Student-Centred Approaches to Russian Language Teaching: Insights, Strategies, and Adaptations
Copyright year 2023
Student-Centred Approaches to Russian Language Teaching: Insights, Strategies, and Adaptations looks at how the field of Russian language pedagogy has evolved in recent years due to advances in technology along with shifts in attitudes to language pedagogy, and how the pandemic has compounded and accelerated these changes.
This edited collection brings together different perspectives from the field of Russian language pedagogy.With pedagogical conversations now centered around students and their needs, as well as the evolving role of the teacher in the 21st century, this volume highlights the diverse ways in which instructional practices have evolved, making curriculum and assessment more student-centered and Russian language learning more engaging.
The collection will be of interest to current and future instructors of Russian as a foreign or additional language who wish to diversify their instruction, as well as students of Russian language pedagogy and second language learning and teaching.
Authors
Ludmilla A’Beckett, University of the Free State, Republic of South Africa
Cori Anderson, Rutgers University, UAS
Brian James Baer, Kent State University, USA
Elena Bjørgve, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Norway
Laura A. Janda, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Norway
Maria Khotimsky, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
Daria Kosheleva, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Norway
Anna Leontyeva, Higher School of Economics, Russia
Alexander Lorenz, University of South Carolina Upstate, USA
Cynthia L. Martin, University of Maryland, USA
Tatiana Maslova, University of North Georgia, USA
Tanya McIntyre, Kent State University, USA
Denisa Místecká, University of Ostrava, Czech Republic
Michal Místecký, University of Ostrava, Czech Republic
Tore Nesset, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Norway
Svetlana V. Nuss, University of Alaska, USA
Svetlana Sokolova, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Norway
Elmira Zhamaletdinova, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Norway
Snezhana Zheltoukhova, Stetson University, USA
Table of Contents
Contextualizing Student-centered Teaching of RFL
Chapter One: Student-centered Teaching of Russian: From Principles to Practice
Cynthia L. Martin and Svetlana V. Nuss
ABSTRACT:
The opening chapter introduces the volume and its contributions and positions the publication as reflective of the societal changes taking place in education during the COVID-19 pandemic, further developing the conversation on student-centered instruction already prominent in the field of Russian as a foreign language (RFL). The chapter provides an overview of the contributions made by the authors represented in this volume, substantializing student-centered teaching and translating its principles into practice. This overview frames the volume as focused on three main principles of student-centered teaching of Russian as a foreign language: the importance of knowing who our students are, moving our curricula and assessments in the direction of student-centeredness, and the need for instructors to stay abreast of, and embrace, change and innovation in the field. The chapter ends with a summary of common themes and directions present in the volume, as they are seen by the contributing authors: meeting the needs of the learner, creating a learner-friendly classroom/online community, ways of attending to student beliefs and perceptions, novel ways of using corpora, use of videos, critical evaluation and examples of the use of technology, and employing tasks for the instruction of figurative language and for implementing student assessments in an online environment.
Chapter Two: History of Student-centeredness, Its Modern Vision in Education, and What This Means for Teaching L2 Russian Today
Svetlana V. Nuss
ABSTRACT:
This chapter discusses the concept of student-centered teaching. I start by outlining the main points of tension and criticism of student-centeredness in education today. I then provide an overview of the historical development of student-centeredness as a concept in education and briefly elaborate on its stages: The historical overview of student-centeredness in education reveals its deep conceptual roots and prominent position in the educational and societal worldview being developed consistently by humanity in the global pursuit of collective educational excellence. The need for actionable frameworks of creating and evaluating a learner-centered environment is established. I synthesize a side-by-side comparison of teacher- and student-centered environments based on their attributes. Next, I present and analyze the ways in which student-centeredness is manifested in the modern educational landscape. A conceptual vision and a framework of implementation are discussed and applied to the teaching of Russian as a foreign language. An approach to evaluating one’s instructional practices is provided with assessment taken as an example. The term teacher is used throughout to refer to any educator who practices teaching with learners of any age. The terms student-centered and learner-centered are used as synonyms. Student-centered education is viewed here as equally important for K–12 and tertiary settings; therefore, they are addressed as one educational environment. The chapter bridges the gap in the perceptions of student-centeredness between the K–12 and tertiary educational settings, facilitates its further discussion in the space of teaching Russian, and illustrates a meaningful framework upon which student-centered learning could be fostered by teachers.
