Using Authentic Online Resources In Russian For Stem Coursework For Novice Through Superior Level Learners,
2021
University of Kentucky
Using Authentic Online Resources In Russian For Stem Coursework For Novice Through Superior Level Learners, Molly T. Blasing
Modern and Classical Languages, Literatures and Cultures Faculty Publications
This article makes a case for incorporating STEM content into Russian language courses at the Novice through Superior levels of proficiency. The author presents models of asynchronous learning activities based on authentic online resources developed for a Russian for STEM pilot course taught during the COVID-19 pandemic. These lessons can be employed in online or face-to-face courses to prepare students to speak, read, write, and understand the language of STEM fields in Russian.
Review: Acquiring The Major Speech Functions In Russian: For Intermediate And Advanced-Level Students,
2021
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Review: Acquiring The Major Speech Functions In Russian: For Intermediate And Advanced-Level Students, Olha Tytarenko
Russian Language Journal
Acquiring the Major Speech Functions in Russian is designed to help Russian learners build communicative skills related to major speech situations such as greetings, requests, invitations, expressing gratitude, and so on. The volume is built around various sets of scenarios from everyday life to help students understand and appreciate the cultural and social context of various speech situations and equips learners with the necessary vocabulary and background knowledge to participate effectively in a given speech act.
Review: A Reader’S Companion To Mikhail Bulgakov’S “The Master And Margarita,
2021
Franklin & Marshall College
Review: A Reader’S Companion To Mikhail Bulgakov’S “The Master And Margarita, Daniel Brooks
Russian Language Journal
Although Mikhail Bulgakov’s classic The Master and Margarita has become an inevitable fixture of Russian literature survey courses, it can nevertheless present a challenge even for seasoned instructors. As the text repeatedly slips between locales, historical periods, and narrative voices, Bulgakov’s novel seems more and more like a world unto itself. In my experience, there always proves to be something in this world—rewritten Gospels, a moving romance, the gun-toting cat—that will draw undergraduates in. And yet, when a tight syllabus gives me but four classes to tackle the novel’s elaborate system of leitmotifs, allusions, and historical realia, I feel like …
Mayakovsky On The Land,
2021
Bucknell University
Mayakovsky On The Land, Ludmila Lavine
Faculty Journal Articles
It is surprising that the poet whose self-proclaimed mission was to give city streets a language turned to publicizing farming collectives. No less noteworthy is the poet of internationalism working on the ethnocentric Crimea project of advertising Jewish agrarian communities. This paper addresses Mayakovsky’s collaboration on the film Evrei na zemle (Jews on the Land, 1927), and his poems ““Evrei (Tovarishcham iz OZETa)” (“Jew [To Comrades from OZET],” 1926) and “‘Zhid’” (“‘Yid’,” 1928). I argue that in these works the poet reshuffles the svoi-chuzhoi dichotomy. While using the Moses story of exile and liberation, the poet both domesticates the Jew …
Review: Unlocking Russian Pronunciation: A Supplementary Multimedia Mini-Course In Phonetics Based On Famous Russian Songs,
2021
Davidson College
Review: Unlocking Russian Pronunciation: A Supplementary Multimedia Mini-Course In Phonetics Based On Famous Russian Songs, Irina Kogel
Russian Language Journal
Kimberly DiMattia’s Unlocking Russian Pronunciation provides a much-needed supplement to the instruction of phonetics currently available in most Russian textbooks. Combining insights gained from academic studies of phonetics in the tradition of Elena Bryzgunova and Irina Odintsova, with a thoroughly modern approach to multimedia-driven instruction, Unlocking Russian Pronunciation presents the topic in a straightforward and approachable manner. The mini course consists of a textbook and instructional videos, which introduce learners to a hybrid Russian transcription system that aims to make explicit the rules of Russian phonetics. DiMattia’s system is designed to be used as a supplemental resource at any level …
Review: Russian For All Occasions: A Russian-English Dictionary Of Collocations And Expressions,
2021
Defense Language Institute-Washington
Review: Russian For All Occasions: A Russian-English Dictionary Of Collocations And Expressions, Jason Strudler
Russian Language Journal
