Contribution of Cross-Cultural Projects in Foreign Language Education of University Students (by the Example of Murom Institute)

At present it has become evident that one of the principle goals of teaching a foreign language is to develop communicative competence at the level sufficient enough for a student to be effective in the international environment. The research takes into account the tendency to nationalization (versus internationalization) of foreign language education in the countries outside the Anglo-Saxon world. The project approach to foreign language teaching involving (1) the shift from knowledgebased orientation to activity-directed learning and (2) the emphasis on the national culture reflected in the local cultural peculiarities of an ancient Russian town – Murom is applied in this research. The research is based on the analysis of the 18-year experience of cross-cultural projects implementation by Professors and students of Murom Institute in cooperation with different inter-national centers. Several types of cross-cultural projects on the basis of the local component have been differentiated in accordance with the initiating organ-ization, the purpose and contents, the place of implementation, the participants, time length. Local cultural competence as an integral part of intercultural competence is outlined. The most effective methods are described. The paper concludes that the applied approach is of great help to foreign language educators working on small territories with respect to the possibility of organizing equal cross-cultural communication which contributes to national identity preservation.