Language and culture: Components of a single process

Abstract

The authors of the article are teachers at the Center for the Study of Russian as a Foreign Language in Kazan, Russia. Here they share their collective experience of teaching a Russian course designed for a two-month program of Russian as a foreign language for American students. The article discusses methodological principles employed in the course, shares observations on language learning, gives examples of study plans, and analyzes the results of the program.The authors use communicative approach in their job. As a result there has been devised two guiding principles of effective teaching of Russian as a Foreign Language: "from the facts of language to the facts of culture" and "from the facts of culture to the facts of language". These principles are applied to the courses "Practical Russian", "Russian politics, economy, and society in the media", "Practical Russian Grammar: difficulties and usage", "Practical phonetics", "Russian Literature". As it is snowed in the article all students showed better results at the end of the language program. According to the authors' point of view success was possible due to realization of the next principles: involvement in linguistic and cultural context, integration of disciplines, interactive approach in the study of the facts of language and culture, integration of tutors and members of Russian families in the educational activity, integration of tutors and members of Russian families in the educational activity.