Verbal skills development in Azerbaijani students in Russian language classes by role-playing games

The study describes the role-playing game techniques applied at the initial stage of learning Russian as a foreign language in primary school. The development of verbal communication in the Russian language in school students by means of the above-mentioned games is discussed in the context of the basic Education Concept of the Azerbaijan Republic (National Curriculum). The paper presents the results of a pilot study on using the role-playing games in Russian language classes. It compares the verbal skills (communication and pronunciation skills, understanding of speech patterns) of the experimental and control groups in primary school. The research reveals the positive effect of the role-playing games on the development of verbal skills and communicative competence of the experimental group students. Moreover, it shows that their motivation for studying the Russian language is increased.