Lessons from experience: using Revita to teach Russian as a heritage language

Teaching Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Heritage Language Students: Curriculum Needs, Materials, and Assessment, edited by Kimi Kondo-Brown and James Dean Brown, is a collection of empirical research on Japanese, Korean, and Chinese heritage language (HL) education. To contextualize the research, the editors define HL learners as individuals “who have acquired their cultural and linguistic competence in a nondominant language primarily through contact at home with foreign-born parents and/or other family members” (p. 3). The book covers important and timely issues, such as the two-track system of heritage and non-heritage language (NHL) learners, the assessment of HL proficiency, and the intricacies of HL curriculum design, currently under contemplation in the field of HL education. The wide array of articles collected in this publication will interest researchers, policy makers, curriculum writers, teacher educators, and teacher trainees at all levels. Prior publications on HL education have been predominately based on Spanish as an HL and do not directly address matters that are unique to East Asian HL education. This volume provides HL educators of Japanese, Korean, and Chinese a much-needed resource that speaks to their unique experience and needs.

Heritage language speakers have been recognized as a special group of language learners, whose knowledge of and experiences with the language, as well as their motivations for (re)learning their home language, differ drastically from that of an average learner of a second language. Current heritage language pedagogical approaches mainly focus on the development of communicative (or functional) abilities of the heritage learners; however, heritage speakers continue to struggle with structural accuracy and complexity of their speech and, thus, often fail to develop higher levels of proficiency in their heritage language. In this paper, we propose that focus-on-form needs to be an integral part of teaching heritage learners from the start of instruction. We base our argument on the results of extensive linguistic research on heritage Russian and on insights from the currently available pedagogically oriented classroom and laboratory-based research on heritage learners. We formulate and discuss instructional methods that help educators develop heritage learners’ attention to grammatical form and ability to recognize form-meaning mappings; foster conceptual understanding of grammar, and increase their metalinguistic awareness. Given consistent parallels across different heritage languages, the methodologies developed for Russian learners readily apply in other heritage language classrooms as well.

The field of ESP teaching has undergone a revolutionary transformation with the integration of ICT tools and other authentic materials. These resources have proven to be invaluable to learners as they enable real-life interactions with native speakers. Various studies have explored the challenges faced by teachers and learners in ESP teaching situations. Therefore, this paper aims to describe the effectiveness of reading authentic materials toward the reading proficiency of psychology department students. The study was conducted at the Psychology Department of Universitas Wijaya Putra. The students participated in 14 meetings, during which the experimental group was exposed to authentic reading materials and the control cluster received streamlined materials, a pre-test and post-test of the reading comprehension test were given to the students. The marks obtained were analyzed using SPPS and the students were given a set of tasks that included 50 multiple-choice questions and 10 essay questions. The research results revealed that the mean deviation score for the experimental group was 80, while it was 65 for the control group. Consequently. This provides evidence supporting the acceptance of the hypothesis, indicating an improvement in student performance after receiving the treatment. Specifically, the results revealed that exposure to authentic materials improved the reading proficiency of psychology department students

For a long time, we, the Ukrainian Americans, were hesitant about what instructional methods to use while working with our kids in the Saturday or Sunday Ukrainian school abroad, since we simply couldn’t classify our students by their linguistic abilities. The majority of children that attend Ukrainian schools are not native speakers of Ukrainian since the mainstream language that they use in society is English. They are also not foreigners who learn the language from scratch since they hear and speak Ukrainian at home with their families. Moreover, we cannot disregard their Ukrainian origin and roots, which “deny” teaching Ukrainian as a foreign language. The translation of the term “heritage language” was introduced by Prof. Oksana Turkevych at one of the language conferences. This term is not unique as we can see different scholars use different definitions, such as home language, ancestral language, or immigrant language [2:1]. Heritage languages in the USA have been studied since the 1990s. Unfortunately, the Ukrainian language is not part of this research, however, the Ukrainian-American community is largely presented. With this being said, this article aims to introduce the research and experience of our colleagues working on heritage languages in the USA. I also want to explain the difference between native, foreign, and heritage language learning; share our school experience of teaching Ukrainian heritage language students in order to not only improve the quality of teaching but also to enable the Ukrainian language to become one of the languages that are being taught and researched in the USA and the world. Key words: Ukrainian as a heritage language, Ukrainian as a foreign language, Ukrainian as a native language, methodology of teaching Ukrainian as a heritage language, authentic materials, sociocultural situation, sociocultural materials, sequential and parallel bilingualism.

