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In Memoriam Apr 2022

In Memoriam

Russian Language Journal

No abstract provided.


Introduction: Student Co-Creation Of Teaching Resources, Methods, And Social Integration, Laura Janda, Anna Endresen, Svetlana Sokolova Jan 2022

Introduction: Student Co-Creation Of Teaching Resources, Methods, And Social Integration, Laura Janda, Anna Endresen, Svetlana Sokolova

Russian Language Journal

Undergraduate research is a high-impact practice that increases student learning and is driven by engaging in mentoring relationships with faculty while building a culture of innovation and scholarship. This volume of the Russian Language Journal presents a special collection of articles entitled “Collaboration Beyond the Classroom: Undergraduate Research in Russian Language Studies.” Undergraduate students have contributed to these articles as researchers and coauthors on topics related to Russian language study, namely, the co-creation of teaching resources, methods, and sociolinguistic integration.


Visualizing Russian: Illuminating Corpora, Conjugations, And Classrooms, Steven J. Clancy, Paige Lee Jan 2022

Visualizing Russian: Illuminating Corpora, Conjugations, And Classrooms, Steven J. Clancy, Paige Lee

Russian Language Journal

The Visualizing Russian (Clancy, 2014–2022) project offers a suite of tools benefiting language learners, teachers, and linguists and enabling each of these user groups to access the complex system of the Russian language through visualization methods in order to leverage the powers of compression and expansion of a massive data set. Users can analyze texts for relative difficulty with regard to vocabulary content with Visible Vocabulary, create frequency lists and identify the most commonly used word forms for each lemma in a text or compare sets of target vocabulary to covered forms in a particular text with the Mini-Story …


Empirically Determined Strategic Input And Gamification In Mastering Russian Word Forms, Laura A. Janda, Jan Ove Nikolai Almendingen, Linn Thea Kaldager Josefsen Jan 2022

Empirically Determined Strategic Input And Gamification In Mastering Russian Word Forms, Laura A. Janda, Jan Ove Nikolai Almendingen, Linn Thea Kaldager Josefsen

Russian Language Journal

We propose two designs to gamify second language (L2) learning of Russian inflectional morphology: Treasure Hunt and Story Time. The goal of these designs is to focus learning on high-frequency word forms that are most strategic and effective for L2 acquisition in a way that stimulates engagement and builds lifelong learning skills.


The Participatory Approach And Student Active Learning In Language Teaching: Language Students As Journalists And Filmmakers, Svetlana Sokolova, Andrei Rogatchevski, Kristian Bjørklund, David Henrik Lavén, Håkon Sverdrupsen Jan 2022

The Participatory Approach And Student Active Learning In Language Teaching: Language Students As Journalists And Filmmakers, Svetlana Sokolova, Andrei Rogatchevski, Kristian Bjørklund, David Henrik Lavén, Håkon Sverdrupsen

Russian Language Journal

This article contributes to two recent discussions in pedagogy and education, namely, the impact of the participatory approach (Jenkins et al., 2009; Yowell & Rhoten, 2009) on learning and the benefits of student active learning (Sokolova et al., in press; Spasova & Welsh, 2020). The participatory approach incorporates texts and tasks on the topics of interest that are relevant to students’ daily lives and potential workplaces. Student active learning builds upon the idea that “L2 learners must engage in classroom activities that allow them to be active learners rather than passive listeners” (see Nesset et al., this volume). This idea …


Outside The Earth: Translating And Exploring With Tsiolkovsky, Michael Pilipchuk, Olga Lyanda-Geller Jan 2022

Outside The Earth: Translating And Exploring With Tsiolkovsky, Michael Pilipchuk, Olga Lyanda-Geller

Russian Language Journal

This article describes a study that grew out of research and translation work completed within the framework of a series of innovative interdisciplinary courses called “Russian for Rockets.” While there are currently no language study requirements in most science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines, there is a high demand among STEM majors in U.S. universities for language courses with a strong technical component. In particular, a poll at the Purdue School of Aeronautics and Astronautics conducted in 2018 showed that over 90% of respondents were interested in taking a course in technical Russian.1 This finding resulted in the development …


Psychological Safety In The Russian Language Classroom, Kelly Knickmeier Cummings, B. Amarilis Lugo De Fabritz, Tia-Andrea Scott, Nsikakabasi Ekong, Isabella Mason Jan 2022

Psychological Safety In The Russian Language Classroom, Kelly Knickmeier Cummings, B. Amarilis Lugo De Fabritz, Tia-Andrea Scott, Nsikakabasi Ekong, Isabella Mason

Russian Language Journal

This article seeks to join the ongoing, vibrant discussion about how to foster inclusivity in our classrooms and build a pipeline of Russian language students that is more reflective of the demographic fabric of the United States. Three BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) third-year Russian language students and their instructors at Howard University collaborated as coauthors. We drew from the field of organizational behavior to consider the relevance the concept psychological safety may have for second language acquisition (SLA), and we begin to assess its utility in the Russian language classroom.