Know your Students
Chapter Three: Self-Efficacy-Based Instructional Method in Teaching Beginner Russian: Towards Better Strategic Self-Regulated Learning
Tatiana Maslova
ABSTRACT:
Learning a foreign language (FL) is easier for highly motivated self-regulated learners. But how can language instructors help their students become more self-regulated and efficient? The results of an empirical study with novice-level students of Russian demonstrated the benefits of applying a self-efficacy-based instructional method to foster the students’ strategic self-regulation at the early stages of language learning. The purpose of the study was (1) to investigate novice students’ strategic self-regulated learning of Russian as a foreign language and the role of the proposed self-efficacy-based instructional method in fostering the students’ strategic self-regulated language learning (SRL), as well as (2) to establish student attitudes toward the proposed method. Acquiring and developing strategies for better self-regulation in the process of learning Russian as a foreign language was viewed through the lenses of Oxford’s (2011) Strategic Self-Regulation framework (S2R). The framework outlines certain metastrategies that help regulate the cognitive, affective, and sociocultural-interactive dimensions of foreign language learning. The study employed the sequential exploratory mixed-methods design and consisted of two phases: a quantitative phase for identifying higher and lower self-regulated students and a qualitative phase for investigating approaches to studying Russian employed by students at the novice level and their perceptions of the proposed instructional method. The findings demonstrated that the higher self-regulated students rely more on metacognitive strategies, whereas the lower self-regulated students mostly employ cognitive strategies. Both groups of students expressed positive attitudes toward the proposed instructional method and reported that it helped them become more metacognitively aware in the learning process and reduced anxiety. The participants also reported being more confident in content knowledge and in their language skills.
Chapter Four: Correct Me if I’m Wrong: Student Attitudes towards Learning Russian Grammar
Alexander Lorenz
ABSTRACT:
Learners of Russian as a Foreign Language (RFL) enter the classroom with different beliefs and expectations about learning grammar. While some students express negative attitudes toward studying the grammatical aspects of the Russian language, others articulate positive attitudes toward grammar. This observation inspired the systematic investigation of student beliefs about learning Russian grammar in the FL classroom detailed in this chapter. Beginning-level learners of Russian (n = 67) at a research university in the United States were asked to fill out a survey on their opinions about various aspects of learning Russian grammar. The results of this descriptive study generate substantial implications for RFL instruction and curriculum design. The insights of this study not only help identify effective classroom practices for scholars and educators but could also inform the decision-making processes of language curriculum developers and textbook authors regarding, for instance, the use of inductive and deductive exercises to teach grammar in the RFL classroom.
Chapter Five: Rough and Beautiful: Russian in Contemporary Czechia from the Perspectives of Corpus Research and Pupilsʼ Attitudes
Michal Místecký and Denisa Místecká
ABSTRACT:
The chapter focuses on the perception of the Russian language in the Czech Republic from two perspectives – corpus research and pupils’ attitudes. First, data from the opinion journalism section of SYN v8 (Křen et al., 2019), a corpus comprising texts from 1990–2018, is analyzed for its collocations of “Russian.” Second, a survey of student perceptions of Russian (n = 200) is evaluated. The results show substantial differences in how the language is perceived: whereas the opinion journalism employs mostly neutral and general adjectival collocates, highlighting its pleasant sound and utility of the language, pupils tend to be more open and express multiple, often contradictory perspectives. The outcomes of the study provide new insights that can be of use to teachers of Russian and institutional recruitment initiatives, as they may fuel new strategies in deconstructing the stereotypical visualizations of the Russian language, culture, and peoples of the Russophone world.
