Creating the system of teaching Russian as a second language to primary school children from migrant families

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Introduction

Russian schools faced the problem of language adaptation of children from migrant families more than 15 years ago. In the XXI century, a new area of science emerged ‒ the methodology of teaching Russian as a non-native language to migrants of different ages living in Russia. The methodological understanding of language adaptation of primary school children who start their education in a non-native language is especially in demand. Such children are called inophones, i.e. carriers of foreign languages and the corresponding picture of the world (Azimov, Shchukin, 2019). At least two languages are present in the lives of schoolchildren-inophones: their native language, which is used in everyday communication, and non-native Russian, which is the language of education and non-family environment. The relevance of this study is conditioned by the need to form the Russian-speaking component of the bilingual linguistic personality of a child from a migrant family studying in a Russian school.

Modern methodology of teaching Russian as a non-native language to migrant children is based, first of all, on the rich experience of teaching Russian in national schools in pre-revolutionary Russia. The scientific and methodological basis for teaching Russian to non-Russian students was created by N.I. Ilminskii, E.D. Polivanov, and L.V. Shcherba (Ilminskii, 1898; Polivanov, 1935; Shcherba, 2004). In recent years, attempts to solve the urgent problem of language adaptation of inophone children have been made by many researchers (Dracheva, Tumakova, 2018; Zinoveva et al., 2018; Nazyrov et al., 2011; Yuzdova, Lukinykh, 2018; Gromova, 2017), however, there is still no holistic methodological system of teaching Russian as a non-native language to primary school children from migrant families, including not only the development of students' communicative competence in actual spheres of communication, familiarization with Russian culture, but also linguodidactic support in learning school subjects and the formation of skills of tolerant interpersonal communication.

The scientific problem to be solved in this study is the fragmentary nature of the scientific ideas about the system of teaching Russian to young schoolchildren-foreigners, which hinders the successful formation of the Russian-speaking component of the bilingual linguistic personality of migrant children.

In accordance with the above task, the established scientific ideas about the formation and development of multilingualism and bilingualism in childhood are of great importance for this paper (Polivanov, 1935; Protasova, Rodina, 2005; Khamraeva, 2017; Tseitlin et al., 2014; Chirsheva, 2012; Shcherba, 2004; Salimova, Koudryavtseva, 2017, etc.). Various modern definitions of bilingualism are analyzed in our monograph (Zhelezniakova, 2020). The complexity of the concept has caused different views both on its definition and on the types of bilingualism. In this study, in accordance with G.N. Chirsheva's definition, children's bilingualism is understood as “a child's mastery of two languages to a degree that ensures successful communication in accordance with his/her age characteristics, in oral and/or written form, in one or more spheres of communication” (Chirsheva, 2012: 76).

Traditional classifications distinguish different types of bilingualism depending on the degree of proficiency in the second language: complete, or balanced bilingualism, incomplete, or partial bilingualism, and semilingualism (Filin, 1972; Polinskaya, 1987: 69‒72). Researchers note that complete bilingualism is extremely rare, incomplete (partial) bilingualism prevails. In this connection, in the conditions of the Russian school we strive for partial bilingualism, to a large extent approaching complete bilingualism.

The teaching system proposed in this study is based on the works of modern researchers devoted to teaching Russian as a non-native language. The researchers develop linguo-methodological foundations of teaching Russian as a non-native language at school (Lysakova, 2021; Sabatkoev, 2010), propose a methodology for teaching foreign-language children in multicultural classrooms with the principles of differentiated learning (Usha, 2016), and create training programs (Kalenkova, 2012). Nevertheless, the system of teaching Russian to migrant children is still not presented in scientific research, which confirms the relevance of the topic of this paper.

The study is aimed at modeling the system of teaching Russian as a non-native language to primary school children from migrant families.

Methods and materials

The author used the methods of complex theoretical analysis and modeling.