Construxercise! Implementation Of A Construction-Based Approach To Language Pedagogy, Anna Endresen, Valentina Zhukova, Elena Bjørgve, Daria Demidova, Natalia Kalanova, Zoia Butenko, George Lonshakov, David Henrik Lavén Jan 2022

Construxercise! Implementation Of A Construction-Based Approach To Language Pedagogy, Anna Endresen, Valentina Zhukova, Elena Bjørgve, Daria Demidova, Natalia Kalanova, Zoia Butenko, George Lonshakov, David Henrik Lavén

Russian Language Journal

Language is a tool for communication. The ability to speak, to engage in a meaningful conversation, and to comprehend the speech produced by native speakers is the main purpose of second language (L2) learning, and Russian is no exception. A recent survey of the current students and alumni of the Russian program at UiT The Arctic University of Norway (UiT) administered in December 2021 revealed that our students would like more training in practical speaking and writing skills as well as more focus on conversational Russian.


Teaching Discourse Markers To Students With Students: The Case Of Italian Learners Of L2 Russian, Beatrice Bernasconi, Marina Giampietro Jan 2022

Teaching Discourse Markers To Students With Students: The Case Of Italian Learners Of L2 Russian, Beatrice Bernasconi, Marina Giampietro

Russian Language Journal

The present study explores the development of a teaching treatment on discourse markers (DMs) for Italian learners of Russian as a Second Language (L2) using students in the research process. We believe that learners’ insights are a valuable resource in the design of teaching treatments tailored to learners’ needs. Both researchers and students can benefit from such cooperation when dealing with slippery aspects of spoken language, such as DMs.


Flipping The Classroom? From Text To Video In Teaching Russian Grammar, Tore Nesset, Kristian Bjørklund, Petter Hov Jacobsen Jan 2022

Flipping The Classroom? From Text To Video In Teaching Russian Grammar, Tore Nesset, Kristian Bjørklund, Petter Hov Jacobsen

Russian Language Journal

The notion of a “flipped classroom” has received considerable attention in recent years. This article reports on a project in which an instructor and two students co-created teaching materials to facilitate flipping the classroom. The purpose of the article is twofold. First, we explore some aspects of flipped classrooms in Russian language courses. Second, we reflect on the opportunities and limitations of student involvement in pedagogical development.


Grammars In Contact: A Linguistic Study Of Russian In Brighton Beach, New York, Oksana Laleko, Yana Miroshnychenko Jan 2022

Grammars In Contact: A Linguistic Study Of Russian In Brighton Beach, New York, Oksana Laleko, Yana Miroshnychenko

Russian Language Journal

Within the burgeoning linguistic field of heritage language studies, two research traditions have emerged in recent years. The first, adopted most commonly in the studies of less robustly maintained heritage languages, draws generalizations across grammars instantiated in individual heritage language idiolects, taking as its focal point what diachronic linguists term the innovation phase of language change (Croft, 2000). The other approach, manifested most representatively in accounts of linguistic varieties emerging in relatively more established speech communities, focuses more closely on features that become conventionalized among heritage language speakers, a component of language change known as propagation (Croft, 2000). Considering the …


Book Review: Modern Russian Grammar In Use: A Systematic Reference And Practice Book, Evgeny Dengub Jan 2022

Book Review: Modern Russian Grammar In Use: A Systematic Reference And Practice Book, Evgeny Dengub

Russian Language Journal

Elena Minakova-Boblest’s Modern Russian Grammar in Use is a much-needed comprehensive reference grammar and workbook for students of Russian, which can be used in the classroom and by students who study the language on their own (the answer key is a welcome addition for the latter). The book is a good supplement to virtually any contemporary textbook and can also serve as a standalone reference and exercise book for beginning- or intermediate-level language students.


