A Decade of Russian Teaching: Notes on Methodology and Textbooks*

Abstract

NS a charter member of AATSEEL, and as a Slavist whose participation in the field dates from the thirties, it is indeed gratifying to observe the growth of Slavic-East European studies and teaching in this country. Not only those of you whose appearance in our ranks is quite recent, but all of us irrespective of whether our primary or secondary interest lies in Slavic, owe much to those pioneers and trail-blazers of the '20's and '30's. An immese debt of gratitude is due such figures as George R. Noyes, Samuel Cross, Alexander Kaun, Oleg Maslenikov, Alfred Senn and Arthur P. Coleman, plus a handful of other distinguished scholars, who unsung and unheralded, labored to secure a place under the sun for SlavicEast European studies. They gave unsparingly of their energies and efforts at a time when there was little glory and even less recognition in the SlavicEast European field. It has been a decade since Russian, due to reasons requiring no elaboration here, found its way into the curricula of numerous North American colleges and universities. It is interesting to compare its growth with another newcomer, Portuguese. Whereas Portuguese claims about 1000 students and is having considerable difficulty in maintaining itself, Russian according to President Coleman's Report on the Status of Russian and Other Slavic and East European Languages,' in 1948 boasted approximately 5000 students regularly enrolled in college classes (with an extimated 30,000 more in extension courses, adult education centers, etc.). While Portuguese, partly due to a declining emphasis on Latin American relations, threatens to fall sharply, Russian studies, owing in large measure to international developments, bids fair to expand. And indeed as a regular perusal of the New York Times Education Page will reveal, new courses in Russian language, literature, and civilization continue to make their appearance. New centers of Russian, Slavic, and East European studies have blossomed forth