Lingual Edducation Speech Development Of Young Russian Language Learners Via Digital Resources

Abstract

Open borders and migration processes in the modern world require multicultural and multilingual states to find ways to the maintenance of the consolidating status of a state language (or languages), on the one hand, and to preserve and develop minority languages, on the other hand. The authors present the construct of bilingual and multilingual education that validates the application of digital learning objects (DLOs) in the curriculum of preschool and primary school age children who learn Russian as a state language, second language or heritage language. The construct is based on the empirical data collected in 2018 for the research study funded by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research. The participants of the study were preschool age bilinguals and their teachers (tutors or teachers of Russian language) representing four experimental sites in multilingual regions of the Republic of Tatarstan. The results of the study showed that the design and further integration of digital resources into very young learners’ curriculum requires the consolidation of expertise of psychologists, linguists, experts in the field of multimodal digital technologies as well as teachers and parents. In addition, the model of integrating these technologies into teaching Russian language and culture to bilingual children living in the multilingual regions of the Russian Federation and abroad should be based on interconnected and interdependent conceptual dominants, namely 1) understanding the crucial role of the child’s personality in child-teacher-DLO trinity, 2) high professional competences of the teacher, 3) the use of high-quality digital resources that stimulate cognitive interests of the child, and 4) the promotion of the Russian language and culture as a consolidator of the Russian society and the Russian diaspora abroad.

Keywords: Bilingual educationmultilingual educationdigital learning objectsRussian languagepre-school education

Introduction

Open borders and the migration processes of the modern world require that multicultural and multilingual countries make decisions that, on the one hand, help to maintain the consolidating status of the state language (or languages), and on the other hand, provide conditions for the preservation and development of minority languages. In this regard, the development of a multicultural and multilingual (or, as they say in the European Union, plurilingual) personality ( Andersen & Ponti, 2014; Common Sense Media, 2017) is the task of national and global security. Therefore, a number of multinational countries established state bodies and state acts aimed at attending this matter ( Tan & Liu, 2004; Golonka, Bowles, Frank, Richardson, & Freynik, 2014). In particular, the Council of Europe has the Language Policy Department, which develops and implements advanced multilingual technologies in the education system.

In the Russian Federation, there are also a number of laws and regulations governing the language policy in the country ( Golikova & Vafina, 2014). A significant number of multilingual educational institutions include children of different nationalities who speak different languages. In this regard, Russian educators face the challenge of creating conditions that enable their students to effectively teach the Russian language ( Varlamova, Bochina, & Miftakhova, 2016; Vafina, Sadykova, & Kayumova, 2018), which functions as the main means of communication in the bi- and multicultural environment and plays the role of a force that consolidates Russian society.

Problem Statement

In the modern pre-school education system in Russia the crucial question is how to integrate digital technologies into teaching Russian language and culture to bilingual children living in the multilingual regions of the Russian Federation and abroad. While studies report high motivation of children to use computer and mobile applications for their everyday activities ( Common Sense Media, 2017), including those related to language learning, educators have little understanding of crucial elements that should guide their choice of digital resources and ways they use them in the classroom for speech development of Russian language learners.

Research Questions

The study was guided by the following research question: What are the fundamental dominants (principles) that underlie the construct of bilingual and multilingual education that validates the application of digital learning objects (DLOs) in the curriculum of preschool and primary school age children who learn Russian as a state language, second language or heritage language?

Purpose of the Study

This paper aims to present the construct of bilingual and multilingual education that validates the application of digital learning objects (DLOs) in the curriculum of preschool and primary school age children who learn Russian as a state language, second language or heritage language.

Research Methods

The construct is based on the empirical data collected in 2018 for the research study funded by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research. The participants of the study were preschool age bilinguals and their teachers (tutors or teachers of Russian language) representing four experimental sites in multilingual regions of the Republic of Tatarstan.

The study employed a qualitative method of data collection and analysis. Triadic scaffold protocol, the method developed and successfully tested in the U.S. ( Meskill, 2005), played the role of a key instrument for collecting data. This method enabled video recording with subsequent analysis of the interaction of the teacher, student and multimedia material (digital learning object). In addition, the following data sources were used: 1) a questionnaire for educators (N=42); 2) interviews with teachers (tutor / parent) who conducted activities aimed at developing Russian language and sociocultural competences using digital material (N=4); 3) Internet databases, regulatory documents, and research studies.

