Keyword: «social and cultural competence»

The paper deals with the ways of students’ social competence formation. Basic requirements for the selection of materials for its formation are stated. The importance of work with periodicals and learning the language of newspapers in order to increase students’ educational level is underlined. The main stages of work with newspaper publications are provided.

In the Russian education system, game-based learning is gaining increasing popularity due to its appeal to modern students. Quest, as an interactive game technology, is widely used for developing foreign language communicative competence. However, the analysis of literature shows that typically web quests, rather than offline quests, are used for developing socio-cultural competence. The aim of this article is to study the motivational and didactic potential of offline quests in forming students’ socio-cultural portrait of their native country by means of a foreign language. This paper uses the English language teaching as an example. The methodological basis of the research includes: a multicultural approach in foreign language teaching, ideas of gamification in education, concepts of interactive foreign language learning and developing motivation, the concept of developing learners’ socio-cultural competence, and an algorithm for using quests in foreign language teaching. The authors conducted a trial experimental study to determine the learners’ attitudes towards quests as a means of acquiring knowledge about their native country in a foreign language. They also assessed the effectiveness of quest technology in generating this knowledge. The authors developed and implemented a quest called "Let Us Travel around Russia" for students aged 15–17, and conducted a questionnaire and post-quest testing. The research showed the following results: 1) the analysis of the questionnaire revealed a positive attitude of students towards participating in an offline quest in a foreign language and studying socio-cultural material about their native country in this format; 2) the analysis of the tests showed the effectiveness of developing learners’ knowledge after the quest. The theoretical significance of the study lies in the systematic analysis of scientific and methodological literature on the issue of using quests for the development of socio-cultural competence. The study also has practical significance since the developed tasks can be used both for conducting similar quests and for classroom work aimed at forming students' socio-cultural competence.