Linguocultural Commentary as a Means of Immersing Foreigners in the Russian Mentality when Studying a Local Text (on the Example of Work with the Essay by E. I. Nosov «The Road Home»)

Abstract

The article dwells on the experience of using an authentic text in the classroom with foreign students.The relevance of the study is due to the scientific, theoretical and practical significance of the problems associated with understanding and adequate interpretation of the new linguoculture and is determined by the search for optimal tools for language teaching within Russian linguoculture, the study of which involves identifying the specifics of the worldview of Russian speakers, understanding the mentality of the inhabitants of Russia as a whole and the region in particular, where foreigners are trained. The scientific value and novelty of the research lie in the development of tools – a linguocultural commentary to authentic texts of a regional theme – in order to develop communicative and linguocultural competencies.The study is carried out on the material of the essay by E.I. Nosov “The Road Home”, which reflects Kursk regional realities, thus allowing to update linguocultural knowledge and develop communication skills. The object of commenting in a foreign audience is, first of all, vocabulary with a pronounced national and cultural component: archaisms, historicisms, neologisms, anthroponyms, toponyms, phraseological units, etc.The study is based on an interdisciplinary approach that integrates knowledge from various fields of science: linguoculturology, philology, cognitive linguistics, and linguodidactics. In the process of research, such methods as commenting, statistical, comparative-analytical methods were used.To assess the effectiveness of the methodology of linguocultural commenting on the authentic text, a test was conducted in the experimental and control groups of foreign students. The results of the test showed that the linguocultural commentary contributes to the understanding and adequate perception of the new linguoculture, the development of communicative competence.