The purpose of this article is to consider the content characteristics of the process of formation of speech abilities of students of higher educational institutions, methods of teaching speech and the possibility of their application in the educational process. The main methods of research of speech competence were theoretical and methodological analysis of the problem, comparative analysis, experiment, as well as mathematical methods of data processing that allow us to determine stable relationships and relationships, trends and patterns. In the course of the research, the coherence and complexity of students ' utterances were considered at the speech level. The analysis of the products of students 'speech activity allowed us to consider the linguistic characteristics of the text at the language, speech and content-semantic levels, and psychological, operational-dynamic, motivational, cognitive, emotional, regulatory and productive components of students' speech actions.