Linguistic competence is the key to the development of «soft skills» of future physicians

The article deals with the issue of future doctors' soft skills formation on the basis of linguistic competence of higher education students. It presents the scientists' views on the definition, classification, and peculiarities of the development of students' soft skills. Soft skills of future specialists are viewed as an integral quality including interrelated competencies (personal, professional, cultural, communicative, informational, leadership), contributing to personal and professional development and effective social interaction. The classification of soft skills of future specialists includes communicative, management, leadership, social, mental, organizational, and personal skills. The article defines basic scientific approaches on pacularities of future specialists' linguistic competence (competence-based, axiological, systemic, activity-based, cultural, communicative). It finds out that linguistic competence of future physicians is an integrative quality of future medical specialists' personality containing a set of linguistic knowledge, skills, abilities, value orientations, motives, emotional and volitional processes of professional and personal communication aimed at effective professional realization. Linguistic competence of future physicians includes the following components: linguistic awareness, linguistic activity, linguistic value, emotional stability, professional competitiveness. The peculiarities of physicians' professional activity are presented through their communicative ability, which belongs to the soft skills group, where linguistic competence plays a key role. The arguments to prove that linguistic competence is an integral element in the development of future doctors'soft skills are provided.