Russian As A Foreign Language Lesson: Lexico-Grammatical Basis Of Teacher-Student Speech Interaction

Difficulties of Intercultural Dialogue between RFL Teacher and Foreign Student at the Lesson

Foreign students are representatives of many languages and cultures. At group lesson, they all may have different levels of language proficiency, experience some difficulties connected with variance in their native language systems and with their personal psychological characteristics, “immersion in a different cultural and linguistic environment, acquaintance with Russian realities, new features of Russian etiquette lead to confusion of concepts, the emergence of incidental situations, and sometimes to confusion and complete bewilderment” (Petrova, 2019, p. 53). “The educational and professional sphere of communication is one of the dominant ones in teaching Russian to foreign students. In this regard, the topic is relevant for the practice of teaching Russian as a foreign language” (Fedotova et al., 2020, p. 44). For every foreign student who studies Russian in Russia there is already a stereotype of the educational process, a system of relations between a teacher and a student adopted in his country. Also, foreign students throughout the entire learning process are involved in a multifactorial complex adaptation process. In order to achieve positive results in the formation of students' competencies, the teacher must methodologically competently organize the educational process, taking into account all the difficulties, including one of which concerns the correction or non-correction of errors in writing or speaking, as well as what mistakes should be corrected. An RFL teacher must solve methodological, pedagogical and other problems.

When teaching Russian as a foreign language, there is a problem of constant updating of educational materials. Educational texts should not only form competence in the study of Russian as a foreign language, but also take into account the individual approach and influence the acculturation process of foreign students. (Selyutina & Sakharova, 2018, p. 413)

Creation of a favorable and comfortable atmosphere in the lesson for learning a language is one of the tasks of the teacher, “in order to achieve the goals set in the lesson, the RFL teacher must remember that his oral speech should be accessible to foreign students; the accessibility of the teacher's speech in this case is closely related to the requirement of appropriateness” (Vishnyakov & Tarasova, 2017, p. 49). However, according to surveys conducted in groups of foreign students, 66.7% of them experience psychological discomfort in the classroom. The speed of teacher’s speech always seems very fast, a student does not have enough time to understand the meaning (58.33%). Students cannot formulate a question for a teacher correctly (91.7%); they hardly perceive the “long” teacher’s monologue (75%). It is difficult for them to determine where one sentence ends and another one begins in the teacher’s continuous speech (66.7%), the wording of the task in a large block by teacher is incomprehensible (91.7%), students cannot understand the meaning if some unfamiliar words are found in the teacher’s speech (75%). We mean the following words, phrases and sentences that sometimes a teacher can include in the speech: sovershenno verno (quite right); vnimatel’no posmotreli (let’s look carefully at); teper’ davaite obobschim scazannoye (now let's summarize); nu vot, tol’ko odin student vidit, a ostal’nye ne vidyat? (well, only one student sees, what about the others?); sadimsya na mesto (take your sit); poprivetstvuem drug druga (let’s greet each other); segodnyashniy urok ne isklucheniye (this lesson is not an exception); pishem krasivo (write beautifully); sobludayem naklon bukovok (take the right slant); chisto pishem (write carefully); nastraivayemsya na urok (let’s warm up on the lesson); propuskayem dve strochki (skip two lines); pishem krasivo, razborchivo (write beautifully, clearly); ne zabud’te pro polya (don’t forget about the margins); vse glazki na menya (keep your eyes on me); my vidim bukvy glazkami, a zvuki my slyshim ushkami (we see letters with eyes and hear sounds with ears); mnogo-premnogo slov (many-many words); segodnya my s vami uzhe videlis’, pristupim (we have already seen each other today, let’s start); chtoby ne mudrstvovat’ lukavo (without further ado); zaintrigovat’ vas (in order to intrigue you); vzyali ruchki i zapisali (take your pen and make a note); sidim pryamo (sit up straight) and etc. Perhaps, the reason of misunderstanding is explained precisely in the warning, made by Balykhina (2012), to RFL teacher working with foreign students, who already have some language skills. She claims that “active speech interaction at the lesson can lead to the penetration and even “invasion” of spoken elements into linguo-didactic discourse, though some of them can be inappropriate in a particular educational situation or even prohibited by educational traditions” (p. 261). There are some other practical examples of working with foreign students: the teacher asks the question “Soglasny li vy s tem, chto zimoy polezno est’ frukty?” (Do you agree that it is good to eat fruits in winter?), and the student names favorite fruits and vegetables. Probably the student does not understand the question or is not ready to give a detailed answer. The teacher asks in what situation it is necessary to use the imperative form of the verb and the student just gives some examples of the imperative. The dialogue between student and teacher is unproductive, because, according to G. Gao, “At the lessons of Russian as a foreign language, the most important thing for teachers is the way students can understand and perceive teachers’ speech, and how, in the end, they can master the studied language in order to achieve successful intercultural communication” (Gao, 2018, p. 12).

