Lexis Learning Assignments as a Special Kind of Secondary Texts: Creation and Solution Using Linguistic Dictionaries

Abstract

In this article, the authors attempt to show the learning opportunities of lexicographical sources while learning the lexicology and the Russian language as a whole. As the basic methods, we use the method of controlled selection, which allows specific dictionary entries to be considered; the method of contextual analysis, revealing the features of linguistic elements functioning in context; the method of intertextual analysis, which helps to identify the signs of the source text in relation to the secondary text structure; the method of synchronous and diachronous analysis, aimed at studying units from the historical and modern points of view in a specific period of the language development. We propose various types of assignments for students’ advanced training in lexicology, including those that can be used as Academic Olympics tasks in linguistic competitions in the Russian language at various levels. The primary basis for creating assignments was the material of linguistic dictionaries, which is cognitively significant when studying lexicology. The presented learning assignments are a special type of secondary texts, since their creation involves the selection of material according to certain criteria, the formulation of a question according to well-known schemes and models, as well as the reliance on prototext materials – articles of linguistic dictionaries, transformed in terms of lexical-semantic, grammatical, compositional, pragmatic and other aspects.