About Nationally-Oriented Teaching Russian As Foreign Language At Higher Command Military School

Abstract

The article is devoted to the solution of the current problems of modern communication and intercultural educational paradigms that center around the consideration of foreign students national specific in teaching Russian at the preparatory course of military school. Specific features of the course are that the language is the central core of training, performing a communicative function, in the process of development of everyday communication skills and abilities, learning of the language for special purposes starts within the first month of training. Development of own training manual is offered as a solution of a set of tasks: to take into account the specifics of the languages and mentalities of foreign military personnel, to give not only language training, but also to help to master subjects of future military occupation. The content of the manuals developed by the teachers of the Novosibirsk Technical University and the Novosibirsk Higher Military Command School is analyzed in terms of implementing nationally and professionally oriented teaching of the Russian language as a foreign language.

Keywords: Distinctive nationalfeatures foreign military personnelmentalitymulti-language dictionaryRussian as a foreign languageworkbook

Introduction

The paradigm shift in education in the context of globalization and integration of social systems around the world we are witnessing at present, can be defined as communicative and intercultural. Its key pedagogical provisions are the ideas concerning replacing authoritarian (vertical) communications with parity (horizontal) communication, involving cooperation in achieving learning goals (cooperative pedagogy based on respect for the students’ personality, their partnership with a teacher (Hairullin, 2007), as well as creation of a common education space, which, according to such researchers as Terminasova (2000), Beketova (2018), Korneeva (2012), Macaro (2001), Oxford (1990), contribute to training and education of a new type of specialist. Modern society applies special requirements to the level of cultural and communicative competence of a specialist, his ability to overcome communication barriers. Nowadays the quality of education is largely determined by students’ steady internal motivation, their ability to adapt quickly, constant resumption of informative dialogue with the their society, development of interpersonal relations in an intercultural environment, effective achievement of the goals to be sought (Kameneva, 2010, Kuprina, 2012, Vlčkova, 2005; Almazova, Khalyapina, & Popova, 2017; Popova, Almazova, Khalyapina, & Tret'jakova, 2017).

According to Grenfell & Harris (1999), Hargie & Dickson (2004), Macaro (2001), Gallo & Kuprina (2010) and other scientists, these provisions of the modern education paradigm are relevant in teaching Russian as a foreign language. Thus, in forums of International Association of Teachers of Russian Language and Literature in 2017, the following problems of multicultural education are mentioned as significant: 1) promotion of education in Russian, including higher professional education, in countries that have not yet joined those ones that have become long-term partners (Sub-Saharan Africa, South-East Asia: Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia and others); 2) nationally and professionally oriented teaching of Russian as a foreign language; 3) the use of scientific and information technologies in the Russian as a foreign language.

Problem Statement

The reason why we pay much attention to the pre-university training is the high significance of this stage in the process of adaption of foreigners. Every foreign serviceman starts “the process of receiving Russian education from the mastering of the Russian language” and “their further learning activity depends on results achieved during this stage” (Verbickaya, 2017, p. 7).

The current Education law does not establish regulatory requirements for the Russian as a foreign language preparatory course programs, and therefore all the universities in Russia, including the military ones, determine the content of such programs on their own, based on goals, needs and opportunities. The goal is to provide language training (the first certification level of TORFL-1 / B1), which contributes to the development of subjects of the future military specialty. It is driven by the need for teaching foreign servicemen arrived from countries with different languages, mentality, political and social structure. Specialists in Russian language take into account the peculiarities of the national composition of students and gain experience in working with them.

Specific features of the course are that the language is the central core of training, performing a communicative function. In addition, in the process of development of everyday communication skills and abilities, learning of the language for special purposes starts within the first month of training.

Research Questions

The scientific novelty of this work is the ways of implementing nationally and professionally oriented teaching of Russian as a foreign language in new training manuals, developed for students of the preparatory course.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this article is to identify possible ways of implementing nationally and professionally oriented approach to teaching of Russian as a foreign language at the preparatory course of military higher school.

Research Methods

The development of modern methods of interactive teaching of foreign languages and Russian as a Foreign Language contributes to the use of computer technology, thereby implementing a personality-oriented approach. The "method of multimedia transformer using all the variety of multimedia tools and tools that can be changed by the participants of the learning process and change the learning process depending on the subjective characteristics of the teacher and students" is relevant (Petrikova et al., 2015, p. 276). The method involves the preparation of a large number of training materials: text files, glossaries, presentation materials, workbooks, reference materials, etc.

Findings

Nationally and Professionally Oriented Russian as a Foreign Language Training Manuals for the Preparatory Course of Higher Military Schools.

Russian as a Foreign Language Workbook. Writing. Phonetics. Intonation (Elementary level)

This article describes two training manuals: Barbasoyeva et al. (2016) Russian as a Foreign Language Workbook. Writing. Phonetics. Intonation (Elementary level) and Inyutina et al. (2017) The Experimental Electronic Multilingual Dictionary of Military Terms.

Phonetics (speech recognition) and writing are a particular difficulty for foreigners studying Russian for the first time. While many letters and sounds of the Russian alphabet are familiar to the speakers of European languages and they memorize them quickly, including when writing, the speakers of such languages as Arabic, Farsi, Lao face difficulties with consonants, vowels and syllables in all types of language activity.

Russian as a Foreign Language workbooks are often developed in addition to textbooks, which determines their structure and content. In our opinion, these textbooks are not focused enough on such important aspects for the beginner level as writing and phonetics. Workbooks that are not attached to textbooks usually include a minimum of writing exercises, since mature students are supposed to be able to learn how to write by themselves.

