Abstract
Speaking is one of the most important skills to be developed and enhanced as means of effective communication. For ELT (Elementary Level Teaching) the question of how to increase communicative competence was and tends to be the most crucial one.
In a short period of time English displaced other languages and became one of the leading means of communication worldwide. Its domination continues to extend. The modern world of media, mass communication, and Internet demands good knowledge of English, especially of spoken English. Nevertheless, most Russian students are not able to communicate in English fluently for many reasons. The present study is devoted to the research of the issue of speaking skills of today's students in Russia and to the existing methods of enhancing speaking skills of elementary level students. It is also related to discovering the reasons of unwillingness to communicate and the ways to overcome the language barrier.