University Russian Teaching Reference Books, Volume 1 and 2

Author: Zhen Xianlan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-03-01
Features: Language is a communicative tool. The ultimate goal of foreign language teaching is to cultivate students' ability to communicate orally and in writing. In the basic stage of teaching, the communicative principle should be fully implemented to enable students to master the basic skills of listening, speaking, reading, writing, and translation. The "Teaching Syllabus for the Basic Stage of Russian Majors in Higher Education" provides specific regulations for the linguistic knowledge and speech skills, as well as communicative competence, at the end of the second year. To meet the requirements of the Syllabus, we believe that the teaching of practical courses in the second-year semester should adhere to the principle of "student-centered, textbook-based, efficiency-focused, and balanced oral and written training." Students should continuously consolidate the basic word forms learned in the first year while learning to absorb and master new vocabulary and grammar in communicative activities, solidly improving their oral and written communicative abilities.
Student-centered means placing the student at the "center," with teachers providing concise explanations and ample practice, avoiding a one-sided lecture. Textbook-based means sticking to the textbook, avoiding the expansion of vocabulary and grammar points that might hinder mastery of the textbook content and oral/written skill training. Efficiency-focused means increasing the volume of student training, encouraging active participation in classroom practice, and ensuring students come prepared, thereby reducingness and procrastination in class, improving efficiency, and achieving reinforcement. Balanced oral and written training means coordinating the training and requirements for both oral and written skills, avoiding excessive emphasis on one over the other, especially addressing the tendency to neglect written skills.
The University Russian textbook is divided into two parts: Introduction to Phonetics and Introduction to Grammar and Vocabulary. The Phonetics section consists of nine lessons. The first eight lessons cover the 42 sounds of Russian, letter writing, phonetic rules, and intonation, focusing on speech training centered on mastering phonetics and intonation. The ninth lesson is a summary. The teaching time for the phonetics phase is approximately 6 weeks, with a weekly workload of 14–16 hours. After 6 weeks of instruction, students should have a basic grasp of the correct pronunciation of the 42 sounds, learn to spell, master four common intonation patterns, and be able to engage in extremely simple conversations.
This textbook is designed for zero-level students, so in addition to considering the influence of their mother tongue on Russian pronunciation, teaching should also account for the impact of other foreign languages, such as English, on individual Russian phonetic elements. This teaching reference provides detailed explanations of the characteristics, difficulties, aspects prone to confusion with Chinese and English, common student errors, and correction methods for each sound. The teaching of the Phonetics section advocates a combination of theory and practice. Students should not only understand the articulation and pronunciation methods of each sound but also listen to recordings extensively and practice imitation. Student-centered teaching with concise explanations and ample practice is encouraged in the classroom. Teachers should pay attention to students' pronunciation training of words, including exercises on individual sounds, ensuring the correct application of phonetic rules—such as devoicing, voicing, softening, and weakening—and emphasizing the practice of intonation patterns. Training students in word pronunciation lays a solid foundation for sentence and text reading. Sentences and texts are like buildings—only when each brick is of proper quality and specification will the entire structure be beautiful. The importance of word pronunciation training lies in this principle.
In conversation and text teaching, visual aids or simple sketches on the blackboard are recommended to enhance students' interest and the classroom atmosphere. Each conversation and text requires students to perform phonetic analysis, aiming to consolidate the learned phonetic knowledge and cultivate their self-correction skills. Methods of assessment: In-class reading or recording can be used. If conditions permit, phonetics labs can be utilized for better results. It is recommended that both teachers and students conduct phonetic analysis and record the findings, so that both parties are aware of each student's weaknesses. At the end of the phonetics phase, a summary must be conducted and recorded, with one copy for the teacher and one for the student, allowing students to continue improving their pronunciation after the phase is completed.