The research considers the efficiency of using the project method to integrate the regional component into the standard syllabus of foreign language teaching. The aim of the study was to reveal that the intensive implementation of projects involving region related data in English lessons has a motivating force which results in students' developing not only linguistic but also social and cultural competences, because students gain all-round experience through language skills and dynamic practical activity. The research sample was randomly selected from the 1st course students of Kazan Federal University, Kazan, the Republic of Tatarstan, and divided into 2 groups the control group and the experimental one. At the final stage of studying the topic "Tourism", the students in the control group did some traditional exercises on revision, the students of the experimental group were given the task to prepare a project on the topic. At the preparatory stage of the research to get an idea of the level of the development of linguistic, social and cultural competences of students of the control and experimental groups, pre-testing was held including such techniques as conversation, observation, interviewing, questionnaires. At the control phase of the research the post test was held to check the participants' progress in developing the above mentioned competences. The analysis of the results of the experiment shows that using project-based teaching method affected the development of all the competences of students to a greater or lesser degree. The findings of the research testify that the project-based foreign language teaching containing the regional component results in a better mastering the language simultaneously allowing to tackle other educational tasks: forming and developing students' moral values, the sense of patriotism, civic consciousness, developing creativity and tolerance in terms of multinational environment.
