Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Developing Information Literacy Skills In The Beginning Language Classroom: A Case For Webquests, Ekaterina Nemtchinova

Russian Language Journal

To say that the Internet has had an enormous impact on the world of education is to state the obvious, and the world of foreign language education is no exception. The advancement of Internet technologies necessitates the development of a new set of abilities in conjunction with more traditional language competencies: in addition to being able to write compositions and read newspaper articles, foreign language students need to know how to compose e-mail messages, perform searches on the Internet, and use online information. In other words, students have to be information literate to adapt to today’s increasingly complex multimedia environment.

Connecting Classrooms: Russian Language Teaching Project At Ucf, Alla Kourova

Russian Language Journal

Change happens all the time and in all places. It is a characteristic of our modern world. A current trend in the world is globalization, which occurred by rapid developments in transportation and information technology. Today, people from diverse backgrounds come into more and more contact with each other with a regularity that is unique to this period of human history. As a result, intercultural communication has become increasingly important.

Review Essay: Popularizing Russian Language, Michael S. Gorham

Russian Language Journal

In an era rife with complaints over the degradation of language in the face of a host of commonly cited bugaboos (inferior schools, lazy pupils, declining morals, insidious new media technologies), one can only be heartened by the fact that language and language usage continue to be a source of popular discussion and debate. Even in American culture, where reverence for the national tongue has historically paled compared to the likes of France and Russia, one can find regular language-related rubrics in both print and broadcast media (e.g. “Word on the Street” and “Week in Words” [Wall St. Journal], “On …

Digital Determinism: The Cyrillic Alphabet In The Age Of New Technology, Martin Paulsen

Russian Language Journal

The spread of digital technology has created new conditions for the existence and development of languages. The East Slavonic languages Belarusian, Russian, and Ukrainian are excellent examples. Since the Internet originated in the U.S., and since most computer devices are created on the basis of languages that use the Latin alphabet (i.e., English), people who use other alphabets, such as Cyrillic, face additional challenges in adapting to the new technological realities (Sproat 2010).3 In this article, I shall focus on how digital technology challenges Cyrillic, as the alphabet in which the East Slavonic languages are written.

The consequences of similar …

Великий И Могучий Олбанский Язык: The Russian Internet And The Russian Language*, Daniela S. Hristova

Russian Language Journal

The worldwide proliferation of the Internet as a fundamentally new media technology has coincided with a radical social and linguistic liberalization in Russia. This junction changed drastically the interrelationship between the standard language and the non‐standard language varieties. A paradigmatic manifestation of the new Russian linguistic reality is the prevalent Internet trend of alternate spellings and non‐normative lexical use. The phenomenon is frequently referred to as an “Olbanian” language and associated with the counter‐culture of the so‐called “padonki.” Disregarding the fundamental principles of Russian orthography, spelling, and even morphology, the padonki have created an idiom that seemingly allows complete freedom …

Change Agents And Change Agencies In Language Education: Implications For Langnet, Richard D. Brecht

Russian Language Journal

Educational innovation is a richly satisfying enterprise, particularly in an age of rising demands and expanding technology. But unless the innovators have an explicit strategic plan and a dedicated system for diffusing their work, innovation is destined to have little or no impact on the teachers and learners for whom it is intended. That truth lies at the heart of the literature on the diffusion of innovation.

The Online Language Learning Environment: New Roles For The Humanist, James S. Noblitt

Russian Language Journal

Thomas Edison played an important role in improving the technologies needed for the telephone. He was said to have been excited about the educational potential of the new instrument and speculated that it would soon be found in every classroom.

Well, he was right about the educational potential of information and communication technology, but he was wrong about the form the new technology would take.

This chapter raises questions concerning the role humanists will play in determining the development and implementation of information and communication technologies for educational purposes.