Introduction. As part of the improvement of practice-oriented foreign language training of an IT industry specialist in the system of secondary vocational education, the need for the formation of a foreign language skill focused on a professional foreign language context has become more acute. It is a necessary tool in the professional activity of a future IT specialist to perform real production operations with foreign-language teams.
Aim. Substantiation of the approach to the context-oriented foreign language skill as an necessary system-forming element in the training of IT specialists, which is, in turn, an integral system education consisting of interrelated components.
Methods. The methodological basis of the study was a systematic approach, which allowed to specify the characteristics of the concept of ‘context-oriented foreign language skill. Main research methods: analysis of scientific articles that study the algorithm for the formation of foreign language skills.
Results. The necessity of the presence of a foreign language skill in the maintenance of professional competence and labor function of a future IT-industry specialist is substantiated. The efficiency of the approach to a foreign language skill as an integral system education, the structure of which is formed by interrelated contextual, content, technological and activity components, is demonstrated by the example of a set of reference exercises “English for IT-specialist”.
Scientific novelty. The contextual component, which is not always taken into account when studying a foreign language for professional purposes, is considered as an obligatory system-forming factor in the formation of a foreign language skill.
Practical significance. The structure of the text-oriented foreign language skill presented in the article makes it possible to improve the professionally-oriented foreign language training of an IT-specialist within the framework of the discipline “Foreign language in the professional activity” introduced into the curriculum.