Introduction. Russian as a foreign language (RKI) is a basic element of the formation of linguistic and cultural competence of foreign language students and contributes to the improvement of their speech skills and the expansion of ideas about Russian culture, which determines the relevance of the undertaken research. The purpose of the study is to substantiate the importance of a linguocultural approach in the methodology of teaching Lankan students the Russian language by reading the works of Russian writers, in this case – on the example of the work of M.A. Bulgakov "Towel with a Rooster", as well as in the development of linguistic didactic material for teachers of the Russian Language in preparing students for the exam at the A2-B1 level of proficiency in Russian. Materials and methods. To achieve this goal, the authors use the following methods: the method of analyzing the collected data, the method of testing, the method of comparative analysis and systematization, the method of observation. The approbation of the developed linguistic didactic material based on artistic works was carried out on 150 Lankan students of the Gampaha Vikramarachchi University of Folk Medicine of the Republic of Sri Lanka, who took offline courses on learning the Russian language of the I.Ya. Yakovlev Chuvash State Pedagogical University (I.Ya. Yakovlev CHSPU). The effectiveness of taking courses using the developed linguodidactic material was proved by comparing the test results before and after the training courses. Results. The methodological development consists in the fact that on the basis of the adapted text of the work of art, exercises and test tasks have been compiled, focused both on analyzing the content of the work of art and on improving the skills of using linguistic units in speech. The exercises are accompanied by the necessary theoretical material (materials for reference) for both the student and the teacher. The system of exercises pays attention to the most common communicative situations in order to develop active Russian language skills in accordance with its norms. In addition to the linguistic material contained in the literary text, the exercises also use words and expressions related to the lexical and grammatical theme of the text, which contributes to an active increase in the lexical stock and understanding of the grammatical features of the Russian language. This method of writing assignments based on works of art allowed students to increase their interest in new vocabulary, develop their skills in using explanatory dictionaries, and also contributed to the development of studied grammatical rules not on artificially composed sentences, but through real text and communicative situations. The effectiveness of this technique is confirmed by the high results of passing the certification exam: out of 150 people who completed the training, 100 people successfully passed the exam and received state-issued certificates. Conclusion. The conducted research contributes to the teaching methodology of RKI. The developed didactic materials, taking into account the linguistic and cultural approach, have applied significance and can be used in teaching foreign language students the Russian language and in the system of their comprehensive preparation for the A2-B1 certification exam.