Статья принята к публикации: 26.03.2025.

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One of the main goals of teaching a foreign language (FL) (foreign language culture) in high school is the development of the learner's personality, able and willing to participate in the intercultural communication in a FL.

In grades 10-11, the time comes for the consistent and systematic development of bilingual speech, socio-cultural and linguistic competence in pupils, and for the formation of the intercultural communication skills in English. At this stage, the volume of linguistic, country, linguo-cultural and subject knowledge of pupils acquired in the primary school is expanded, and the skills and abilities acquired earlier are improved. The volume of speech means also increases: the creative approach to a language, creative initiative in solving certain communicative tasks is formed and developed. The formation of skills and the abilities to understand authentic texts with a different level of penetration into their content, are acquired by pupils as well as the ability to convey the content of the text, to express their attitude to the topic, problem contained in the text continues. Moreover, the scope of students' country and linguistic knowledge expands, namely, the socio-cultural information about the life and activities of the people who speak the language, the country, its history, literature, art 0 that is, culture as a whole - is reflected in the vocabulary (background, linguo-country realities, cliches) [1].

In this regard, the "Federal State Educational Standard of Basic General Education" sets the following requirements to the level of the communicative competence formation.

Namely:

• 1.   In speech competence:

• •    In speaking:

• -    give brief information about their town, village, country and the countries of the target language.

• -    describe events and phenomena, convey the main content and the main idea of what has been read or heard, express their attitude to what has been read or heard, give a brief characterisation of characters;

• •    In Reading:

• -    read authentic texts of different genres and styles, mainly with understanding of the main content;

• -    read simple authentic texts of different genres and styles with full and accurate understanding and with the use of various methods of semantic processing of the text (language guessing, a selective translation),

as well as reference materials: be able to evaluate the information received, express their opinion;

• -    read authentic texts with selective understanding of reievant/necessary/interesting information.

• •    In listening:

• -    listen to and understand fully the speech of the teacher and classmates;

• -    listen to and understand the main content of the simple authentic audio and video texts of different communicative types of speech (mes-sage/story/interview);

• -    listen to and understand selectively with the help of the language guessing and context short simple authentic pragmatic audio and video texts, highlighting significant/necessary information.

• •    In the letter:

• -   to fill out questionnaires and forms:

• -    to write congratulations, personal letters with reference to the sample using the speech etiquette formulas accepted in the country/countries of the learnt language;

• -    to make plans, theses of an oral or written report; summarise the results of the project activities.

• 2.   In language competence:

• -    know the non-equivalent background vocabulary, realities within the studied topic, as well as certain aspects of the country of the language learnt;

• -    be able to use the colloquial forms and cliches of the ethical character in the specific situations of communication, be able to use knowledge of the historical, geographical, economic, political and cultural realities of the country of the learnt language in the course of constructing their own statements;

• -    be able to identify common features and differences in the spoken/written etiquette in the na-tive/non-native languages.

• 3.    In Sociocultural Competence:

• - an idea of the peculiarities of the way of life, everyday life and culture of the countries of the language learnt (world-famous sights, outstanding people and their contribution to the world culture).

• 4.    In the value-orientation sphere:

• - exposure to the values of the world culture both through the sources of information in the language and through direct participation in the school exchanges (footnote), tourist trips, youth forums [FSES, 2015].

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This stage also begins to familiarise high school students with the complexities of using descriptions of their own culture when communicating with people from other cultures.

So, the basis for describing the diagnosis of the level of the formation of students' sociocultural competence at the senior stage of the language learning is the "Federal State Educational Standard of the Secondary General Education". Pupils' activity in acquiring the sociocultural knowledge can be assessed according to the following criteria:

• 1)    linguo-country studies and country studies;

• 2)    ability to be a communicative partner in a communicative situation;

• 3)    lexico-grammatical correctness;

• 4)    the scope of a statement on a situation with a sociocultural focus.

Each criterion has its own indicator of the sociocultural competence development. In sum, these indicators determine its overall level.

The evaluation Criteria:

20-18 points - high level;

17-14 points is an average level;

13-9 points - low level;

• 8- 5 points - the level of the development of speaking skills is not manifested.

