The Problems of Russian-Speaking Students of non-Ninguistic Specializations in CAE Speaking. Test: Analysis of Teaching Experience

Abstract

Today Russian undergraduate students of non-linguistic specializations aspiring to careers in different spheres succeed in acquiring Certificates in Advanced English. Nevertheless, the candidates state that they experience the most serious difficulties while sitting the Speaking Test of the CAE exam as they lack oral language skills. The researched literature does not consider Russian students’ predicaments purposely and gives a broad overview of the main students’ concerns. This study is an attempt to explore the particular Russian students’ problems of forming oral language skills arising in the process of their training for the Speaking Test and to work out the ways of their remedies. Qualitative methods have allowed finding out the highly specific nature of individual experience. The methods used in the study also included an open-ended language learning questionnaire and a survey to support the assessment of the received data. The results indicate that there are quite a number of pedagogical and educational variables that should be permanently trained and developed as they can influence students’ success.