The theoretical aspects of the use of authentic materials in the study of foreign languages are mainly focused on the problem of forming the language and speech competence of the methodological provision of separate components of intercultural students' education. However, the context of intercultural communication actualises the question of the functional filling of authentic educational materials for the implementation of linguocultural and socio-cultural aspects in the study of a foreign language. The purpose of the article is to study the effectiveness of authentic educational materials in the formation of foreign communicative competence, which has a complex structure and acts as interaction and interpenetration of linguistic, sociocultural and communicative competences, the level of formation of which allows a student or a future specialist to effectively implement a foreign language, and, therefore, interlingual, intercultural and interpersonal communication. The study uses a wide range of theoretical methods, including discursive analysis, intercultural studies, pragmatic and sociolinguistics approaches, systematisation of scientific research that studies this issue, as well as a survey method, including observation, conversion analysis and a statistical method during the calculation of results. The effectiveness of authentic materials such as authentic textbooks, written and oral texts from the media, video and audio materials, and the advantages of the IT network in the teaching of the French language have been analysed. It has been found that authentic materials in the teaching of Frenchlanguage promote the implementation of intercultural communication

Heritage speakers (HSs) are known to differ from monolingual speakers in various linguistic domains. The present study focuses on the syntactic properties of monolingual and heritage Russian. Using a corpus of semi-spontaneous spoken and written narratives produced by HSs of Russian residing in the US and Germany, we investigate HSs’ word order patterns and compare them to monolingual speakers of Russian from Saint Petersburg. Our results show that the majority language (ML) of HSs as well as the clause type contribute to observed differences in word order patterns between speaker groups. Specifically, HSs in Germany performed similarly to monolingual speakers of Russian while HSs in the US generally produced more SVO and less OVS orders than the speakers of the latter group. Furthermore, HSs in the US produced more SVO orders than both monolingual speakers and HSs in Germany in embedded clauses, but not in main clauses. The results of the study are discussed with the reference to the differences between main and embedded clauses as well as the differences between the MLs of the HSs.

The pedagogical value of authentic materials in language education has been extensively recognized and debated since the late 19th century, garnering significant attention from researchers and educators across various fields. Despite the theoretical support for using authentic materials, their practical implementation in language teaching has progressed relatively slowly. Textbooks must often address the complexities and demands of integrating such materials effectively. This study investigates the benefits and challenges associated with incorporating authentic materials, such as real-life conversations, authentic texts, and case studies based on the TermoCLIL approach in English for specific classes. The effectiveness of this approach was assessed using an online survey from both students and teachers, emphasising using authentic reading materials specialized to Math students. The findings indicate that authentic materials and academic contexts significantly enhance learner interest and engagement. The research was conducted with first-year math students learning English for a specific purpose at Gulistan State University, and it focused on integrating authentic materials at the B1 proficiency level. A selection of educational resources, including textual and practical, was designed to create meaningful and communicative contexts and was implemented in classroom settings.

There are many references among literature supporting the idea of using authentic material in language teaching. Authentic material provides the learners with many significant advantages and promotes learners with high motivation and interest in language learning. This paper attempted to recognize Libyan EFL teachers’ attitudes and beliefs regarding the use of authentic reading materials at university level in Libya. After employing attitude and believes questionnaire toward the use of authentic materials to EFL teachers from the University of Gareuness in Libya the results indicated that EFL Libyan teachers had a positive attitudes towards the use of authentic material. In addition, the study indicated that a perfect reading class should use a combination of both authentic texts and textbooks. Therefore, language programs should consider introducing authentic materials into the curriculum as a tool to improve the current learning environment.

