The Manual in conversational practice, second certificate level: content and structure

The article discusses a range of topics offered for discussion in colloquial lessons with advanced students that need to be included in the manual for the preparation for the examination for the second certification level, the methodology for working with this material, and also analyzes the results of approbation of the manual, including these themes, in groups of foreign students of the advanced stage of training. The topics offered to students should have a pragmatic focus, but at the same time affect the social problems of modern society. The structure of each thematic section (lesson) of the manual provides for the existence of a lexical minimum, texts with pre-textual and post-textual exercises serving as a starting point for discussion, models of dialogues and speech patterns, crosswords, and writing and listening exercises, since these aspects are impossible separate from each other and in the language practice they coexist. The novelty of this study is that we used authentic shortened texts of modern media for approbation at lessons in advanced level groups, concerning the most urgent and topical issues of our time (crime, politics, economics, science, environmental problems). The methods of investigation are experimental and descriptive. Students were offered to discuss texts on current social issues, which served as the material and basis for discussions and conversations in real life situations. In addition, all the structural elements of the manual developed are aimed at forming oral communication skills, conducting dialogue and polylogue, building a monologue, participating in real domestic and professional communication with native speakers. This research showed that all topics are of practical, professional interest to students, they are interested in discussions on these topics and, thanks to this, they are productive, because they allow students to communicate in everyday, social, and professional spheres.