The rapid social and economic development of Kazakhstan in the early 21 century has caused an urgent need for professionals with a high level of technical, managerial and leadership competencies, hence, in 2008 at the initiative of the First President of Kazakhstan, Leader of the Nation Nursultan Nazarbayev a project to create the Intellectual schools was launched. According to the President, the Intellectual schools should contribute to the development of intellectual potential of the nation. The school graduates are intended to make a significant contribution to improving the well-being and competitiveness of Kazakhstan. (The strategy of development of autonomous organization of education “Nazarbayev Intellectual schools” until 2020, 2013). Intellectual schools are invoked to become an experimental platform, that realizes the development, monitoring, research, analysis, testing, introduction and implementation of modern models of educational programs. The existing requirements and standards of education in the Republic of Kazakhstan did not allow at the appropriate level to introduce modern forms of management in the education sector, to implement innovative educational programs and research projects, thus, the new Integrated Programme of Development (IPD) was developed and in 2012 the implementation of the IPD was started, which has been tested till present days.

Qualitatively new programmes for all language objects and in particular, Russian language were developed. The communicative approach was laid into basis of language learning and aims to develop communication skills in four types of speech activity – listening, speaking, writing and reading. This approach is new for both teachers and students, who have taught and studied Russian at the traditional method, when learning was based on the study of grammar and spelling rules. It should be noted, that in other public schools language learning is still conducted traditionally. Thus, it becomes clear that teachers have difficulty in teaching by communicative procedure, which is reflected in the study of Russian language by students.

Carried out within monitoring of the implementation of IPD interviews with teachers, students, school administrators, questionnaire with teachers and students, reports of teachers on the result of a quarter have showed that both teachers and students have difficulties in teaching and learning the writing skills. Analysis of the results of external summative assessment of the Russian language L1 in Grade 11 has also shown that the average score of learners in writing tasks is 51,3%. (Analytical report on the results of external summative assessment in the Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools in the 2014-2015 academic years).These results point at a problem which that requires further investigation.

As well as all the problems related to learning, difficulties in implementing the writing skills can affect the overall child education (Champagne and Kouba, 1999 ; Hand and Prain, 2002 blue right-pointing triangle) and influence his self-esteem, as learners very often have to demonstrate through written work in different subjects what they know and are able to do. In addition, the possession of writing skills affects the possession of critical thinking skills (Kurfiss, and Association for the Study of Higher Education, 1988).

Unlike speaking, writing skills cannot develop on their own, they need to be taught. So relevant is the question of the effectiveness of teaching, aimed at the development of writing skills.

In this study, we intend to identify teaching problems in developing  writing skills.

The research is aimed at solving the following issues:

- What kinds of mistakes do learners make in writing and what can cause them?

- Which factors related to teaching hinder the development of higher order writing skills?

- In what areas teachers need support?

Champagne A., Kouba V., Mintzes J., Wandersee J., Novak J. Assessing Science Understanding: A Human Constructivist View. New York: Academic Press; 1999. Written product as performance measures; pp. 224–248. [Ref list] Hand B., Prain V. Teachers implementing writing-to-learn strategies in junior secondary science: a case study. Sci. Educ. 2002;86(6):737–755. [Ref list] Kurfiss J. G. Association for the Study of Higher Education. Washington, DC: George Washington University; 1988. Critical Thinking: Theory, Research, Practice, and Possibilities. [Ref list]