Humanities & Social Sciences 4 (2016 9) 953-959 ~ ~ ~ УДК 378.4.147 The Cambridge BEC as an Academic Context Model of Problematic Situations in Professional Intercultural Communication Olga A. Marina and Olga V. Smirnova* National Research University Higher School of Economics 20 Myasnitskaya Str., Moscow, 101000, Russia Received 04.11.2015, received in revised form 17.02.2016, accepted 28.02.2016 The article aims at fi nding appropriate measurement instruments for the assessment of communication mobility (CM) development as an important component of professional intercultural communicative competence. <...> The comparative analysis of the BEC speaking exam paper and communication mobility strategies and tactics shows that the exam format covers the components of CM model to a large extent and consequently may be used to measure the level of communication mobility development in the absence of a specifi cally designed instrument. <...> Moreover, the analysis suggests teaching implications that entail addressing the issues of non-linguistic strategies and tactics explicitly at the exam preparation stage as well as in ESP teaching in general. <...> Keywords: professional intercultural communicative competence, measuring communication mobility, communication strategies and tactics, BEC speaking exam, teaching English for specifi c purposes (ESP). <...> Introduction of Due to the expansion and development cross-cultural contact, the importance of learning a foreign language for specifi c purposes has increased. <...> The introduction of the third generation of Federal State Higher Education standards has entailed changes both to the level and quality of education, and tightened the requirements for professionally oriented foreign language acquisition. <...> The necessity of foreign language skills for professional purposes © Siberian Federal University. <...> This need is also confi rmed by a HSE graduate survey conducted in 2013 and involving 96 participants – HSE graduates of 2007-2012 (Marina, 2014). <...> Most respondents (78%) reported that a good knowledge of a foreign language (English in this case) had played a crucial role in their employment. <...> Moreover, 64.5% of the respondents are still striving to improve their English language skills to pursue their career goals (such Olga A. Marina and Olga V. Smirnova. <...> The Cambridge BEC as an Academic Context Model of Problematic Situations. as promotion opportunities). <...> Another pragmatic purpose of English teaching is <...>