The article examines the place of the word-formation component of the communicative competence of foreign students in the process of their learning Russian as a foreign language.
The word-formation component, along with other linguistic components, participates in the formation of the communicative competence of foreign students, however, the problem of Russian word formation remains insufficiently developed in the linguodidactic plan. The author expresses his opinion that the increase in the vocabulary of foreign students should be accompanied by the systematization of lexical units, taking into account their derivational connections and relations. Therefore, when lexicalization, one should use not the selection of synonyms or the descriptive method, which leads to the mechanical memorization of the meaning, but by means of correlation with the same root words, to activate in the minds of foreign students the living connections of the lexical units of the Russian language. This applies not only to derivatives of words associated with generating relations of full direct motivation, but also to those derivatives where these connections are not explicitly expressed.
Such an interpretation through a productive word not only makes the meaning of the new lexeme understandable, facilitates its memorization, but also creates a single picture of lexical and word-formation relationships within the language, forms a systemic understanding of the language among students.
The skills of correlating a derivative word with its derivative, obtained in the study of Russian as a foreign language, make it possible to understand the meanings of unfamiliar words. The speed of memorizing the meanings of derived words in this case directly depends on the understanding of the word-formation structure of the word.
This technique will greatly facilitate the development of the vocabulary and will contribute to the formation of a holistic view of the language as a system among foreign students.