Difficulties In Studying The Russian Language Order Of Words Among Malagasy Students

Concord

The Russian language is characterized by the preposition of a dependent word in relation to the main word, and in French and Malagasy on the contrary. For example, “right hand” – “une main droite” – “Tanana havanana”; “strong woman” – “une femme forte” – “vehivavy matanjaka”.

In French, however, there are exceptions when the dependent word precedes the main word. The exception is made when the adverb is presented by pronouns, numerals, adjectives defining proper names, adverbs defining adjectives. For example, “ma première année” – “my first year”; “le petit lapin” – “little rabbit”.

There is also a limited range of adjectives which position affects the meaning of a phrase. For example, “de nouveaux livres” – books that I don’t have yet; “des livres nouveaux” – fresh books that have recently been printed.

Management

In Russian, in phrases with a type of connection, the management of a dependent component follows the main, and the relations of verbs and nouns is expressed by cases, for example, “approach a window”, help a friend”. In French and in Malagasy the word order in management is maintained, but in both languages prepositions and articles play the role of cases. For example, “manjaitra eo ambonin 'ny seza” – “coudre sur une chaise” – “sew on a chair”.

Adjunction

In Russian, the adjunction has the following norms:

• Adverb (-o, -e, -sky) is adjacent to the main component, for example, “very interesting”, “categorically protest”.

Most often the dependent component in French and Malagasy phrases is placed after the main word, usually a verb. For example, “parler aisément” – to speak easily, “mahaliana be” – very interesting.

• In Russian and Malagasy, the infinitive is in post-position with respect to the main component and does not require a preposition. For example, “need to do”, “wants to help”, “teha ahay” – “wants to learn”.

In French, the adjunction is formed the same way: the infinitive is behind the main component, but still the infinitive can be used with a preposition. For example, “vouloir réussir”, “apprendre à parler correctement”.

• Both in Russian, French and Malagasy, the main component follows a quantitative adverb and stands before a qualitative one. For example, “almost complete”, “French-style meat”, “beaucoup de monde” – “many people”, “la mode à la malgache” – “Malagasy fashion”, “be olona” – “many people”, “miteny frantsay” – “speak French”.

Considering that the main purpose of learning Russian as a foreign language is to develop communication skills of Malagasy students at the University of Antananarivo, it is necessary to consider the most effective pedagogical methods and techniques of learning Russian as a foreign language in order to overcome difficulties regarding the topic Word Order in Russian Language .

There are three groups of methods in foreign language teaching, which were identified by Babanskiy (2007):

• organization and implementation of educational and cognitive activities

• stimulation and motivation of educational and cognitive activity

• efficiency control and self-control method

According to Babanskiy, a teacher is responsible for choosing the method of teaching, so he described the criteria for the optimal choice of a method. According to him, successful choice of approaches is determined by six factors:

• patterns and resulting learning principles

• learning objectives

• content of a subject of study

• learning abilities of a student and the students’ group

• features of external conditions

• level of professional qualification of a teacher

The methods of training activity also define the forms of work.

A student is both a subject of the educational activity and a subject of communication, both indirect when reading a book or performing an educational task, and direct, in communication with a teacher, a student or students. Thus, there are the following forms of learning:

• frontal

• individual

• pair

• group

• collective

To learn the word order in Russian it is necessary to use all the above-mentioned forms of training, as each of them has its own advantages. The frontal method will help to become an authority for students, individual training of a student himself, although limited to his possibility of self-study, is also important in the process of educational and cognitive activity, pair and group forms are used at all stages of teaching and in learning of any material. The collective form implies the existence of relations in a scientific group, which is not always possible, as language groups consist of different specialties that meet each other only once a week, for example, the system of teaching a foreign language to Russian-speaking students at RUDN.

At the initial stage of training, it is important to avoid a gap between knowledge, skills and abilities in the use of the word order in Russian. In this context, the most effective method of training can be the audio-language method – training using the auditory channel of perception, which involves repeated listening and repetition of sample sentences after a speaker (i.e lingaphone equipment is actively used in classes).

This training method involves:

• oral forestalling;

• focus on the development of verbal skills;

• drill exercises (multiple repetition);

• little explanation;

• extensive use of country specific information.

Considering that fact indicated by Chesnokova (2015) that speaking, writing, reading and listening in a studied language refers to verbal skills, there is a need to consider the method as a system of repetition of the same techniques to solve cyclically repeated problems. For example, after a teacher explains the peculiarities of a sentence structure in Russian, he/she shall organize training and application of this material in speech practice using the techniques of repetition, reasoning, training and use of the acquired knowledge by students. The means of communication may include educational programs, manuals, tables, diagrams, etc. (Matezius, 2010).

However, the use of the above techniques blurs the attention of students. Thus, it is necessary to use the creative activity of students, which makes it possible to apply conscious methods of teaching: a conscious-comparative method – learning based on comparison of the studied language with the native language and a conscious-practical method – learning that combines conscious and practical learning. The key methodological principle of these methods is the principle of consciousness.

The above methods help students to understand the order of words in Russian and to find differences from Malagasy language, which makes it possible to study with reference to a native language, but helps to overcome interference, i.e. negative impact of a native language).

The development of creative text production is based on syntax (i.e. minimum learning unit – sentence), and concentrism in presenting a sentence (i.e. in cycles depending on the stage of training) and allows preserving the sequence of training – from knowledge to skills and abilities.

Special attention shall be paid to the selection of material, which shall take into account the use of words in phrases and sentences. The knowledge of isolated words is necessary, but it is more important to use them in sentences effectively. At the initial stage of the educational process in the absence of a linguistic environment it is necessary to select materials in the sphere of life, socio-political or special topics. Thematic selection contributes to better learning, especially at the initial stage of study. For example, the topic Shop or Study at University .

The use of emotional and semantic learning methods was proposed and developed by I.Yu. Schechter. They imply role-plays and a system of communicative tasks aimed at mastering the language as a means of communication. These methods contribute to the use of the Russian language in certain typical situations, which makes it possible for students to learn the skills of using the word order of the Russian language on the basis of simple typical situations of communication and on simple texts related to the professional activity of students.

Taking into account the genetic features of speakers of Malagasy language, the method of rhythmopedics developed at the Chisinau University, which provides for the creation of optimal conditions for memory mechanisms, will be effective in this country. This method involves introduction, consolidation and activation of educational material using rhythmostimulation, i.e. exposure of a student to rhythmic sound, light and color signals).

Rhythmostimulation contributes to favorable conditions for solid memorization of a large volume of educational material, activation of consciousness and subconscious in combination with logical perception of information. Given the differences in word order in Malagasy and Russian, there is a need to learn a great deal of material.

In summary, Malagasy students may have difficulty learning the following:

• word order in a sentence due to fixed word order in French and Malagasy

• word order in a phrase similar to matching, since in French and Malagasy the definitive word precedes the dependent

• word order in a phrase similar to adjunction, because in French and Malagasy the definitive word is always in post-position with respect to the main, and in Russian its position is flexible.

It is also worth noting that this topic intersects with the case endings of the names of nouns and adjectives, as the connection in French and Malagasy phrases and sentences takes place only due to prepositions, articles and word order, and in Russian also with the help of case endings.

Thus, in order to overcome the above-mentioned difficulties, it is necessary to resort to the audiolingual method of teaching, the method of repeating the same techniques, the conscious-comparative, emotional and semantic method and the method of rhythmopedia.