Russian for All Occasions is an ambitious book that places itself somewhere between a bilingual thematic dictionary and a grammar textbook, while covering an impressively wide range of linguistic contexts. Its authors describe it as “a new type of dictionary” (xxvi) intended to aid learners of Russian in comprehending and constructing idiomatic speech. Theoretically, the project is rooted in the concept of the “communicative fragment” as defined by Boris Gasparov—the idea that indivisible combinations of words, rather than individual words, “provide speakers with the base units for the mnemonic ‘lexicon’ of their language” (xxvi). With this theory in mind, the …
Full Issue,
2021
Brigham Young University
Make Me Talk: A Bichronous Russian Language Course For Beginners,
2021
Brigham Young University
Make Me Talk: A Bichronous Russian Language Course For Beginners, Olga Garabrandt, Irina Six
Russian Language Journal
This article reports on a new bichronous (combination of synchronous and asynchronous) online Russian course at the University of Kansas that was offered for the first time in Fall 2020. The article explains the key course development principles that guided the choice of the course structure, the types of activities, and the style of instruction. The article reports on teaching and assessment practices that worked well in the context of this course and could possibly serve as models for those planning to offer asynchronous and bichronous language courses. Additionally, the article summarizes the main outcomes of implementing the new bichronous …
Teaching And Learning Indigenous Languages Of The Russian Federation,
2021
Brigham Young University
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,
2021
Brigham Young University
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.
The Russian Coordinating Conjunctions И And А: Their Meaning, Function, And Pedagogy,
2021
Brigham Young University
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 …
Review: The Art Of Teaching Russian,
2021
Defense Language Institute
Review: The Art Of Teaching Russian, Olga Mukhortova
Russian Language Journal
The Art of Teaching Russian, a recent volume on Russian language research, teaching practices, and first-hand experiences in constructing a Russian college course, could become the tabletop book for every Russian scholar teaching in North America. University professors, high school teachers, Russian department chairs, deans, and, especially, graduate students will find it not only professionally engaging but also beneficial in several other ways since the book provides brilliant observations on the last two decades of the Russian field.
Introduction,
2021
University of Texas at Austin
Introduction, Thomas Jesús Garza, Robert Reynolds
Russian Language Journal
On behalf of the editorial team of Russian Language Journal (RLJ), we are pleased to present this volume of RLJ dedicated to “Digital Humanities and Russian Language Teaching.” As digital humanities (DH) programs and materials enter their third decade in the academy, it is fitting to present here a snapshot of the many and varied applications of digital technologies in the teaching and research of Russian language and culture. The articles in this volume represent the breadth of DH endeavors in our field and serve as exemplars of the aspirations and potential that the future of digital technologies in …
To Opi Or Not To Opi: Proficiency-Oriented Instruction And Assessment In U.S. University-Level Russian Programs,
2021
Brigham Young University
To Opi Or Not To Opi: Proficiency-Oriented Instruction And Assessment In U.S. University-Level Russian Programs, Oleksandra Wallo, Molly Godwin-Jones
Russian Language Journal
Back in 1991, Thompson claimed that the impact of the proficiency movement on how Russian was taught in the United States had resulted in something more akin to Soviet glasnost rather than perestroika. She meant that while the introduction of ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines and an emphasis on functional ability in a foreign language spurred much discussion in the Russian teaching profession in the 1980s, these developments did not lead to “the actual restructuring of curricula and assessment along functional lines” (375). Thompson mentioned several obstacles to the adoption of the proficiency-based approach for Russian teaching at that time, including …
Building Bridges With Language And Culture In Russia (Fulbright-Hays Group Project Abroad): Focusing On Intercultural Sensitivity,
2021
Brigham Young University
Building Bridges With Language And Culture In Russia (Fulbright-Hays Group Project Abroad): Focusing On Intercultural Sensitivity, Alla Kourova, Florin M. Mihai
Russian Language Journal