Openness of Problem of Conversational Interaction between RFL Teacher and Student

Despite the existing scientific and methodological developments, the problem of communicative interaction between the teacher and the student remains open, "the main problem of the teacher is the search for methods of developing the educational competencies of students studying the language as a condition for ensuring the quality of the program" (Aripova et al., 2020, p. 393), “The development of oral skills is the most frequent pedagogical goal of teacher-student interaction” (Gulubba et al., 2019, p. 1035). The question arises, what is the reason for the lack of productive interaction. Of course, when answering this question, one cannot deny the level of a foreign student's knowledge of the Russian language, exclude possible options for ignorance of the lexical meaning of the word, the grammatical form of the verb, etc., “education should be aimed at mastering universal communicative competence” (Volchenkova et al., 2019, p. 648). The relevance of studying the problem of communicative interaction between an RFL teacher and a foreign student is also due to "the need to introduce innovative pedagogical technologies into the educational process of higher education as the most important form of modern education" (Ivanov, 2020, p. 1).

RFL Teacher’s Speech as the Knowledge Source and Speech Model for Foreign Student

In practice, even after a brilliant lesson, a teacher can see sometimes that a student has many questions, one’s self-esteem is law and communicative competence does not develop. Moreover, even active teaching methods do not always contribute to the formation of the correct, clear speech of a student. One still creates sentences according to the rules of native language, makes mistakes in constructing coherent logical speech and, unfortunately, a teacher does not have enough time to correct these mistakes orally. In addition, such a problem of the correct formulation of tasks of a communicative type in a foreign audience remains relevant, "the authors discuss the basic skills necessary for an effective communicative process of interpersonal interaction" (Mikhaylova et al., 2020, p. 120), as "to construct a modern effective teaching model based on an innovative platform that is formed in the process of deploying classroom discourse in educational communication" (Chailak & Mukhammad, 2017, p. 77).

The Necessity of Search for Effective Form of Interaction between RFL Teacher and Foreign Student at the Lesson

The search for an effective form of interaction between teacher and student continues. It is known that “teacher’s speech is a teaching instrument, but it should not prevail at the lesson, and a teacher, especially on the advanced stages, must abandon the role of the “speech leader” (Kharitonova & Baranova, 2018). In this article, we pay attention to that part of RFL teacher’s activity, which includes the issue of the lexical-grammar foundations of the interaction between teacher and student in terms of formulating questions for a student. Correct formulation of questions will not only improve the quality of students’ learning process, but will also contribute to the formation of a positive attitude towards the subject through meeting their educational needs in “Russian as a Foreign Language” lesson.

Lexical-grammar Foundations of Different Question Types

Lexical-grammar Foundation of Open-ended Questions

Such questions begin with “Kto?” (Who), “Gde?” (Where), “Kogda?” (When), “Zachem?” (What for), “Pochemy?” (Why), etc. There are examples of open-ended questions: chto dlya vas vazhno pri vybore professii? (What is important to you when choosing a profession?); chto nuzhno sdelat’, chtoby pravil’no vybrat’ professiyu? (What do you need to do to choose the right profession?); kto mozhet dat’ khoroshiy sovet, kakuyu professiyu vybrat’? (Who can provide good advice, what profession to choose?); gde mozhno poluchit’ vybrannuyu vami professiyu? (Where can you get the chosen profession?); kakiye professii seychas nakhodyatsya na pike populyarnosti? (What professions are very popular now?); pochemu luchshe vybirat’ professiyu po dushe? (Why is it better to choose a profession that you like?); zachem pri vybore professii nado uchityvat’ sposobnosti rebyonka? (Why is it necessary to take into account the child’s abilities when choosing a profession?), etc.

