University Russian 1

Author: Ye Ling et al.
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1994-05-01
Features: This textbook is part of a series of Russian language teaching materials co-authored by Beijing Foreign Studies University and the Pushkin Russian Language Institute in Moscow. It covers the introductory courses on phonetics, grammar, and vocabulary. It is designed for university students who have not studied Russian in high school and is intended for use over one semester. The phonetics introductory course requires approximately six weeks of teaching time, while the grammar and vocabulary introductory courses require about twelve weeks.
I. Phonetics Introductory Course
The phonetics introductory section consists of nine lessons. The main tasks are to teach pronunciation, writing, phonetic rules, common intonation patterns, and some basic grammatical structures, with the aim of conducting speech training centered on mastering phonetics and intonation. During the writing process, we paid attention to the following issues:
1) Since the distinction between voiceless and voiced consonants is a common difficulty for Chinese learners of Russian, who often confuse them, the textbook has shifted from teaching voiceless and voiced consonants in pairs to first teaching voiceless consonants and then voiced consonants. This approachs the difficulty ands training, and has proven to be effective in teaching practice.
2) We strictly adhere to the principle of teaching single sounds before introducing words. For example, a word that is very common in spoken language only appears after the pronunciation of [ ] is learned in Lesson 8. Some complete grammatical phenomena, due to phonetic constraints, are introduced in stages. For instance, they appear in Lesson 3, while other person forms are fully introduced in Lesson 8.
3) We implement the principle of closely integrating phonetics, intonation, grammar, vocabulary, and speech training. With phonetics and intonation as the focus, appropriate vocabulary and grammatical structures are provided to conduct comprehensive training in listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
4) The teaching of phonetic and grammatical knowledge, as well as practice, follows the inductive method: examples are presented before rules are explained, followed by exercises. Review lessons also aim to summarize and systematize the learned material, thereby enhancing students' awareness of language use.
II. Grammar and Vocabulary Introductory Course
The grammar and vocabulary introductory section consists of fourteen lessons. The main tasks are to learn word forms and expand vocabulary. Phonetic and oral/written speech training are closely aligned with this central objective, laying a solid foundation for the next stage of learning dialogues, texts, and conducting oral/written speech training. Each lesson in the grammar and vocabulary introductory course is divided into three parts: phonetics, grammar, dialogues, and texts.
The phonetics section continues to teach new phonetic and intonation knowledge and reviews learned phonetic rules in conjunction with the grammatical content of the lesson. For example, when teaching the fifth case of nouns, training is provided on the continuous use of prepositions with the fifth case.
The grammar and sentence patterns section uses sentence patterns as examples to first demonstrate grammatical rules, then integrates word form changes with oral training in phrases, sentences, dialogues, and short texts to provide students with skill-based practice. This approach helps students grasp grammatical knowledge more easily, reduces the difficulty of learning word forms, and enhances their interest in learning Russian.
The dialogues and texts section aims to gradually expand students' vocabulary and develop their ability to engage in sustained dialogues and spoken discourse. The dialogues and texts selected for this textbook reflect specific themes while being carefully coordinated with grammatical content. The writing of oral/written exercises strives to further integrate phonetics, grammar, and vocabulary to solidify students' mastery of the language material.
During this stage, students are expected to actively acquire approximately 8,000 words.