Linguocultural Approach in Teaching Russian at University to the Prospective Teachers of Russian

The article explores the concept of linguocultural competence as a key component of the professional expertise of a future philology teacher. Various approaches to its definition are analyzed, and our own interpretation of this phenomenon is given. It is concluded that a high level of linguocultural competence of a future Russian language teacher is a condition for its effective professional activity. A mandatory component of a philologist teacher's professionalism is linguocultural competence, the formation of which implies awareness of language as a form of expression of national culture, the relationship between language and the history of the people, the national and cultural specifics of the Russian language and speech behavior, the Russian language picture of the world, mastery of nationally marked language units, speech etiquette, and the culture of interethnic communication. The article discusses how to work on the formation of linguocultural competence of students, names methodological techniques, tasks, exercises, and other types of work that contribute to the implementation of a linguocultural approach to teaching students the Russian language. In addition, the study demonstrates the results of questionnaire regarding the learning about target language culture. It highlights various aspects, such as the significance of cultural knowledge in language acquisition, learners’ perceptions of cultural content in their studies, and the impact of cultural awareness on language proficiency.