Moving toward student-centered curriculum design and assessment
Chapter Six: Making More Time for Proficiency: A “Flipped” Model for Adding Authenticity
Cori Anderson
ABSTRACT:
In this chapter, I describe the redesign of an intermediate-level curriculum for learners of Russian as a Foreign Language (RFL), following the principles of curricular design employed by the Mellon Collaborative Partnership for LCTLs at the University of Chicago Language Center. These principles include: (a) reverse design, (b) a focus on functional language use, (c) formative assessments, (d) purposeful use of (authentic) materials, (e) flipped class design, and (f) strategic use of technology. In particular, using a flipped-class design created more time for meaningful communication in class. In addition, I designed and implemented a set of activities based on authentic materials to complement the themes and grammar topics of a textbook. These activities are heavily scaffolded, progress from more structured to more open-ended, and incorporate vocabulary and grammar topics into meaningful, real-world communication. For additional oral practice outside of class, students regularly record spontaneous spoken responses to prompts as homework. At the end of the year, students in the course demonstrated proficiency in Intermediate Low or better in all four skills. Using authentic supplemental materials and allowing for sufficient scaffolding helped adequately prepare students for real-world language use, both receptively and productively, and provided a greater familiarity with the Russian-speaking world.
Chapter Seven: My Russian Journey: Rethinking Teaching Russian to Beginners
Svetlana Sokolova, Daria Kosheleva, Elena Bjørgve, Laura A. Janda, Tore Nesset and Elmira Zhamaletdinova
ABSTRACT:
This chapter discusses essential issues in teaching elementary Russian as a Foreign Language (RFL) and analyzes the process of creating a digital curriculum along with ways to integrate it into the classroom. The chapter provides insight into recently emerged research-based methods of language analysis based on corpus research and builds corresponding teaching practices. It also looks into whether digital platforms can completely replace paper textbooks. The experience from the pilot semester of My Russian Journey (MRJ) suggests that both media are needed. MRJ upholds student-centered learning through continuous student involvement in curricular design, as students provide valuable feedback on the structure and content of the approach to grammar instruction offered by MRJ and are instrumental in shaping and fine-tuning the resource. The sections containing explicit grammar explanations are interlaced with interactive exercises; accompanying instructional videos are available for students to watch as needed. In the curriculum, language serves as a cultural medium, as MRJ’s texts are rooted in the rich cultural, national, religious, and geographic diversity of Russia and place special emphasis on the long-established amicable relations between Russia and Norway. The chapter concludes with a comparison of existing beginner Russian curricula, highlights of student feedback that was particularly impactful in MRJ course design, and discussion of ways to facilitate student engagement.
Chapter Eight: Bringing Task-Based Instruction Online: Challenges of Remote Language Assessment
Brian James Baer and Tanya McIntyre
ABSTRACT:
With the coronavirus pandemic, language instructors and students alike were challenged to adapt to new circumstances of learning. Assessment presented an especially difficult challenge as traditional, closed-book tests could no longer be administered without a proctor. In this chapter, we present ways to adapt performance-based assessment rubrics for task-based activities to online synchronous and asynchronous environments in the context of teaching Russian as a foreign language (RFL). Specifically, we discuss the necessity of avoiding “recipe-following approaches” in order to assess multimodal products more holistically and to incorporate creativity and collaboration into our assessments. In so doing, we align classroom assessment with real-world evaluation of multimodal products. This chapter discusses the challenges and benefits of bringing performance assessments online. We focus specifically on speaking assessment, which is perhaps the hardest skill to address in online environments.
Embracing change and innovation
Chapter Nine: Lessons of the Pandemic: A Critical Look at Digital Tools for Online and Face-to-Face Instruction of Russian as a Foreign Language
Maria Khotimsky and Anna Leontyeva
ABSTRACT:
The 2020–2021 academic year brought many challenges and disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic but also afforded new opportunities for pedagogical innovations. For teachers who previously had limited experience with online or hybrid language instruction, this year also generated a new learning opportunity, as we used different online resources and strove to keep our lessons engaging and productive to meet learning goals and stimulate student interest within the new environment. With the return to on-campus teaching post-pandemic comes the need to assess which activities and teaching units created for the online environment are worth preserving to enrich the proficiency-based language classroom. In this chapter, we analyze literature and critically assess various digital tools used in our instruction as we explore a “digital toolkit” that can enhance classroom teaching practices and present several online tools and projects that foster interactive, interpretive, and presentational communicative competencies and can be successfully implemented in a traditional classroom setting in teaching Russian as a foreign language.