Book Review: Practices That Work: Bringing Learners To Professional Proficiency In World Languages, Olena Chernishenko Jan 2022

Book Review: Practices That Work: Bringing Learners To Professional Proficiency In World Languages, Olena Chernishenko

Russian Language Journal

Practices That Work is an excellent resource for both new and experienced foreign-language instructors, as well as for foreign-language learners. The volume is a compilation of short, thematically organized articles written by numerous experts in the field of foreign-language teaching who share invaluable insights about bringing learners to high-level professional proficiency in world languages. While Practices That Work offers a plethora of effective techniques for instructors, it also provides deep understanding of the learning process, which will benefit the development of learner’s self-awareness and autonomy.


Book Review: Russian: From Novice High To Intermediate, Iryna Kaplun Jan 2022

Book Review: Russian: From Novice High To Intermediate, Iryna Kaplun

Russian Language Journal

Russian: From Novice High to Intermediate is a remarkable textbook for second- and third-year Russian language courses. It is primarily designed for learners who are already familiar with basic Russian morphology and phonetics and have a beginner’s-level vocabulary; it will help learners achieve intermediate proficiency in reading, writing, listening, and speaking. One notable feature of the book is the companion website, accessible without registration, which can be imported into your university’s Canvas system.


Book Review: Transformative Language Learning And Teaching, Benjamin Rifkin Jan 2022

Book Review: Transformative Language Learning And Teaching, Benjamin Rifkin

Russian Language Journal

Leaver, Davidson, and Campbell’s Transformative Language Learning and Teachingis a groundbreaking volume on the theory and practice of transformative teaching in the language learning context. The volume consists of chapters on the transformative learning and teaching of world languages organized into seven thematic parts: theoretical framework, transformative learning and teaching applications in government programs, transformative language learning and teaching applications in university programs, transformative language learning and teaching programs in immersion programs, the learner, faculty development, and assessment. The volume also includes a comprehensive list of works cited that constitutes a tremendous resource for any scholar or practitioner interested …


Book Review: Etazhi: Second Year Russian Language And Culture, Cori Anderson Jan 2022

Book Review: Etazhi: Second Year Russian Language And Culture, Cori Anderson

Russian Language Journal

The options for second-year Russian textbooks have been very limited, despite a growing number of textbooks at the first-year level and more advanced levels. Этажи fills the need for a stand-alone textbook that can be used for students who have already reached Novice High- Intermediate Low proficiency. What sets Этажи apart is the focus on real-life communication and conversation, and the use of real-life stories, provided by both native speakers of Russian and advanced learners. These written and recorded stories fill the book with relatable content and relevant cultural information, covering topics from dating to holidays to the Russian cafeteria, …


Full Issue Jan 2022

Full Issue

Russian Language Journal

No abstract provided.


Diversity, Equity, Access, And Inclusion: Lessons For The Russian Language Classroom, Colleen Lucey Jan 2021

Diversity, Equity, Access, And Inclusion: Lessons For The Russian Language Classroom, Colleen Lucey

Russian Language Journal

The current special issue tackles some of the most difficult pedagogical questions facing Russian language instructors today. As the articles illustrate, there is a growing awareness of the possibilities of critical pedagogy to dismantle existing hierarchies and to create inclusive spaces for learners. The authors included in this special issue provide us with what the field has long needed yet direly lacked: scholarship that offers both theoretical and practical guidance to integrate diversity, equity, access, and inclusion (DEAI) in curricula and study abroad programming. A number of the authors turn, rightfully so, to existing research by foreign-language specialists who have …


Rectifying Wikipedia Racial Bias In A Russian Language Classroom, Veronika Trotter, Svitlana Melnyk Jan 2021

Rectifying Wikipedia Racial Bias In A Russian Language Classroom, Veronika Trotter, Svitlana Melnyk

Russian Language Journal

Over the last decade, minority representation has emerged as a subject of critical self-reflection in the field of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (SEEES), prompting discussions that have centered on both the limited participation of minority populations within the community of SEEES scholars and students and the relative lack of attention that minority communities receive in SEEES teaching and research. Efforts to grapple with both issues became more urgent in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder and the massive protests for racial justice throughout the United States and beyond. Major centers for SEEES teaching and research have organized well-attended …


Who Are(N’T) Our Students? The Gender And Ethnoracial Distribution Of U.S. Bachelor’S Degrees In Russian Language And Literature Over Twenty Years, From 1999–2000 To 2018–2019, Dianna Murphy, Hadis Ghaedi Jan 2021

Who Are(N’T) Our Students? The Gender And Ethnoracial Distribution Of U.S. Bachelor’S Degrees In Russian Language And Literature Over Twenty Years, From 1999–2000 To 2018–2019, Dianna Murphy, Hadis Ghaedi

