Let $G\subset \mathbb{C}$ be a bounded Jordan domain with a rectifiable Dini-smooth boundary $\Gamma $ and let $G^{-}:=ext~ \Gamma $. In terms of the higher order modulus of smoothness the direct and inverse problems of approximation theory in the variable exponent Smirnov classes $E^{p(\cdot )}(G)$ and $E^{p(\cdot )}(G^{-})$ \ are investigated. Moreover, the Marcinkiewicz and Littlewood-Paley type theorems are proved. As a corollary some results on the constructive characterization problems in the generalized Lipschitz classes are presented.