Teaching Russian Sign Language: Methodological Principles And Their Implementation

Abstract

To solve the problem of establishing contacts between the Deaf and the hearing in Russia, popularization of Russian Sign Language (RSL) and training of RSL interpreters are essential. This leads to the necessity of developing an effective methodology for teaching RSL. The study involves a comparative analysis of practical and methodological textbooks for teaching American Sign Language (ASL) and RSL. The article outlines the guiding principles and recommendations for organizing and planning sign language classes. These were discovered and formulated on the basis of the abovementioned analysis, an overview of RSL classes given by the deaf teachers at Novosibirsk State Technical University (NSTU), personal consultations with the teachers; and a survey conducted among the RSL teachers and the students majoring in Linguistics and studying RSL as a second foreign language at NSTU. The main guiding principles include implementation of all classroom communication in SL; gradual development of receptive and expressive skills; presenting new lexical and grammar material in context; and other. With regard to these guidelines, an RSL training module was developed and introduced as part of “Practical course of a second foreign language” for 2nd year students majoring in RSL interpreting. The efficiency assessment of the conducted training was carried out via a post-training survey among the students and its further analysis. The survey has shown that all respondents assessed positively the content, structure and conditions of the lessons.