The research employed Vygotsky’s ( 1984) sociocultural theoretical framework that advanced the principles of child development and training. The Soviet psychologist’s ideas, put forward in the 20-30s of the twentieth century, were applied in numerous educational research studies including those on distance learning and on cross-cultural and transnational (mass) learning ( Andersen & Ponti, 2014; Sadykova, 2014; Whiteside, 2015; Marginson & Dang, 2017). For the purposes of this study, the most important is the concept of the social situation of development, where educational objects, including digital ones, are part of the child’s surrounding that influences his or her development. Digital learning objects become stimuli-tools ( Vygotsky, 1984) that take on the role of a mediating agent that promotes the effective mastery of speech skills. Following the ideas of Vygotsky, we understand the learning process as a socially oriented interaction.

Findings

Data analysis enabled us to identify four fundamental dominants of the construct:

• The child-teacher-DLO trinity where the child’s individual needs play a key role;

• The teacher as a subject of the learning process and an object of study;

• DLO as a mediator of knowledge, virtual buddy and motivator (stimulus-tool);

• Russian language and culture as a consolidator;

The child-teacher-DLO trinity

Bi- and multilingual education of children with the use of digital educational objects should be based on what we call child-teacher-DLO trinity (Figure 1 ) that involves the creation of a learning trajectory where the teacher chooses digital resources (or their individual functions and features) corresponding to psychophysical abilities, cognitive needs, the preferred style of learning and the interests of the child.

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Educators and scholars agree that modern pedagogy should create and apply in the education system such methods and techniques that respond to the needs of an individual student ( Golikova & Vafina, 2014), whose life is currently unthinkable without the presence of digital (computer, mobile, electronic, robotized) systems and devices. Information acquiring methods developed by Digital Age children require adequate forms of knowledge transfer to the student from the very first days of his or her involvement in the educational process. As such, utilizing digital forms of transferring knowledge to the child becomes reasonable and justifiable ( Sadykova, Vafina, & Kayumova, 2018).

Summing up, it is the needs and interests of the child that should determine both the choice of a DLO and the methods and techniques that the teacher (educator, parent) uses in the learning activities with digital resources.

The teacher as a subject of the learning process and an object of study

While the child’s needs determine which digital resources and how to use them, the teacher is to make this choice. The professional competence of the teacher becomes critical in determining the trajectory of the child-teacher-DLO interaction.

The survey that involved 42 educators demonstrated that the vast majority of teachers understand and support the use of digital educational resources with preschool children. Over 62% of respondents also indicated that they use digital material on a regular basis. However, field research (observation of classes) revealed that professional competencies of educators related to the integration of DLOs into the classroom are very limited. Teachers often do not know how to fully utilize the functionality of existing resources, are limited in the repertoire of electronic tasks that they create independently and have insufficient understanding of how to involve children in the child-teacher-DLO interaction. At the same time, the study revealed that it is the teacher who can create conditions for the effective development of speech and sociocultural competencies even when a digital resource has significant drawbacks from the point of view of pedagogical design.

Conclusion

Digital educational resources in Russian, including those that are publicly available on the Internet, can and should contribute to the development of the speech and sociocultural competences of children for whom Russian is not native or is not the first primary language of communication in the family. At the same time, research suggests that only a small part of the available content, even if children of preschool or early school age are declared as the target audience, can be recommended for integration into educational programs of preschools and primary schools and into homeschooling ( Sadykova et al., 2018; Yapparova & Miftakhova, 2018). The creation and implementation of digital resources for the development of children's speech require the joint efforts of child psychologists, linguists, specialists in the field of multimodal digital technologies and, of course, teachers and parents. The model of integrating these technologies into teaching Russian language and culture to bilingual children living in the multilingual regions of the Russian Federation and abroad should be based on interconnected and interdependent conceptual dominants, namely 1) understanding the crucial role of the child’s personality in child-teacher-DLO trinity, 2) high professional competences of the teacher, 3) the use of high-quality digital resources that stimulate cognitive interests of the child, and 4) the promotion of the Russian language and culture as a consolidator of the Russian society and the Russian Diaspora abroad.

Acknowledgments

The work is performed according to the Russian Government Program of Competitive Growth of Kazan Federal University. The reported study was funded by RFBR according to the research project №17-29-09128.

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