In the article essence of the concept “sociocultural competense”, certain theoretical principles of its forming and development are analysed and described; the developing system of sociocultural competense is studied; also the complex of tasks for students of pre-higher education is worked out. The linguistic, unlinguistic and country-specific components of sociocultural competence are characterized. It is proved that students should know about the geographical location and economic condition, historical development and features of cultural values of the country, the language they are studying in order to have a foreign socio-cultural competence. In our research we conclude that the structure of socio-cultural competence consists of communicative (balancing existing language forms, which are determined based on the linguistic competence of the communicant on the background of certain social functions), country-specific (set of knowledge about the country whose language is studied), linguistics (to carry out intercultural communication based on knowledge of lexical units with the national-cultural component of semantics and skills of their adequate application in situations of intercultural communication) and sociolinguistic competence (ability to use the rules of delicate speech in communication). Thus, students expand their outlook and work on adequate perception of cultural features of native speakers, their habits, traditions, norms of behavior, etiquette and the ability to understand and use them in intercultural communication. It is proved that for the formation of socio-cultural competence in English classes in pre-higher education institutions students must learn about the achievements of national culture in the development of universal culture and thus enter into a dialogue of cultures, teachers should use certain exercises to develop such skills.