Russian Language Journal

This article is a report on the gender and race or ethnicity of students who earned bachelor’s degrees in Russian language and literature in the United States over a twenty-year period, from 1999–2000 to 2018–2019, as either a first or second major (N = 9,161). This study complements national data available through organizations such as the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, which, through the Humanities Indicators project (http://www.humanitiesindicators.org), publishes information on the gender and ethnoracial distribution of bachelor’s degrees in languages other than English (LOTEs) together but not for individual languages (American Academy of Arts and Sciences, n.d.). This …


Teaching And Learning Indigenous Languages Of The Russian Federation, Hilah Kohen, Irina Sadovina, Tetyana Dzyadevych, Dylan Charter, Anna Gomboeva, Lenore A. Grenoble, Jessica Kantarovich, Rossina Soyan Jan 2021

Teaching And Learning Indigenous Languages Of The Russian Federation, Hilah Kohen, Irina Sadovina, Tetyana Dzyadevych, Dylan Charter, Anna Gomboeva, Lenore A. Grenoble, Jessica Kantarovich, Rossina Soyan

Russian Language Journal

On March 20, 2021, one of my students sent a message through his college network: “Happy New Year! Happy Naýryz! Наурыз құтты бол- сын! Naýryz qutty bolsyn! S Vesennim prazdnikom Nauryz! ... Remember to celebrate with friends and family (family meaning chosen, adoptive, or biological, etc.)!” This student grew up in a Spanish-speaking foster family and recently, after a DNA test, discovered his ancestral roots in Bashkiria, Tatarstan, and Kazakhstan. He now wants to learn more about his origins, and he is looking for sources to learn about non-Russian languages and cultures in the Russian Federation (RF) and former USSR. …


Diversity And Inclusion In The Study Abroad Context: Recruiting Data And On-Program Support Initiatives For The Cls Russian Institutes, Jeanette Owen, Nellie Manis Jan 2021

Diversity And Inclusion In The Study Abroad Context: Recruiting Data And On-Program Support Initiatives For The Cls Russian Institutes, Jeanette Owen, Nellie Manis

Russian Language Journal

The authors submit this paper in the interest of sharing the perspectives and experiences of practitioners in the field of study abroad and to contribute to the discussion of best practices related to the recruitment, preparation, and support of underrepresented students with examples related to the study of Russian. The authors recognize that further work on study abroad programming for underrepresented students is necessary, and this contribution is intended to foster further discussion across the field.


Here, There, And Elsewhere: Reimagining Russian Language And Culture Course Syllabi For Social Justice, Thomas Jesús Garza Jan 2021

Here, There, And Elsewhere: Reimagining Russian Language And Culture Course Syllabi For Social Justice, Thomas Jesús Garza

Russian Language Journal

The past two decades have witnessed enrollments in American colleges and universities for U.S. residents aged 18 to 24 increase from 35 percent in 2000 to 41 percent in 2018. Within this demographic, those identifying in census data as Hispanic/Latinx increased during the same period from 22 to 36 percent, as Black 31 to 37 percent, as Asian 56 to 59 percent, as Indigenous/Native American 16 to 24 percent, and as bi-or multiracial 38 to 44 percent (Hussar et al. 2020, 125). As the student population of higher education in the United States begins to reflect the national demographic portrait …


The Russian Coordinating Conjunctions И And А: Their Meaning, Function, And Pedagogy, Mark J. Elson Jan 2021

The Russian Coordinating Conjunctions И And А: Their Meaning, Function, And Pedagogy, Mark J. Elson

Russian Language Journal

This paper is concerned with the systemic status of the coordinating conjunctions и and а in Contemporary Standard Russian. Most previous treatments of и and а have, without comment, viewed them as minimal syntactic units (i.e., words) defined, for systemic purposes, functionally—as equating or likening in the case of и but contrasting or opposing in that of а. However, these treatments, whether intentionally or unwittingly, have left unattended the possibility that и and а, although syntactic units, are more properly defined grammatically (i.e., are systemically characterized by an invariant grammatical meaning of which their functions are derivative).1 At …


Implementing Inclusive Secondary Russian Language Exchange Programs, Anna Stewart, Rebecca Berman, Emily Olmstead, Ashlynn Cobb, Emily Matts Henry Jan 2021

Implementing Inclusive Secondary Russian Language Exchange Programs, Anna Stewart, Rebecca Berman, Emily Olmstead, Ashlynn Cobb, Emily Matts Henry