The goal of this paper is to analyze the use of authentic material in teaching grammar for EFL students. Kilickaya (2004) define authentic materials as exposure to real language and use in its own community. Peacock (1997) has another definition of authentic materials which isthe materials that have been produced to fulfill some social purposes in the language community. Authentic materials are assume as the important tools for teachers in class in order to make his/her teaching effective in transmitting the necessary knowledge to all students. This presentation will discuss the effects of using authentic material in teaching grammar from teachers perspective and offer how authentic material can be used in grammar EFL class.DOI: https;//doi.org/10.24071/llt.2016.190207

The goal of this paper is to analyze the use of authentic material in teaching grammar for EFL students. Kilickaya (2004) define authentic materials as exposure to real language and use in its own community. Peacock (1997) has another definition of authentic materials which isthe materials that have been produced to fulfill some social purposes in the language community. Authentic materials are assume as the important tools for teachers in class in order to make his/her teaching effective in transmitting the necessary knowledge to all students. This presentation will discuss the effects of using authentic material in teaching grammar from teachers perspective and offer how authentic material can be used in grammar EFL class.

Introduction. Research competencies, including the skills of working with professional foreign language literature, various authentic sources, the ability to work with specialized scientific databases forms the basis of modern professional training of medical students. Aim. Description of the author's model of working with authentic foreign language materials for junior medical students and justification of the technology of organizing educational activities using specially selected authentic materials at the stage of the transition from general foreign language disciplines to professional communication. The subject of the study was the stage of transition from the general course of a foreign (English) language (GE) to a professional one (ESP). Materials and methods. The research is based on the cascade principle of the formation of foreign language competencies of medical students. This principle presupposes the systematization and practical application of general language knowledge, on the basis of which professionally significant communication skills are formed. The methods of analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, comparative studies were used, which made it possible to assess the relationship between the system of professional medical education and the use of authentic foreign language materials in this process. The empirical study was implemented by integrating professional questionnaires (needs analysis) [24] into D. Kirkpatrick's four-type model for evaluating the effectiveness of training during the transition from GE to ESP at the beginning and at the end of training. The study was conducted during one academic year (September 2022 – June 2023) in classes in the disciplines "Foreign language (General English)" and "English for professional communication (ESP/EAP)" at the Faculty of Medical Science (N. V. Sklifosovsky Institute of Clinical Medicine, Sechenov University). The respondents of the study were 80 medical students of junior courses (1st and 2nd year students) of the level of English proficiency "Intermediate" (B1+) and "Upper-Intermediate" (B2+). Results. The results of the study showed that medical students from the study group reacted positively to the introduction of professional authentic foreign language materials into the educational process. The developed model of designing educational work allowed to form and put into practice the technologies of the educational process relevant to the professional field of medicine, which increases not only the foreign language communication of students, but also their professional competencies. Conclusion. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the parameters of the developed model of the application of actual authentic materials into the educational process of professional training of medical specialists. The obtained results can be used in professional medical education, improving and improving the process of training professional personnel at the level of development of research and socially significant foreign language competencies.

The article examines and analyses the methodological literature on the aspect of using authentic materials in foreign language classes at a non-native language higher education institution. A brief overview and characteristics of the main types of authentic materials are given; the importance of their use in teaching a foreign language in a non-language institution of higher education is substantiated on the example of the discipline «English for professional purposes» taught in the first year of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the State Biotechnological University of Kharkiv. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of methodological work with audio/video material, which is traditionally carried out in three stages: preparatory, while reading/watching or demonstrative (direct work with video/audio material) and after reading/watching or post-demonstrative. As an example, the authors present their own development of a lesson based on authentic video with the use of a large number of exercises to activate the main types of speech activity: listening, reading, speaking and writing. It has been proven that authentic materials are an important component not only in learning but also in teaching a foreign language at all levels, as they arouse great interest and motivation in students, which is a significant contribution to achieving the learning objectives of the programme. However, when developing teaching materials based on authentic texts/videos, teachers should focus on the general level of language proficiency among students. The results of this study prove that the integration of authentic materials into the EFL classroom has a positive impact on the development of EFL students' speaking skills. Authentic audio/video materials have great potential for solving learning and educational tasks, but only if the teacher organises the lesson properly. Being highly informative, authenticity creates an atmosphere of real language communication, and therefore can ensure students' successful perception of a foreign language and increase their motivation to learn the language. Keywords: authentic materials, speaking skills, English for professional purposes, audio/video material, and language communication.