The research materials were scientific works on the methodology of teaching Russian as a foreign and non-native language, as well as works in the field of social and linguistic adaptation of migrant children (Bobrova, Knyazev, 2019; Dracheva, Tumakova, 2018; Zinoveva et al., 2016; Ilminskii, 1898; Kalenkova, 2012; Kraeva, 2019; Lysakova, 2021; Nazyrov et al., 2011; Polivanov, 1935; Sabatkoev, 2010; Usha, 2016; Khamraeva, 2017; Yuzdova, Lukinykh, 2018; Gromova, 2017; Kamalova, Zakirova, 2017; Salimova, Koudryavtseva, 2017). Based on a comprehensive theoretical analysis of the materials, structural modeling of the system of teaching Russian as a non-native language was carried out, involving the creation of a mental image of the object.

Modeling was realized through the following steps:

1) defining the purpose of modeling;

2) decomposition of the object, i.e. determination of the components of the training system;

3) characterization of the object components and relations between them;

4) construction of the structural model of the system of teaching Russian as a non-native language to primary school children from migrant families;

5) determination of the place of the results obtained in the process of modeling in the existing system of theoretical knowledge about teaching Russian as a non-native language to migrant children.

Results

Based on a comprehensive theoretical analysis of scientific works, a model of the system of teaching Russian as a non-native language to primary school children from migrant families was created, including target, methodological, content, and procedural components. 

The target component is a set of goals, subgoals and learning objectives, which lead to the acquisition of a new integrative quality associated with the emergent (not inherent in the components separately) properties. The properties ensure the transition to a new, more complex environment. We called this integrative quality a super goal.

The super goal of teaching Russian as a non-native language is the formation of the Russian-speaking component of a child's bilingual linguistic personality due to linguistic adaptation, including interpersonal linguistic, linguistic-cultural, meta-linguistic, psychological and linguistic adaptation.

The goal can be achieved through the formation of appropriate competences: communicative in the spheres of communication relevant for primary school children, linguistic-cultural, meta-cultural linguistic, intercultural communicative.

The methodological component includes teaching approaches and basic principles. The leading teaching approaches are adaptational, competence, communicative-active, ethno-cognitive and sociocultural. Teaching is based on didactic and methodological principles. The main didactic principles include the principles of scientism, accessibility, consistency (step-by-step, continuity), systematicity, theory and practice, visibility, consciousness, ethnocognitive orientation. The methodological principles for the created teaching system include the principles of communicativeness, systematicity, situational and thematic organization of teaching material, linguistic-cultural orientation, taking into account the students’ native language, minimization, stylistic differentiation, interaction of the main types of speech activity, activity, intercultural interaction.

This is the foundation for the content and procedural components. The content component of the proposed model includes knowledge, skills and abilities (phonetic, lexical, grammatical, linguistic and sociocultural knowledge in accordance with the spheres, topics and situations of communication relevant for elementary school; the ability to communicate orally and in writing in the relevant situations of communication; phonetic, lexical and grammatical skills that ensure the junior schoolchildren’s speech activity in Russian), the main means of teaching (the program on Russian as a non-native language, manuals, recommendations for teachers on linguistic and didactic support of school subjects, recommendations for teachers in extracurricular activities), speech material (topics and situations of communication relevant for young schoolchildren, speech models, texts, including the texts from manuals on school subjects). The procedural component consists of the organizational forms of teaching (extracurricular activities, lesson activities with linguodidactic support), the main teaching methods (communicative, conscious-practical, conscious-comparative, direct methods) and control (current, intermediate, final).

The proposed model is the first systematic representation of the process of teaching Russian as a non-native language to migrant children of primary school age, which takes into account four directions of students' adaptation (interpersonal language adaptation, linguistic-cultural adaptation, meta-subject language adaptation, psychological-linguistic adaptation). The methodological basis includes new adaptational and ethnocognitive approaches and a new principle of ethnocognitive orientation of teaching. The main teaching means include methodological recommendations for teachers on linguodidactic support pf school subjects and organization of extracurricular activities.

