© 2000 by Ol'ga Dedova. All rights reserved.
This article discusses Russian language textbooks and supplemental materials recently published and some that have been republished in Russia in the past ten years.
The establishment of new publishing houses and the freedom that university departments now have to publish their own materials have resulted in a general publishing boom in Russia and this, in turn, has led to the appearance of an unprecedented quantity of Russian-language materials since the early 1990s. The increased freedom in publishing has been accompanied by a simplification of the editing process, considerably shortening the time to publication. For example, between 1993 and 1996, MGU’s Department of Philology published more than twenty textbooks of Russian as a Second Language. At the same time, political and economic changes in Russia in the early 1990s led to an increasing number of Russian-language students both in Russia and abroad and also to the publication of textbooks for special purposes, including Russian for business. These events have yielded mixed results: while the freedom to publish is indisputably a positive development, the increase in the volume of publication, accompanied by an abbreviated editorial process, has sometimes resulted in a decline in the quality of textbooks published.
Unfortunately, Russian language textbooks published in Russia are not traditionally reviewed after their publication. Therefore, the most objective criterion for evaluating a textbook is its popularity, based on teachers’ preferences. In this article, I will describe the books that are currently most often used in Russia.
The most interesting and successful contribution of the newest generation is the series of books under the general title Prakticheskij kurs russkogo jazyka, coordinated by MGU’s Center for International Education. The series focuses on the development of communicative competence and acculturation. The series includes the following books:
1)Prakticheskij kurs russkogo jazyka (uchebnik dlja nachinajushchix), by Zhuravleva et al. (1993). This is the basic text for the series. In keeping with the series’ goals, this book focuses on the development of communicative competence in speech and writing. The material is presented in the form of speech models. New material is often introduced passively in earlier stages, so that students are already familiar with it to some extent before it is presented for active learning. The book’s weakness is its somewhat labored wording of its communicative themes; these could be considerably simplified.
2)Spravochno-didakticheskoe posobie po russkomu jazyku by Volkova et al. (1993) is the teacher’s manual for Prakticheskij kurs.
3)Prilozhenie k "Prakticheskomu kursu russkogo jazyka" by Volkova et al. (1993) contains phonetic, lexical, grammatical and communicative material, including role-play and task scenarios.
4)Pishem pravil'no. Posobie po pis'mu i pis'mennoj rechi by Beljaeva et al. (1996) helps students develop writing skills in a variety of genres, including notes, questionnaires, autobiographies, and outlines for oral presentations. The varied nature of the texts gives students an opportunity to master simple and complex sentences, including those containing dependent clauses with the pronoun kotoryj, direct and indirect speech, and the complexities of Russian punctuation.
5)Nachinaem razgovor! by Lobkova et al. (1996) focuses on active oral communication, and provides useful phrases, interjections, models of colloquial speech and information about word order. A shortcoming of this book is that the authors sometimes have subjective views about the norms of Russian and represent as standard certain expressions and vocabulary words and word forms that are not yet part of the standard language. An example is the form gramm (instead of grammov), given as the genitive plural of gramm.
6)Interesno poslushat' by Danilina (1995) is for the development of listening comprehension skills and contains exercises that build on those in the main textbook.
The books in the Prakticheskij kurs series can be used together in a program with separate classes in grammar, phonetics and intonation, conversation and reading. Alternatively, each book could be used in combination with another textbook.
Russkaja grammatika v anekdotax by Levina and Vasil'jeva (1997) can be used as additional material in a Russian language course. This book teaches vocabulary, expressions and grammar by using them repeatedly in a variety of brief and amusing texts, including jokes, riddles, and trivia questions. Many of the jokes and riddles are written in dialog form. The book does not try to be a grammar text and does not provide explanations of grammatical constructions. Nonetheless, it can serve as a useful and engaging supplement.
Vzgljad by Andrjushina et al. (1995) is intended as a continuation of Prakticheskij kurs russkogo jazyka. It contains well-written and informative texts on Russian history, cultural topics, the history of Russian literature, and various aspects of contemporary life. The book’s main focus is on developing grammatical competence.
Vremja by Alekseeva et al. (1993) is similar to Vzgljad in its focus on grammar, and its choice of grammatical themes coincides almost fully with that of Vzgljad. The texts in Vremja are based on themes such as: People, Art, Country, Nature and its Preservation, the Great Patriotic War, Work, etc. The authors integrate the texts very well with discussion themes relevant to students’ lives and interests.
Obrazcy russkoj xudozhestvennoj prozy XIX--XX vv. by Zhukovskaja et al. (1994) is a reader, presenting excerpts of texts from a variety of well-known authors including Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and Bulgakov. The texts are organized thematically and are accompanied by exercises designed to strengthen grammatical and lexical knowledge.
Xavronina’s Chitaem i govorim po-russki (1993 and 1994) is for students who have a basic knowledge of Russian. Its goal is to help students develop skills in reading and oral communication. The book is intended for students who have had the equivalent of 2--3 years of Russian in college, but it can also be used for advanced high school students who may benefit from the section on the requirements for the Russian Language Olympiada printed in the book. The book’s strength is its choice of texts (some adapted) by contemporary authors, articles from newspapers and magazines, biographies of Russian writers, artists, intellectuals, musicians, composers, adventurers, and others. Unfortunately, only a few exercises to help students strengthen their vocabulary and communication skills accompany the texts. Instead, many of the exercises are presented in the form of questions, some of which require something close to quotation from the texts. Moreover, students at this stage of language study may not be ready to discuss the texts in this book.