Lexical-grammar Foundation of Clarifying Questions

Clarifying questions contain “Pravil’no li my ponimayem…?” (Do we understand correctly ...?), “Vy imely v vidu…?” (Do you mean…?), “To est’ vy khotite skazat’, chto…?” (So you want to say that…) There are examples of clarifying questions: pravil’no li ya vas ponimayu, chto dlya vas pri vybore professii vazhno uchityvat’ interesy cheloveka? (Do I understand you correctly, that it is important for you to take into account the interests of a person when choosing a profession?); to yest’ vy predpochitayete vybor professii po dushe, a ne po sposobnostyam? (So you prefer to choose a profession that you like rather than this that you have abilities for?); vy imeyete v vidu, chto nikto luchshe ne znayet, kakuyu professiyu vybrat’? (Do you mean that no one knows better which profession to choose?); vy schitayete, chto pri vybore professii nuzhno ponyat’ dlya sebya, chto takoye professiya? (Do you think that when choosing a profession you need to understand for yourself what a profession is?), etc.

Lexical-grammar Foundation of Alternative Questions

Alternative questions, which include “or-or” structure, offer ready-made answers to a student. There are examples of alternative questions: vas interesuyet professiya vracha ili inzhenera? (Are you interested in the profession of a doctor or engineer?); professiyu cheloveku imet’ obyazatel’no ili neobyazatel’no? (Is it necessary or mandatory for a person to have a profession?); rabota shakhtera – odna iz samykh opasnykh ili samykh tyazhelykh v mire? (Is a miner’s job one of the most dangerous or the hardest in the world?); rabota uchitelya trebuyet dobrozhelatel’nosti ili otvetstvennosti? (Does a teacher’s job require goodwill or responsibility?); tvorcheskim lyudyam luchshe vybirat’ professiyu aktera ili dizaynera? (Is it better for creative people to choose the profession of an actor or designer?); yesli professiya interesnaya, to kazhdyy den’ na rabote budet schastlivym ili produktivnym? (If the profession is interesting, then every day at work will be happy or productive?), etc.

Lexical-grammar Foundation of Guiding Questions

The guiding questions include such words as “razve”, “ved” (after all), “ne pravda li” (is it not true, that), “konechno” (of course). Guiding questions have interrogative intonation and include the correct answer in their structure. A student should only repeat a part of the question that is the answer. There are examples of guiding questions: razve ne vse mechtayut vybrat’ professiyu po dushe? (Everyone dreams of choosing a profession that one likes, doesn’t it?); ne pravda li, chto mnogiye schitayut, chto professiyu imet’ ne obyazatel’no? (Many believe that having a profession is not necessary, don’t they?); razve rabota vospitatelem ne trebuyet ot cheloveka byt’ dobrozhelatel’nym, otvetstvennym, umet’ kontrolirovat’ svoi emotsii? (Work as a teacher requires a person to be friendly, responsible, able to control emotions, doesn’t it?); ved’ tvorcheskiye lyudi dolzhny prismotret’sya k kreativnym professiyam? (Creative people should take a closer look at creative professions, don’t’ they?); ved’ sushchestvuyut zhe seychas spetsial’nyye nauchnyye testy, kotoryye pomogut cheloveku pravil’no vybrat’ professiyu? (There are now special scientific tests that will help a person choose the right profession, aren’t they?), etc.

The Meaning of Structured System of Questions

A well-thought out and clearly structured system, a strong lexical-grammar foundation of questions can become an indispensable instrument for a teacher. Students can choose the answer that is most appropriate for them. They are able to express their answer in those language forms that they know best.

Thus, the disadvantages of students’ reproductive perception of material are excluded, their activity is not minimized. They are required not only to understand, but also to reproduce the material, to receive, to systemize and repeat it.