Discussion

The aim of modeling the process of teaching Russian as a non-native language to primary school children from migrant families was to study the relevant phenomenon for the subsequent use of its results in practice.

A model of the learning system can include various components, and no model can be complete, since no model related to the social sphere “can give a complete picture of the object under study and accurately predict its development or describe the trajectory of movement in some own space” (Tsyganov, 2010: 140). Based on the idea of school learning as a process of consistent interaction between teacher and students, we include target, methodological, content and procedural components in the learning system.

The strategic idea and super goal of teaching Russian as a non-native language to primary school children from migrant families is the formation of the Russian-speaking component of a child's bilingual linguistic personality.

A bilingual linguistic personality is a person who is able to communicate in two languages in the spheres of communication relevant to him/her, while consciously choosing a certain language. The formation of a child's second language system is based on the formed system of the first language. Accordingly, teaching Russian as a non-native language to migrant children is always the formation of a bilingual linguistic personality, or, more precisely, its Russian-speaking component. If, according to Y.N. Karaulov's classic definition, “...a linguistic personality is a personality expressed in language (texts) and through language, is a personality reconstructed in its main features on the basis of linguistic means” (Karaulov, 2010: 38), then the linguistic personality of a foreign language learner who has successfully mastered a non-native language is a personality expressed in two languages and reconstructed with linguistic means of two different systems.

The formation of a bilingual linguistic personality of a child from a migrant family is possible under the condition of his/her linguistic adaptation, but it is not the only condition. The super goal is an integrative quality that becomes the result of progressive development. Language adaptation, the goal of learning, can help to achieve the above-mentioned super goal if the resources of learning are multiplied by the resources of the environment.

The analyzed scientific works on the problems of adaptation of migrant children show that the content of children's language adaptation has not yet been defined (Bobrova, Knyazev, 2019; Kraeva, 2019; Nikitina et al., 2019; Kamalova, Zakirova, 2017; Wojniak, Orzel-Deren, 2017). As a rule, speaking about children's language adaptation, authors focus on the formation of communicative competence in the everyday communication, but the observation of the communicative activity of foreign speakers has shown that linguistic-cultural competence, metacultural language competence, and intercultural communicative competence are no less important for schoolchildren, providing effective and conflict-free speech activity of children in everyday and academic spheres of communication. Accordingly, the linguistic adaptation of a foreign schoolchild should include interpersonal linguistic, linguistic-cultural, meta-subject linguistic, psychological, and linguistic adaptation. In this regard, the adaptational, competence, communicative-active, ethnocognitive and sociocultural approaches to teaching became the basis for modeling the system of teaching Russian as a non-native language.

The adaptational approach is the leading approach in this study. The development of structural components of language adaptation, their description and methodological interpretation are relevant for methodology of teaching Russian as a non-native language to migrant children.

The adaptational approach is based on the competence approach to teaching since language adaptation is impossible without the communicative competence. In the case of migrant children, communicative competence in the spheres of communication relevant for children, linguistic-cultural competence, meta-linguistic competence, and intercultural communicative competence are especially important.

The communicative-active approach considers the learner as a subject of learning activity taking into account his/her individual-psychological, age and national peculiarities. Within the framework of this study, the communicative-active approach was developed in the ethnocognitive approach, which focuses on the ethnic peculiarities of the cognitive process in education and culturally colored units reflecting the specificity of the national cognitive base in the teaching content (Zhelezniakova, 2020).

The formation of the bilingual component of the linguistic personality is impossible without the sociocultural approach in teaching, which implies the study of language and culture in interrelation. Sociocultural competence is the most important component of foreign language communicative competence, and it ensures compliance with the norms of interpersonal communication. The sociocultural approach is reflected in the formation of teaching content.

These approaches in modeling the system of teaching Russian as a non-native language to migrant children are integrative, which is generally characteristic of modern trends in scientific cognition. The approaches complement each other, overlap in many aspects, and current approaches, as well as the new ones ‒ adaptational and ethnocognitive ‒ will allow to combine them rationally to achieve the super goal of teaching ‒ the formation of the Russian-speaking component of the bilingual linguistic personality.

