Abstract:

The article focuses on a new B 1 Plus Exam in Russian as a foreign language for the international students coming to study in Russia. The authors analyze the correlation between the exam content and the communicative purposes of the foreign citizens who enter higher educational institutions in the Russian Federation.

B 1 Plus Exam is new in the Russian as a foreign language exams practice; it is being developed as the means of academic adaptation of foreign students. B 1 Plus Exam developers take into consideration the important role of the academic vocabulary. The exam tasks check not only the knowledge of the Russian as a foreign language but also the knowledge of scientific terminology: the test content corresponds to the requirements of the communication spheres typical for a foreign student living and studying in Russia. The exam model described by the authors incorporates Russian as a foreign language traditional exam content and the academic vocabulary and grammar.

The purpose of the article is to analyze the perspectives of the exam as a unified pre-university course-leaving exam for all Russian universities: the new exam requirements could influence the core curriculum of pre-university language course for foreign students in the Russian Federation.

Keywords:

Pre-university language course, course-leaving exam, Russian as a foreign language, academic adaptation.