The problem of quality of education in foreign language teaching

The present article looks at the «Expression orale» language teaching method as an instrument to enhance education quality in teaching foreign languages. Recent changes in Russian education caused by adoption of competency-based approach induced the authors to search for efficient methods to improve teaching quality. The main aim in teaching foreign languages is to develop communicative competence which has a complex structure. The competence under scrutiny is speaking, which forms part of communicative competence. The aim can be achieved by using methods of intellectual and practical activity. The present article looks at «Expression orale» method which performs in both production and functions (including informing, asking for information, stimulating for activity, etc.). It is important to highlight not only practical effect of «Expression orale»-based teaching, but also its influence on students' intellectual capacity, which implies forming generalization skills in problem solving. Original method «Expression orale» underwent pilot testing in French language classes at secondary schools. The result of the experiment indicated higher quality of communication skills among new teaching method groups. Subsequent statistical analysis proved the validity of the empirical data with 95-100% confidence, and allowed recommending the method for school syllabus