The most important methodological component of the concept is the teaching principles. The most relevant for this teaching system are:

‒ didactic principles of scientism, accessibility, consistency (step-by-step, continuity), systematicity, connection of theory and practice, visibility, consciousness, ethno-cognitive orientation;

‒ methodological principles of communicativeness, systematicity, situational and thematic organization of teaching material, linguistic-cultural orientation, taking into account the native language of students, minimization, stylistic differentiation, interaction of the main types of speech activity, activity, intercultural interaction.

In teaching Russian as a non-native language to children, the traditional principles of teaching Russian as a foreign language are supplemented by the didactic principle of the connection between theory and practice, and the new principle of ethno-cognitive orientation. The principle of the connection between theory and practice is a principle of general pedagogy, but it is not usually singled out as a principle of teaching Russian as a foreign language (Azimov, Shchukin, 2019: 232). The principle of ethnocognitive orientation has not been previously mentioned in the studies on methodology of teaching a non-native language. This principle takes into account the peculiarities of the cognitive process of learners of certain ethnic groups and is realized within the framework of the ethnocognitive approach to teaching (Zhelezniakova, 2020).

The target and methodological components of the teaching system determine the content component, which includes knowledge, skills, and abilities, providing language adaptation of foreign speakers, basic teaching means and speech material. For a foreigner of primary school age, everyday and academic spheres of communication are relevant, so competences should take into account the situations of children's everyday communication and the need to master school subjects. At the same time, linguistic and sociocultural knowledge is of particular importance for everyday communication, including the dialog of cultures.

When including teaching means in the content of learning, we rely on the “Modern Dictionary of Methodological Terms and Concepts” by E.G. Asimov and A.N. Shchukin: “Most methodologists distinguish in the structure of the learning content: a) teaching means (textbooks, manuals ‒ phonetic, lexical, grammatical, speech, country studies); b) a set of knowledge, skills, abilities necessary for language proficiency in various spheres and situations of communication” (Azimov, Shchukin, 2019: 317).

The procedural component involves changes in the system of teaching Russian as a non-native language in the primary grades of Russian schools and adaptation of students and teachers to the new conditions. The main forms of teaching become extracurricular activities (a course on Russian as a non-native language), lesson activities with linguodidactic support of school subjects, and extracurricular activities aimed at forming skills and abilities of tolerant communication.

The course on Russian as a non-native language is not included in the Federal State Educational Standard of Primary General Education, so it can be implemented only as an extracurricular activity of students¹.

The term linguodidactic support of school subjects was introduces by O.E. Drozdova, who understands it as “teaching the Russian language as a necessary part of the toolkit of cognitive activity in various subject areas of school education” (Drozdova, 2017: 7). In the aspect of non-native language teaching, linguodidactic support of school subjects correlates to a certain extent with Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL). We are not aimed at comparing linguodidactic support and CLIL, but one of the obvious differences is that CLIL technology is designed for the bilingual education system, while linguodidactic support of school subjects should be implemented in schools with one (Russian) language of instruction.

