Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Who Sent The Devil Down To Georgia? An Analysis Of The Causes Of The Russo-Georgian War Of 2008 And Its Effects On Georgian Democracy, Kris Bohnenstiehl

The Commons: Puget Sound Journal of Politics

No abstract provided.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Russian Language Journal

No abstract provided.

The Ukrainian Immigrant Experience In South Carolina, Nataliya S. Vykhovanets, Alexander Lorenz

University of South Carolina Upstate Student Research Journal

The following paper focuses on the Ukrainian immigrant community living in the Upstate region of South Carolina and the vast differences in immigrant experiences of former and more recent Ukrainian Immigrants. Ukrainians have been migrating to the US since the late 1800s, but unfortunately, there are few studies available on this ethnic group.

To give readers a background on the topic, this paper first documents the history of Ukrainian immigration to the US by describing and comparing the four waves of Ukrainian migration to the United States. The following section introduces a questionnaire, created to collect data on the Ukrainian …