic discourse shape different dimensions of professional competence. Effective academic training should take into account the modality-specific nature of discourse and include integrated instructional formats that foster rhetorical adaptability and genre awareness in both spoken and written forms of academic communication.