However, the practice shows that independent formation of writing skills of foreigners entails not only handwriting illegibility, non-destinction of letters, but also, as a result, incorrect use of language in general. The mentioned problems are especially relevant for foreign military personnel, whose competence includes the use of all types of speech activity, starting from the first days of training.

The Workbook presented in this paper is universal, since it is intended to be used in addition to different Russian as a Foreign Language textbooks (Elementary level).

The manual consists of three sections (Writing, Phonetics, Intonation) and Appendix. The first section is targeted at mastering the correct writing of the elements of Russian letters, that positively affects the speed of writing in the future. This section includes military vocabulary that foreign students need daily. The peculiarity of Writing is that the letters are offered not in alphabetical order, but consistent with their graphic elements (for example, я, л, м ), which is especially important for speakers of Arabic, Laotian and Farsi. All parts of the section are composed in accordance with the increasing level of complexity.

The second section Phonetics includes 14 units and four of them contain three blocks - for speakers of different languages. The vocabulary was selected to keep consonance in pairs of words in different languages: Russian - Arabic, Russian - Lao, Russian - European languages. It allows to start working on sounds in phonetic words at the first stage of training. For example, the first task develops contextual guess. The second task is targeted at memorizing new vocabulary, at exercising of self-control over sound perception and at correlation of sounds and letters. The third task is aimed at development of formal writing ability (Table 1 ).

Table 1 -
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Each topic includes different tongue twisters that are an excellent training for the articulatory apparatus of students. They can be used for  unsupervised activities and as a phonetic drill during a lesson, they are effective for review. Phonetic quizzes help to develop skills in Russian sounds, syllables, words perception, to identify, differentiate, write and pronounce them correctly. In addition, at the end of each unit there is a list of phonetic games, the comments to which can be found in the Appendix.

The tasks of the Intonation are focused on listening comprehension, self-directed and conscious intonation patterns, pronunciation skills that are improved with the help of intonation constructions. For each intonation construction exercises including basic dictionary that is necessary for military personnel were developed.

At the moment we have prepared Russian as a foreign language Workbooks (Writing. Phonetics. Intonation) with tasks translated into English, French and Laotian. The aim we pursue is to achieve higher intensity in the process of speaking and writing skills acquisition.

Experimental Electronic Multilingual Dictionary of Military Terms

According to Hairullin (2007), the main point of teaching is to provide multicultural education for students, which is conducted through the study of special disciplines, the use of special opportunities in the educational process, the organization of extracurricular activities. Pre-university tutorial for potential military personnel requires mandatory knowledge of special terms both at the basic and advanced levels. Otherwise they face difficulties while studying major courses.

Creation of the multilingual vocabulary of military terms is targeted at development of professional competence that provides removal of language barriers in the process of studying military humanitarian and technical sciences by foreigner students.

Professional lexis is not reflected in the available lexical minimums, but it is a significant coverage of a diverse vocabulary. It is impossible to study military terms, to control knowledge acquisition regularly and systematically during the Russian as a foreign language lessons. Therefore, the aim of a teacher is to organize the independent work of the students.

The multilingual electronic dictionary was created on the basis of ABBYY Lingvo software. It includes basic military terms and professional words, describing different segments of military activities (weapons, uniforms, military commands, equipment, military life, etc.). During compilation of the dictionary basic concepts of the given profession were taken into account. Each term was translated into four languages: English, French, Portuguese and Laos (Table 2 ).

Table 2 -
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The electronic multilingual dictionary is an effective means of teaching load redistribution in the process of Russian as a foreign language studying. In addition, this dictionary helps foreign students to learn Russian in the amount that is necessary for further professional training, contributes to an intensive immersion in the material, assimilation of vocabulary in the mode that is comfortable for students. They gain access to the dictionary in the language lab.

It should be noted that the multilingual electronic dictionaries are becoming valuable and important in connection with the activities carried out at military schools to ensure information security.

Conclusion

The practice of Russian as a foreign language teaching at Russian universities is extensive and well reflected in different Russian multi aspect textbooks and training manuals. Their authors are scientists and teachers who have "essential competencies in the scientific description of the practice of teaching Russian as a foreign language" (Verbickaya, 2017, p. 43). Along with this, universities, including military ones, are developing textbooks according to language activities based on national peculiarities of mentality, intercultural communication, future profession of students and other important factors.

The Workbook and the Experimental Electronic Multilingual Dictionary of Military Terms, created for educational purposes and presented above, certainly take their place among such Russian as a foreign language study books. They are supposed to promote the development of professional speech competence that makes possible more effective further education. Self-study of professional vocabulary in equal communication with teachers will help to remove language barriers in the process of studying military-humanitarian and technical sciences and communication with colleagues.

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About this article

Publication Date

30 December 2018

eBook ISBN

978-1-80296-050-1

Publisher

Future Academy

Volume

51

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Edition Number

1st Edition

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1-2014

Subjects

Communication studies, educational equipment,educational technology, computer-aided learning (CAL), science, technology

Cite this article as:

Alexandrovna Inyutina, L., Sergeevna Shilnikova, T., & Alexandrovna Suchkova, A. (2018). About Nationally-Oriented Teaching Russian As Foreign Language At Higher Command Military School. In V. Chernyavskaya, & H. Kuße (Eds.), Professional Сulture of the Specialist of the Future, vol 51. European Proceedings of Social and Behavioural Sciences (pp. 1593-1600). Future Academy. https://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2018.12.02.170