Russian Language Journal

This discussion is a case study of the National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y) program’s overseas and virtual Russian language offerings. The study also provides considerations and examples for embedding diversity, equity, and inclusion into the program design. Special attention is given to identifying Russian language opportunities for American high school students, expanding accessibility, centering program materials on inclusion, and embedding perspectives of the robust regional diversity within the Russian-speaking world into the NSLI-Y program. While the NSLI-Y program partners with many organizations in various locations, examples provided here focus on NSLI-Y programs implemented by American Councils for International …


Excerpt From Ключевые Идеи Русской Языковой Картины Мира: The Breadth Of The Russian Soul, Alexei D. Shmelev, Nicole-Marie Konopelko, Translator, Stephen M. Dickey, Preface Jan 2021

Excerpt From Ключевые Идеи Русской Языковой Картины Мира: The Breadth Of The Russian Soul, Alexei D. Shmelev, Nicole-Marie Konopelko, Translator, Stephen M. Dickey, Preface

Russian Language Journal

In 2005 a collection of articles appeared under the title Ключевые идеи русской языковой картины мира (‘Key Ideas of the Russian Linguistic Worldview’), authored by Anna A. Zalizniak, Irina B. Levontina and Aleksei D. Shmelev and published by the Языки славянской культуры (‘Languages of Slavic Culture’) publishing house in Moscow. The studies in Key Ideas of the Russian Linguistic Worldview were inspired by the work of Anna Wierzbicka, most notably her Understanding Cultures through Their Key Words: English, Russian, Polish, German, Japanese (Oxford University Press, 1997). The idea behind the volume is that language communities operate with a ‘linguistic picture …


Review: Da!: A Practical Guide To Russian Grammar, Erik Houle Jan 2021

Review: Da!: A Practical Guide To Russian Grammar, Erik Houle

Russian Language Journal

The Russian contribution to the Routledge Concise Grammars series is Da!: A Practical Guide to Russian Grammar by Tatiana Filosova. Different from the reference grammars more-advanced students and scholars of Russian may turn to, this book’s intended audience is the less-experienced language learner. Those familiar with the first edition know that within each of the book’s thirty-one chapters, the author suggests the relevance of each chapter’s content according to three levels of proficiency: elementary (referred to as level one), lower intermediate (level two), and upper intermediate (level three). Each level is given a description based on approximate equivalents with and …


From Error Annotation To Quantitative Analysis: Patterns In Russian Language Learning, Irina Kor Chahine, Ekaterina Uetova Jan 2021

From Error Annotation To Quantitative Analysis: Patterns In Russian Language Learning, Irina Kor Chahine, Ekaterina Uetova

Russian Language Journal

Although learner corpus research has been progressively growing into an independent branch of corpus linguistics, the learner corpus cannot yet fully benefit from corpus analysis methods. This is due to several technical obstacles involving data collection, error annotation, and finally, data processing. When it comes to data collection, compared to corpus linguistics, learner corpus is biased because some of the learner corpora are still collected manually: Optical character recognition (OCR) is not yet sophisticated enough to transform a student’s handwritten copy to a digitized text. This fact significantly slows the collection of learner corpora. Furthermore, typed students’ texts present another …


Review: “The Nose”: A Stylistic And Critical Companion To Nikolai Gogol’S Story, Sara Jo Powell Jan 2021

Review: “The Nose”: A Stylistic And Critical Companion To Nikolai Gogol’S Story, Sara Jo Powell

Russian Language Journal

Ksana Blank’s companion to Gogol’s “The Nose” is an excellent new resource for students of Russian language and literature. The book consists of two sections: the first, a series of annotations to the story’s text, and the second, several short essays on a wide range of related topics. Finally, readers are provided with a carefully selected bibliography of secondary sources, which will be particularly valuable for those new to Gogol research and criticism.


Review: Russian In Plain English: A Very Basic Russian Starter For Complete Beginners, Veta Chitnev Jan 2021

Review: Russian In Plain English: A Very Basic Russian Starter For Complete Beginners, Veta Chitnev

Russian Language Journal

Natalia Parker’s Russian in Plain English: A Very Basic Russian Starter for Complete Beginners is designed for beginning students and independent learners who are not familiar with the Cyrillic alphabet. The textbook’s primary aim is to help students develop skills in reading aloud in Russian with correct pronunciation. The textbook is divided into ten units. Each unit centers on particular letters and sounds rather than on a specific theme. Every unit includes an objective (with the title “What’s the Plan”), information on Russian letters and the sounds they denote, reading exercises, speaking activities that can be used individually or in …