THE COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH AS A WAY TO OPTIMIZE THE PROCESS OF SOCIO-CULTURAL ADAPTATION OF FOREIGN STUDENTS

Sheveleva Nikolaevna Tatyana, Radkevich Anna Valeryevna

The relevance of the research topic is determined by the need for full integration of a foreign student into the sociocultural environment of the country of the studied language. The process of sociocultural adaptation can be represented as «person - language – society» model, where a person is the psychological and sociocultural characteristics of a foreign speaker's personality, language is directly a learning process, which is considered as «point of contact» between a foreign speaker and his environment. The «society» component represents the acquaintance of a foreign speaker with the socio-cultural characteristics of Russia, his preparation for an active social role in a foreign-speaking environment. In this regard, the use of the means of a communicative approach for successful integration into Russian society and the Russian education system seems to be the most effective. The use of the means of a communicative approach is most effective when immersed in a language environment, helps to remove the language barrier and psychological difficulties of communication, helps students to get out of the «comfort zone», which is necessary for the successful social integration of a foreigner. The article clarifies and analyzes the difficulties of the process of sociocultural integration of foreign students, identifies and describes the most effective methods of the communicative approach as a way to optimize the sociocultural adaptation of foreign students.

Keywords:sociocultural adaptation, multicultural environment, foreign student, sociocultural reality, communicative approach, language barrier, problem-based learning, immersion in a language environment