In our progressively globalized world, the need to build bridges between people of different languages and cultures has grown exponentially. The phrases globalization , global citizen, and increasingly interconnected world are frequently present in public discourse (Kulturel-Konak, Konak, and D’Allegro 2017). Educators can potentially play a core role in bridging linguistic and cultural gaps between people, groups, and institutions. Closing these gaps was the main goal of the Building Bridges with Language and Culture in Russia project. The project was funded by the Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad (GPA) program, which aims to improve US intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural …
Russian’S Most Frequent Words And Implications For Vocabulary Instruction,
2021
Brigham Young University
Russian’S Most Frequent Words And Implications For Vocabulary Instruction, William J. Comer
Russian Language Journal
In the field of teaching English as a second language (ESL), vocabulary studies have grown in prominence since the development of the General Service List (West 1953). This list sought to define the most common and useful words in English to provide a focus for teachers in instruction and for learners in developing their language proficiency. Since then, the development of electronic language corpora and concordance software has greatly expanded the ESL field’s capacity for studying vocabulary frequency and usage (Dang 2020). For example, researchers have tried to determine vocabulary size (i.e., how many of the most frequent words) a …
Review: Quantitative Approaches To The Russian Language,
2021
University of Texas at San Antonio
Review: Quantitative Approaches To The Russian Language, Olesya Kisselev
Russian Language Journal
The volume edited by Mikhail Kopotev, Olga Lyashevskaya, and Arto Mustajoki is a testament to the reinvigorated interest in quantitative approaches to the study of the Russian language that has marked the past decade and a half. The trend, largely prompted and sustained by the widespread availability of large and well-annotated corpora, that is, digital collections of linguistic data (Kopotev and Mustajoki, 2008), is on full display in the edited volume. The methods and instruments featured in the collection are overwhelmingly corpus-based; however, many of the studies described in the papers showcase how various approaches to the analysis of language …
Translation In The Russian Language Classroom: Coming In From The Cold,
2021
Kent State University
Translation In The Russian Language Classroom: Coming In From The Cold, Brian James Baer, Tatyana Bystrova-Mcintyre, Irina Dzero
Russian Language Journal
For the past several decades, translation and interpreting have been largely excluded from the communicative language classroom—and not without reason. In traditional foreign language classrooms, “literal” or close translation was often used as a comprehension check or as part of a vocabulary or grammar drill, divorced from real-world context. This in turn encouraged students (and, on some rare occasions, foreign language teachers) to view language proficiency—and, by extension, translation competence—as a kind of linguistic matching game.
Digital Humanities, Access, And The Teaching Of Russian Language And Culture,
2021
Brigham Young University
Digital Humanities, Access, And The Teaching Of Russian Language And Culture, Irene Krasner, Thomas Jesús Garza
Russian Language Journal
In their introduction to the January 2020 issue of the PMLA dedicated to varieties of Digital Humanities (DH), Booth and Posner (2020) describe the “interdisciplinary collaboration,” “technical experimentation,” and the promotion of “public engagement and humanistic knowledge and understanding” that DH offers scholars and practitioners (10). They go on to reflect on the past two decades of research and practice in the expansion of DH through information studies, libraries, and departments of English. In a related manner, it is our intention to provide both an overview of the history of DH in academia generally, and also its applications to the …
Review: Political Russian: An Intermediate Course In Russian Language For International Relations, National Security, And Socio-Economics,
2021
University of Pennsylvania
Review: Political Russian: An Intermediate Course In Russian Language For International Relations, National Security, And Socio-Economics, Maria Alley
Russian Language Journal
The newest, seventh edition of Political Russian continues to serve the needs of students specializing in international relations, Russian affairs, politics, economics, government, national security, and related fields who wish to improve functional proficiency in reading, listening and speaking at the intermediate and advanced levels. However, the book’s reach is much wider. Several features of this course, including those new to this edition, make it a great resource for Russian-language instructors teaching a variety of courses and proficiency levels.