The procedural component also includes the methodological toolkit: methods and techniques aimed at forming the Russian-speaking component of bilingual linguistic personality. The main teaching methods are communicative, conscious-practical, conscious-comparative, and direct methods. These methods are embodied in the textbook for migrant children “We Learn Russian” (Zhelezniakova, Novikova, 2022). The manual is organized according to the thematic principle, with topics and communication situations reflecting the needs of primary school students. This brings the learning process closer to real communication, which corresponds to the communicative method of teaching. The conscious-practical method plays a significant role due to the fact that teaching Russian as a non-native language at school always accompanies learning Russian as a subject at the main lessons. For example, in their 1st grade at Russian language lessons pupils get an idea of hard and soft consonants, and at additional classes in Russian as a non-native language this knowledge becomes the basis for speech practice ‒ phonetic exercises aimed at distinguishing hard and soft consonants in productive types of speech activity. The conscious-comparative method of teaching presupposes reliance on the native language and culture of schoolchildren. For example, in the above-mentioned manual, after the topic “Birds”, which equips students with the necessary vocabulary and speech patterns, a text about the coat of arms as a symbol of the country is offered. The text mentions the coats of arms of Russia, Armenia, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan, where birds are depicted. Finding similarities between the heraldry of the learner's native country and the heraldry of the country where he or she migrated with his or her family makes it possible to understand common value orientations of such different, at first sight, countries, and cultures. Among direct methods, audiovisual and audiolingual methods, first, correspond to the task of language adaptation of junior schoolchildren. These methods imply intensive use of visual and auditory visualization, which is an important condition of learning due to the peculiarities of perception inherent in children of primary school age.

The results of learning in the proposed system are evaluated during traditional types of control: current, intermediate and final.

These provisions are reflected in the model of the teaching system shown in Table.

According to this model, teaching Russian as a non-native language in elementary school is a complex of extracurricular activities, lesson activities in school subjects with linguodidactic support and extracurricular events. All these forms of teaching can be implemented by an elementary school teacher or a teacher of Russian as a non-native language. In the second case, linguodidactic support of school subjects is realized in extracurricular activities, before the topic is studied in a school lesson. This prevents possible difficulties.

The constructed model reflects:

‒ the learning process as a whole;

‒ components of the learning process;

‒ the parts of each component;

‒ the main content of these parts.

The model of the system of teaching Russian as a second language to migrant children of primary school age

The model does not contradict the existing ideas about the process of teaching Russian as a non-native language to migrant children of primary school age but systematizes these ideas and supplements them. The idea of bilingualism as a goal of learning a second language agrees with the opinion of I.I. Haleeva, N.D. Galskova and others (Haleeva, 1990; Galskova, 2003) and develops the scientific notion of teaching Russian as a non-native language to migrant children, since references to the concept of bilingualism in this area of methodological science were previously fragmentary. The proposed ethnocognitive and adaptational approaches complement the communicative-active, competence and sociocultural approaches, which are usually the methodological foundation for organizing the process of teaching Russian to migrant children (Zinoveva et al., 2016; Yuzdova, Lukinykh, 2018). Extracurricular activities, lessons with linguodidactic support, extracurricular events, and appropriate teaching tools expand the boundaries of the educational process in the field of Russian as a non-native language, which in school practice is often defined in an extracurricular course.

Conclusion

Modern teaching of Russian as a non-native language to migrant children, despite the active development of this issue in methodological science, is fragmentary. The model proposed in this study is an attempt to present a holistic system of teaching Russian as a non-native language to primary school children from migrant families. Undoubtedly, the formation of a bilingual linguistic personality is a complex process influenced by numerous circumstances. The unresolved question is how to evaluate the effectiveness of the process of formation of bilingual linguistic personality. The difficulty of solving this question is connected, first of all, with different interpretations of the concept of bilingualism. The methods of control and evaluation of bilingual linguistic personality formation could be correlated with the methods described for secondary linguistic personality, but this task still needs to be solved.

It seems that the described model will make the process of teaching Russian as a non-native language structured and purposeful, create a solid base for the subsequent mastering of Russian in middle and high schools. Further study and detailed description of the model components, as well as analysis of the results of teaching Russian as a non-native language in accordance with the proposed system are the prospects of the research.

_{¹ On approval of the Federal State Educational Standard of Primary General Education: Order of the Ministry of Education of Russia of 31.05.2021 no. 286 (ed. on 08.11.2022). (In Russ.) Retrieved April 6, 2023, from https://consultant.ru/}

About the authors

Elena A. Zhelezniakova

Author for correspondence.
Email: elenazheleznyakova@yandex.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-7104-5132

Candidate of Pedagogy, Associate Professor, Acting Head of the Department of Intercultural Communication, Faculty of Philology

References