Digital teaching tools as a means of improving the effectiveness of teaching foreign languages in non-linguistic universities

The new information stage of the development of human society sets a new vector for the pedagogical science development and makes university teachers use digital pedagogical tools in teaching foreign languages which include: electronic textbooks, MOOCs, educational feature films, video and audio podcasts, online tests, and online educational forums. The authors consider various types of video materials offered on the Internet; provide a theoretical justification for the need to use these materials in the process of teaching foreign languages in non-linguistic universities. The paper identifies the specifics of organizing the teaching process using these video films. The article presents the results of an empirical study of students ’ participation in an experiment, during which they watched authentic feature films produced in the UK, USA and Australia independently on the Internet in order to identify differences in the British, American and Australian versions of the English language. The results of the study prove the high efficiency of using video materials in the educational process, which are easy to access on the Internet thanks to the development of information technologies.