Chapter Ten: Preparation for Study Abroad: The Action-oriented Approach for RFL Students
Snezhana Zheltoukhova
ABSTRACT:
In light of growing opportunities for prolonged intercultural communication – both inside and outside one’s home country – and prospects of study/work in different cultural environments, language programs are placing increased emphasis on competencies that prepare students for global citizenship. The ACTFL World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages (National Standards Collaborative Board (NSCB), 2015) stress the importance of integrating cultural knowledge into the curriculum with a focus not merely on accumulating a variety of culture-specific facts, but rather on the ability to communicate with cultural competence that is predicated upon understanding values and beliefs as a matrix for all cultural practices and products. Since study abroad is one of the most preferable approaches to students’ intercultural competence growth among post-secondary institutions (Poehner & Pasterick, 2021), it is important to equip students for their future ventures prior to departure. This chapter describes a preparatory course for a short-term study abroad immersion experience. The course includes the integration of open online resources to support the extracurricular pen pal project. The preparatory stage allows students to immerse themselves in the target culture and create interpersonal connections with peers before leaving home for a more engaging and productive experience once they arrive in Russian-speaking countries. The study is conducted in the Russian as a Foreign Language (RFL) context and carries implications for the wider field of applied linguistics. It is of interest to world language students, instructors, and administrators responsible for study abroad programs in institutions of higher education.
Chapter Eleven: Transposing Venice to Russia: Task-based “Recipes” for developing figurative thinking
Ludmilla A’Beckett
ABSTRACT:
This chapter focuses on the development of figurative language comprehension among learners of Russian as a foreign language (RFL). The first part of the chapter focuses on existing traditions of teaching figurative language and provides a review of the approaches adopted by educators for familiarizing learners of RFL with indirect meanings of words and expressions. It also reviews the use of figurative phrases in the RFL curricula. The second part describes a learning situation that raises metaphor awareness. The learning experience has been designed to involve students in the conscious processing of a metaphor that utilizes the name of one city for portraying another. Five steps in processing the metaphor are activated through a task-based language learning situation: metaphor noticing, retrieval of source domain properties, associative fluency, analogical reasoning, and image formation. The learning situation involves the use of vocabulary for tourists and promotes cultural literacy. The chapter concludes with an analysis of this teaching experience and offers additional ideas on extending the use of figurative clusters offered by the core curriculum.
Chapter Twelve: Reflections on practice, additional considerations, and the importance of institutional support for teachers
Cynthia L. Martin and Svetlana V. Nuss
ABSTRACT:
Expanding on the thoughts and practices already discussed in the volume’s contributions, the concluding chapter introduces additional considerations related to the concept of student-centeredness. We start by defining the student-centered model of learning and the role of students in it. Then, additional considerations for student-centered instruction are discussed, including dynamic syllabus design, the importance of helping students set realistic language learning goals, and individualized and differentiated instruction along with strategies of how it can be achieved. We continue the discussion by highlighting linguistic discomfort and suggest having explicit conversations with students to address it, helping them see it as a sign of growth; linguistic risk-taking and the importance of rewarding it are seen as ways of moving students through the feeling of linguistic discomfort. Rethinking grading is discussed next, where we challenge punitive grading practices and offer more holistic approaches. We conclude the chapter by examining demands on the teachers when fostering student-centered learning environments and advocating for more institutional support. We offer concluding remarks with a vision for human-centered, equity-focused education.
Editors
Svetlana V. Nuss is a Language Acquisition Instructional Consultant and Coach, University of Alaska Fairbanks, U.S.A.
Cynthia L. Martin .