№ 12 (Department of English Department of Foreign Languages Institute of Petrozavodsk State University, Petrozavodsk)

The issues of freedom of speech and press are discussed during the class in relation to mass media and shaping of public opinion.

The article discusses issues related to information exchange process in English with language majors. The author emphasises the importance of information exchange, analyses a number of key points and suggests a unified definition of information exchange in a language classroom. Detailed description of information exchange peculiarities is provided; potential risks and challenges are specified. The article contains sample tasks and activities aimed at stimulating information exchange. Conclusionsaredrawn.

The article describes the technique “passing on information around the circle” which can be used in teaching foreign languages to university students.

The article covers some practical issues of teaching phonetics. It highlights the importance of integrated work on developing phonetic and spelling skills. The authors describe and suggest some techniques to master spelling skills, which proved to be effective.

The article is devoted to the role of background knowledge necessary for understanding foreign language texts that are considered as information of the historical, philological and general cultural plan, the same for the author generating the text and the reader interpreting the text. Specific examples from the literary work clearly demonstrate the fact that certain background knowledge can influence the success of an understanding of a foreign language text.