ИСТИНА

Professional intercultural communication training has occupied a dominant position in ELT methodology for many years, but some questions relating to the design of a methodologically effective model of intercultural professional communication skills /IPCS/ assessment are of special concern nowadays. There is a considerable need for preparing MA (Master of Arts) students for effective participating in professional intercultural communication with both native and non-native speakers by means of English as a lingua franca, especially in one of its unofficial modes, that is small talk. The paper discusses the essential characteristics of small talk as a communication tool in business relationships as well as in professional communication at such scholarly events as an international scholarly conference or seminar. The paper aims at 1) suggesting a methodological classification of intercultural communication micro skills (as assessment objects in the Russian university classroom) that are necessary for making small talk and 2) outlining a system of problem solving tasks for measuring MA language students’ IPCS that is a new trend in ELT and, finally, 3) summarizing some experiences with piloting these tasks in the Russian university classroom. The obtained results of our experiment let come to some conclusions that IPCS should be not only the intramural assessment objects but also the objects of university training in the context of MA students’ preparation for intercultural communication.