Semiclassical strings in AdS₅ x S⁵ and scalar operators in N=4 SYM theory

We review recent progress in checking AdS/CFT duality in the sector of ''semiclassical'' string states dual to ''long'' scalar operators of N=4 super Yang-Mills theory. In particular, we discuss the effective action approach, in which the same sigma model type action describing coherent states is shown to emerge from the AdS_5 x S^5 string action and from the spin chain Hamiltonian representing the SYM dilatation operator.