  
  

  Table 1: The description of the diagnostic criteria of the sociocultural competence development

  The indicators of the level of the development of the socio-cultural competence	Scores	Parameters
  High	"5"	1)    The learner uses linguistic and country knowledge in solving a communicative task and completing a test: 2)    The learner can solve a communicative task on a situation that has a communicative focus; 3)    The student makes no or few minor lexico-grammatical errors; 4)    The volume of statements on a situation with sociocultural orientation is at least 8-10 sentences;
  Medium	»4"	1)    The learner uses linguistic and country knowledge in solving a communicative task and completing a test: 2)    The learner can partially solve a communicative task on a communicative situation; 3)    The student makes several lexico-grammatical errors when solving a communicative task; 4)    The volume of a statement on a situation with socio-cultural orientation is at least 8 sentences;
  Low	"3"	1)    The learner uses linguistic and country knowledge in solving a communicative task and completing a test: 2)    The learner can partially solve the communicative task or cannot solve the communicative task; 3)    The student makes a large number of lexico-grammatical errors when solving a communicative task; 4)    The length of the utterance is less than 8 sentences;

  
  

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The experimental and exploratory research was conducted among the students of the 10-11th grades of several schools in the city of Elets, Lipetsk region: "Lyceum No. 5 of Elets", "Gymnasium No. 11 of Elets", "Gymnasium Ns 11 of Elets", "Gymnasium Ns 97 of Elets". We chose a group "A" for carrying out the pilot study. This group studies in parallel with the group "B", which has higher indicators of the level of general academic skills, education and learning. The group is moderately strong, the level of cognitive activity is high enough. Almost all the pupils prepare for each lesson and do their homework at a proper level. Group "A" is efficient and often ready for active work at the lesson. The level of the general academic skills, abilities, education and learning is average.

The research was designed and tested when studying the topic "Great Britain". The implementation of the experimental research was carried out with the help of the Spotlight textbook by Y.E. Vaulina, D. Duli, O.E. Podolyako, V. Evans. The teaching-methodical kit is a support for the study of foreign language culture.

The educational and methodical set includes:

• •   a textbook

• •   a workbook

• •   a teacher's book

• •   a reading book with CD

• •   language portfolio

• •   a classroom audio course

• •   an audio course for self-study at home

• •   a course of       websites

• •   a test book

• •   an electronic supplement to the textbook

with an audio course for self-study at home (ABBYY Lingvo).

The English language work programme for the grades 10-11 is designed in accordance with the requirements for the results of the basic secondary education, presented in the Federal State Educational Standard for Secondary Education. The author’s English language programme is oriented to work in the Russian general education institutions. The study of English in these groups is aimed at achieving the following objectives:

• 1.    The development of foreign language communicative competence in the totality of its components (speech competence, language competence,

• 2.    The development of students' personality by means of realising the educational potential of the English language. To form in pupils the need to study and master the language as a means of communication, cognition, self-realisation and social adaptation in a multicultural, multi-ethnic world in the conditions of globalisation on the basis of understanding the importance of studying the language as a means of communication and cognition in the modern world. To instill the necessity of using the language as a tool of communication at the intercul-tural level in oral and written forms, in "dialogues of cultures" (acquainting students with the peculiarities of life and everyday life not only of the people of the English-speaking countries, but also of Russians, with the spiritual heritage of Russia and its contribution to the world culture).

socio-cultural competence, compensatory competence, learning and cognitive competence);

The requirements to the level of training of pupils of the 10-11th grades: as a result of studying English at this level of education a pupil should know/un-derstand the basic meanings of the studied lexical units (the volume of lexical material is more than 1450 units, including more than 200 new units for the productive assimilation).

Students should know and be able to:

• -    to start, conduct/support and end a conversation in the standard communication situations, observing the norms of the speech etiquette, interrogating and clarifying if necessary;

• -    to ask the interlocutor and answer his/her questions, expressing their opinion, requests, respond to the interlocutor's proposal by agreeing/refusing, based on the studied topics and learnt lexico-gram-matical material;

• -    to tell about themselves, their family, friends, their interests and future plans, give brief information about their town/village, their country and the country of the target language;

• -    to make brief reports, describe events (within the passed topics), to convey the main content, the main idea of what has been read or heard, to express their attitude to what has been read/heard, to give a brief characterisation of characters; to use periphrase, the synonymic means in the process of oral communication;

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• -    to understand the main content of the short simple authentic pragmatic texts (weather forecasts, announcements at the railway station), and identify the relevant information:

• -    to understand the main content of the simple authentic texts belonging to different communicative types of speech (a message/story), be able to identify the topics of the text, highlight the main facts in the text, omitting the secondary ones;

• -    to use interrogation, asking you to repeat yourself:

• -    to navigate in a foreign-language text: predict its content from the title;

• -    to read authentic texts of different genres, mainly with understanding of the main content (identify the topic, highlight the main idea, identify the main facts, omitting the secondary facts, establish a logical sequence of the main facts of the text); read simple authentic texts of different genres with full and accurate understanding, using various techniques of the semantic processing of the text (language guessing, analysis, a selective translation), evaluate the information received, express their opinion;

• -    to read a text with selective understanding of the necessary or interesting information;

• -    to fill out the questionnaires and forms;

• -    to write congratulations, personal letters with reference to the sample: to ask the addressee about his/her life and affairs, to tell the same about himself/herself, to express gratitude, a request, using the formulas of speech etiquette accepted in the countries of the learnt language.

Sociocultural knowledge and skills in high school students'.

Students learn to communicate interpersonally and interculturally by applying knowledge. Students learn to communicate interpersonally and interculturally by applying the knowledge gained in the English lessons and other subjects.

Students should know:

• -    the most common thematic vocabulary and realities of the countries of the target language;

• -    socio-cultural portrait of the countries of the target language;

• -    speech differences in the formal and informal communication situations.

Having analysed the Spotlight teaching materials, we came to the conclusion that in order to implement the cultural development of students in high school by means of additional authentic materials, it is necessary to expand the sources of information, since the present teaching materials do not contain authentic texts, and therefore cannot fully create a complete picture of the country of the target language, realities, traditions, etc. [2].

This will make it possible to improve and develop the knowledge acquired by pupils in the secondary school, as well as to form new experience, so that pupils advance further in their practical mastery of the language (expansion of the vocabulary by means of vocabulary with the national-cultural colouring and realities) and additional information (history, sights, traditions of the country of the studied language), to continue their acquaintance with the culture of the country of the studied language [3].

Children of the senior school age are at the stage of maturation, their socio-cultural and age-specific characteristics differ significantly from those of younger and middle school age children. At this age there are significant changes in the personality development, behavior and relationships with peers and adults.

One of the main socio-cultural features of high school students is the formation of personality. They begin to think about their goals in life, set new tasks for themselves, and look for their place in society. They participate actively in the social life and in shaping the culture of their environment [4].

High school students also go through a phase of emotional and social development. They become increasingly independent from their families and turn to their peers for support and advice. They build their relationships on the basis of competition, friendship, love and co-operation.

The age peculiarities of the senior pupils are related to their physical and mental development. At this age, they strive for autonomy and independence from adults, but are often not ready to take responsibility for their actions. They may experience stress and insecurity, which can lead to conflicts with peers and adults [7].

In general, the socio-cultural and age characteristics of senior school students indicate that they are

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in a transitional age between childhood and adulthood. It is important to take these characteristics into account when working with them in order to help them pass successfully this period and become confident and responsible adults [9].

Learning activity acquires the qualities of subjectivity, which is expressed in the purposeful and motivated activity of students aimed at mastering learning activities.

The leading activity of adolescence, according to the psychologists, is intimate and personal communication with peers. It plays a special role in the formation of a form of self-consciousness specific to this age и the sense of adulthood. The intimate-personal communication with peers is a qualitatively new form of communication, the main content of which is the establishment and maintenance of relations with another person as an individual on the basis of moral and ethical norms of respect, equality, responsibility. The development of communication requires a qualitatively new level of mastering the means of communication, primarily speech. Self-determination in the system of values and the formation of the foundations of worldview in relation to the world, culture, society, education system create the basis for the formation of the civil identity of the individual and prepare for the choice of the profile education to build an individual educational trajectory [6,136].

The adolescent's attention becomes more stable, conscious and selective. The same applies to perception and memory. Thinking also changes D it becomes more creative on the one hand, and analytical on the other. Socially, this period is a continuation of the primary socialisation. Psychologists call this age extremely contradictory. These are schoolchildren who are dependent on their parents and whose leading activity is study. I.A. Zimnyaya notes that the most important psychological neo-formations of this age are a sense of adulthood, anticipation of the future [5, 23]. It is important to note that by this age, many schoolchildren are less interested in learning the language (the sense of novelty is lost), some of them have a certain pedagogical neglect and the need for a consistent differentiated, moreover, the individual approach increases.

Thus, at this stage, the use of additional teaching materials that increase motivation for learning the language is designed to promote the development of social activity, cognitive interests, independence, initiative and the emotional sphere of students.