Abstract:

Today, in the teaching of foreign languages, it becomes obvious that a significant increase in the level of teaching communication, effective interaction between people of different nationalities can be achieved only when taking into account the socio-cultural component, which is an integral part of communicative competence. Domestic and foreign authors see the need for teaching not only language, but also culture in order to form sociocultural competence in teaching foreign languages as an integral part of language acquisition and the acquisition of knowledge of intercultural communication.
When learning a foreign language, students discover a whole range of facts and information related not to phonetics, grammar or vocabulary, but to various aspects of the social or historical spheres. This once again emphasizes the need for a joint study of the language and the culture of the people speaking it - the history, geography, economy, politics, life, traditions and customs of the country. The complex of this information is usually denoted by the term “regional studies”, which appeared in the 80s of the 19th century, and the methodology of teaching a foreign language, taking into account this information, is called linguistic and regional studies.
The purpose of this article is to consider the main approaches to the interpretation of this idea, as well as to identify favorable conditions and ways of creating the links between culture and language teaching. The research reveals the ways cultural values are reflected in grammatical phenomena of the language. The authors have carried out an experiment with the students of the second year of studies in the Institute of international relations of KFU (Kazan, RF). In the lessons of grammar, we used a set of exercises developed by us aimed at active implementation of linguistic and cultural approach to each topic studied. The complex of linguistic and cultural exercises covers the topics studied by students in the course “Practical grammar of the English language”: modal verbs and non-finite forms of the verbs. The level of knowledge about the grammatical structures studied was tested before and after the introduction of the set of exercises and was compared with the results shown by the students of the same year of studies doing the same course but without introduction of linguistic and cultural exercises. The average score in both groups differs by 2.2 points, which indicates a higher level of formation of grammatical skills of the group involved into the experiment as a result of the implementation of our complex of linguistic and cultural exercises and high efficiency of application of linguocultural and regional studies approach in practical grammar classes.
Thus, the application of the linguocultural and regional studies approach in teaching practical grammar of a foreign language has a great educational potential, which allows students to master the grammatical material presented in conjunction with linguistic component. Moreover, this approach allows broadening the cultural horizons, develop aesthetic tastes, thereby increasing the motivation to learn the language and culture of another country.

Keywords:

KFU, student, linguocultural and regional studies approach, English grammar, communication.