Introduction The focus on heritage learners in second language acquisition studies is a relatively recent development (e.g., Brinton, Kagan and Bauckus 2008). There is a significant distinction between heritage and foreign language acquisition – the former beginning at home, while the latter takes place in a classroom (UCLA Steering Committee 2000, 339). The establishment of heritage language education as a valid and distinct research field at the turn of the twenty-first century was a landmark event in second language acquisition and foreign language education (Valdes 1995; Peyton et al. 2001; Kagan and Dillon 2001; Lynch 2003). Heritage language studies provide a crucial link between second language acquisition and bilingual education by focusing research attention on the nature of language acquisition by both children and adults; on the revival of the mother tongue; on the unique characteristics of heritage speakers; and the challenges their bilingualism poses for language instruction (Krashen 1998; Andrews 1999; Campbell and Rosenthal 2000; Valdes 2001, 2006; Douglas 2005; Hornberger and Wang 2008; Brinton 2008). Today, heritage Russian speakers constitute a diverse growing population in American and European language classes, which makes Russian an important part of heritage language studies (Brecht and Ingold 1998; Andrews 2000; Zemskaya 2001; Polinsky 2000, 2004, 2006; Polinsky and Kagan 2007; Kagan 2008; Davidson 2010). The term heritage speaker or heritage learner , though relatively recent, is becoming more widely used since its first appearance in the Standards for Foreign Language Learning (ACTFL 1996).

This paper presents and analyzes lexical and syntactic evidence from heritage Russian as spoken by bilinguals dominant in American English. The data come from the Russian Learner Corpus, a new resource of spoken and written materials produced by heritage re-learners and L2 learners of Russian. The paper focuses on lexical phrase violations, which we divide further into transfer-based structures and novel creations, showing that the latter are used by heritage speakers, but generally not freely available to L2 learners. In constructing innovative expressions, heritage speakers follow general principles of compositionality. As a result, novel constructions are more semantically transparent than their correlates in the baseline or dominant language. We argue that such semantically transparent, compositional patterns are based on structures that are universally available across languages. However, L2 speakers resort to these universal strategies for creating novel phrases much less often than heritage speakers. In their linguistic creativity, heritage speakers’ utterances parallel those of L1 child learners rather than L2 speakers.

Research on heritage language (HL) education has been robust in recent decades due to the increasing presence of HL learners in foreign language programmes in universities across the world, in particular, in multiethnic and multilingual contexts such as the USA, Canada, Europe, and Australia. While much research explores issues such as the diversity of learner groups, learning motivation, attitudes towards the HL, and linguistic peculiarities, there has been limited research attention to heritage learners' intersection with intercultural language learning. HL learners move between languages and cultures often on a daily basis, which 'happens at the threshold of their homes, not at the border between two countries' (Kagan 2012). However, how 'intercultural' are this group of learners? Is there an awareness and critical recognition of how they negotiate the different cultural aspects in their lives? As learners of their HL, how will they perceive the relevance and effectiveness of an intercultural approach to learning Chinese? This chapter explores Chinese heritage learners' perceptions of an intercultural learning task which calls for intercultural critical thinking. Using the students' reflective journals and post-project reflective writing, the study maps a number of different themes in the responses of the heritage learners. The reflection appears to play a role in enhancing self-awareness in heritage learners. The goal of the study was to identify how to support heritage learner students in activating their own enquiry into their views and opinions of the 'other' and the self, in relation to their personal knowledge of China and Australia, as part of enhancing and motivating their language learning as well as developing skills in supporting effective and appropriate interaction with the HL community.