Practical Lexicography as a Sphere of Multidimensional Research Activity of Multi-level Students (On the Materials of a Dictionary of Folk Signs)

Abstract

The article presents the experience of organizing research activities of students and schoolchildren as part of a lexicographic project implemented on the basis of the Experimental Laboratory of Educational Lexicography of the Pskov State University. The goal of the presented research project is to popularize folk culture and Russian paremiology, to develop students’ interest in the Russian language and folklore, to draw students’ attention to environmental issues, and to form their environmental awareness. The expected practical result is the preparation of a School Dictionary of Weather Signs for publication. The use of the linguo-cognitive method and structural-semantic modelling techniques allowed thematic classification of the signs for their representation in the dictionary; linguistic and cultural analysis provided the identification of ethnocultural specifics of signs; the method of linguoculturological commenting was used during the dictionary explication of the cultural background of paremias. The innovative nature of the dictionary being developed implied involving the reader in the interactive work with the material. The methods of this activity were tested at the second stage of the lexicographic project: the dictionary materials were posted on the website, and the users – schoolchildren – were invited to analyze the relevance of the signs, observing the natural environment, and present the results of their observations in the comments. These data were used in the structuring of entries and the development of linguoculturological vocabulary comments for the School Weather Vocabulary, which was prepared for publication in accordance with the project implementation plan. Thus, it was proved that practical work on a lexicographic project allows organizing a multidimensional research activity of students of different levels: higher education students who study Russian paremias in terms of their relevance, frequency, linguistic and cultural value, master the methods of lexicographic material representation, including using information technologies as part of an online project; and secondary school students who analyse the content and identify the scientific basis of weather signs, observing the environment in the course of sign verification, reflect about its contemporary state and offer their solutions to ecological problems.