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The paper describes the assumptions of modern methods of teaching foreign languages, and this description includes the proposals of their creators regarding the knowledge that the student must acquire and the competences that he/she is to form. The results of the test checking sociocultural knowledge and sociolinguistic competences of Russian Studies students is also discussed. The low global result of the test (57% of correct answers) showed a poor record of students in terms of the examined issues. Knowledge about Russia is very superficial among the study participants. They are also not good in dealing with contacts on the level of official relations (formal records of statements).

The survey research described in this paper was conducted in recent years among students of German philology at the University of Szczecin (55 individuals). The survey concerned the cognitive sphere of personality, taking into account the intellectual predispositions of the subjects, and the affective sphere related to the level of feelings and emotions accompanying the process of language education. The research shows that most of the individual characteristics of students are conducive to success in studying a foreign language. In the cognitive sphere, there are factors that support the development of spoken (e.g. linguistic intelligence) and written language (e.g. reflective style). German philology students are characterised by grammatical sensitivity as well as great independence in undertaking communication activities. In the affective sphere, studying the foreign language is supported by personality features (e.g. optimistic character) and positive, instrumental-integrating motivation. The only concern is the low assessment of one’s own language abilities related to the lack of auto-valorisation skills.