Studying Official Communication At The First Level Of Foreign Language Education In The Current Linguistic Situation

Abstract

The modern digital society, intensive technological development, globalization processes place new demands on pedagogical learning strategies. The new generation of 18-20-year-old students is better at comprehending visual information. This should be taken into account in teaching foreign languages. The purpose of the study is to determine the principles of effective training in the culture of business communication in the broad sense at the initial stage of studying Russian as a foreign language (A1, A2) based on the application of relevant teaching methods for teaching business communication at the advanced stages of teaching Russian as a foreign language. The article discusses principles of speech culture study of Russian as a foreign language according to the positions of anthropological linguistic didactics at the first level of study (A1-A2). The experience of realization of such principles during the first stage of students’ training in the official communication sphere is presented. The efficient communicative situation was created through the educational process itself and the use of educational material visualization.

Keywords: Anthropological linguistic didacticsofficial communicationcommunicative ability

Introduction

Topical realities of web society, active technological development, global processes show that pedagogic strategies need to match new requirements. The new generation of 18 – 20-year-old students has other educational parameters compared to the previous generation. They all grew up in the digital age and perceive visual information better, but they cannot focus their attention for a long time or perform tasks according to straightforward instructions and algorithms of interaction with other people. That means that there is a need to create new principles of how to organize the studying process (Leontieva & Kotenko, 2017; Lyovina, 2017). To modify an adequate contemporary strategy of smart conversation at the basic level of studying Russian as a foreign language, let us use the main principles of anthropological linguistics which is based on three main principles: the communicative, anthropological, and cognitive ones (Aschi et al., 2018). Such personal and student-oriented approach can address the problems of teaching a new ‘digital’ generation of foreign students.

Smart conversation in oral or written forms is the main aspect of studying Russian as a foreign language at different levels (Amelina, 2019; Evtushenko, 2016; Kalinovskaya, 2016; Maleeva, 2018; Markina & Shurupova, 2018; Zhidkova & Mazuninà, 2019). When analyzing works concerning business conversation in Russian language, we found out that many educators used to work with aspects of smart conversation as a necessary part of teaching not only linguistic students, but also students of non-humanities specialties. Despite that fact, many notions of “smart conversation” can be used for linguistic didactics sphere. Different methodologies and aspects are used in the studying process. All these facts are connected with the topic of our research. However, not so many works are connected with aspects of smart conversation at the basic level of studying Russian as a foreign language (А1, А2). The authors seek to find out the importance of forming such aspects at the basic level (Blum & Ryazantseva, 2017; Klobukova, 1998; Levina et al., 2016).

Problem Statement

Studying smart conversation at the basic level has its difficulties. Russian as a foreign language is connected with little knowledge of Russian grammar by foreign students. The teacher becomes the first translator of the main rules of official and business conversation in the Russian language sphere. His or her main task is to develop aspects of such conversation in students, to get them acquainted with traditions of Russian written and oral business speech (a conversation in the dean`s office, or department, writing a statement, filling a profile, writing a personal bio, speaking over the phone, writing messages in different messengers, creating presentation, etc.).

Research Questions

During our research, we achieved the tasks of creating principles of smart conversation at the first level of studying Russian as a foreign language (A1, A2) based on using case study technologies and ways of knowledge visualization, which will be effective in the learning process of foreign students of Generation Z.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the study is to determine the principles of effective training in the culture of business communication in the broad sense at the initial stage of studying Russian as a foreign language (A1, A2) based on the application of relevant teaching methods for teaching business communication at the advanced stages of teaching Russian as a foreign language.

Research Methods

The author conducted research with two multi-ethnic studying groups during one semester (about 4 months) at the Faculty of Russian Language and General Education of the People Friendship`s University of Russia. The average number of students is 20. Every group has 10 students. Students were suggested to perform different types of tasks: cases or tasks which involve watching a movie or a part of it. The control group was given tasks which are done in traditional form, while the experimental group used case-study technologies and the technology of visualization of knowledge during the first phase of studying smart conversation. Assessment of efficiency of such methods is conducted through a typical test in Russian as a foreign language (A1, A2), Speaking and Writing subtests). Based on the results of comparative analysis of two studying groups, we can make a conclusion that forming the basic aspects of smart conversation on the first level of studying Russian as a foreign language involves using case-study technologies and aspects of knowledge visualization.

Findings

Different forms of visualization of knowledge are the main methods of contemporary technologies in studying Russian as a foreign language. Knowledge visualization helps to realize the cognitive principle of antropological linguistic didactics. During the studying process in some multi-ethnic groups of the first stage of studying Russian as a foreign language (A1, A2), we found that modelling real communicative situations using visual video parts (fragments of movies, educational films, animated films, and Internet resources), as well as timely drawing the foreign students’ attention to peculiarities of a situation of smart conversation, allows forming basis aspects, contributing to the development of further skills in studying Russian as a foreign language. The most effective types of tasks are cases and modelling situations based on video fragments.

Conclusion

In our research, we proved that teaching and learning smart conversation skills needs case-study technologies and technologies of visualization of the studied material. It widens the methodical toolkit of a teacher and makes studying Russian as a foreign language closer to reality. Other authors who work with advanced level students also pay attention to that (Kazabeyeva, 2015; Kunovski & Myers, 2018; Lyamzin, 2017). Basis aspects of smart conversation are necessary for foreigners for further effective study and lowering risks during adaptation to foreign culture of linguistic sphere. Case-study technologies and ways of knowledge visualization optimize the studying process and allow to retain the interest of foreign students of the new Generation Z in studying Russian as their first foreign language.

Acknowledgments

The study was funded by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research under Research Project No.19-013-00627.

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