Davajte govorit' po-russki. Uchebnoe posobie po russkomu jazyku dlja inostrancev by Glazunova (2001) is organized on the principle of themes and situations. This book’s main virtue is that the grammatical and lexical material is very well integrated with the texts. Moreover, while most of the themes are traditional, some of them, such as a visit to the doctor, telephone conversations and national cuisine, are not well presented in other textbooks. Compared with a textbook such as Vremja, this book has a greater focus on oral communicative competence.
Put' k obshcheniju. Intensivnyj kurs rechevoj adaptacii dlja anglogovorjashchix by Trufanova (1999) is intended for English-speaking students who have a basic knowledge of Russian. The main texts are in the form of dialogues and polylogues. The conversations are thematic (e.g., introductions and getting acquainted; school; getting around a city; purchases, expenses and income; etc.). The book has seven chapters and also has an English-Russian glossary of useful expressions and a section on phonetics.
Prodolzhaem izuchat' russkij jazyk by Carëva et al. (1999) is a thematically-organized text that focuses on the development of oral communication skills. The material is organized by themes including Nobel Prizes and laureates, human potential, and Planet Earth. Each lesson begins with a polylogue which introduces a discussion of the main theme "Obsuzhdaem problemu," followed by a set of exercises in which students read texts, learn the grammar presented in the chapter and end with a broad discussion of the topic under the heading "Gotovimsja k besede." There is also a glossary of verbs with information on verb government and equivalents in English, French, and Spanish.
Kostina et al.’s (1999) Perspektiva. Posobie dlja inostrannyx slushatelej kratkosrochnyx kursov russkogo jazyka is a series comprising six books, including a separate book for work in phonetics. The series’ aim is to activate and strengthen accuracy in conversation, reading, listening, writing, with the emphasis on conversation. Material is introduced primarily in texts in a variety of genres, including newspaper and magazine articles, entries in reference works, popular science texts, literature, announcements, questionnaires, horoscopes, recipes and others. Each lesson has lexical, grammatical and communicative exercises.
Maksimova’s (1994) Korrektivnyj kurs russkoj grammatiki, while organized by grammatical themes, nonetheless focuses on the development of communicative skills. Each chapter models situational written and oral texts, including a dialog.
In addition to the textbooks described above, it is interesting to note that some textbooks published in the 1970s and 80s still remain popular, even though much of their vocabulary, references to everyday life and communicative situations are now out of date. For example, Xavronina’s and Shchirovchenskaja’s Russkij jazyk v uprazhnenijax, the first edition of which came out in 1974 and the latest (the ninth edition) in 1999, is still one of the most popular textbooks in Russia. Another popular book is Pul'kina’s Russian Grammar (both Russian and English versions).
Alekseeva, N.N., È.I. Ivanova, and N.V. Def'je. Vremja: Uchebnik russkogo jazyka dlja inostrancev (srednij ètap). Moscow: "Ballas", 1993.
Andrjushina N.P., N.A. Vysotskaja, and G.M. Kopytina. Vzgljad. Moscow: PAIMS, 1995. With audiocassettes.
Beljaeva, G.V., L.C. Sivenko, and L.V. Shipico. Pishem pravil'no. Posobie po pis'mu i pis'mennoj rechi. Moscow: Izdatel'stvo otdel UNC DO MGU, 1996.
Carëva N.Ju., et al. Prodolzhajem izuchat' russkij jazyk. Moscow: "Russkij jazyk", 1999.
Danilina, O.V., and L.V. Shipico. Interesno poslushat'. Moscow, Izdatel'stvo CMO MGU, 1995. With audiocassettes.
Glazunova, O.I. Davajte govorit' po-russki. Uchebnoe posobie po russkomu jazyku dlja inostrancev. Moscow: "Russkij jazyk", 2001.
Kostina, I.C., N.N. Aleksandrova, T.I. Aleksandrova, and E.B. Bogoslovskaja. Perspektiva. Posobie dlja inostrannyx slushatelej kratkosrochnyx kursov russkogo jazyka. 2nd ed. St. Petersburg: "Zlatoust", 1999. With audiocassettes.
Levina G.M., and T.V. Vasil'jevna. Russkaja grammatika v anekdotax. St. Petersburg: "Zlatoust", 1997.
Lobkova, G.N., N.I. Plotnikova, and A.P. Zhorova. Nachinajem razgovor! Moscow: Izdatel'stvo otdel UNC DO MGU, 1996.
Maksimova, A.L. Korrektivnyj kurs russkoj grammatiki (30 urokov). Saint Petersburg: "Zlatoust", 1994.
Pul'kina, I.M., and E.B. Zaxava-Nekrasova. Russkij jazyk. Praktieskaja grammatika s uprazhenijami, izdanie 6. Moscow: Russkij jazyk, 1984. English edition: Pul'kina I.
Trufanova, V.Ja. Put' k obshcheniju. Intensivnyj kurs rechevoj adaptacii dlja anglogovorjashchix. Moscow: "Russkij jazyk. Kursy", 1999.
Volkova, N.C., N.P. Vol'skaja, E.I. Kuuz, and A.A. Tolstyx. Spravochno-didakticheskoe posobie po russkomu jazyku. Moscow: Izdatel'stvo CMO MGU, 1993.
–––. Prilozhenie k "Prakticheskomu kursu russkogo jazyka." Moscow: PAIMS, 1993.
Xavronina, S.A. Chitaem i govorim po-russki (Posobie dlja izuchajushchix russkij jazyk kak inostrannyj). Moscow: PAIMS, 1993.
–––. Chitaem i govorim po-russki (Posobie dlja izuchajushchix russkij jazyk kak inostrannyj). Moscow: Zlatoust, 1994.
Zakhava-Nekrasova, E. Russian. A Practical Grammar with Exercises. 6th ed. Moscow: Russky Yazyk Publishers, 1994.
Zhukovskaja, E.E., È.N. Leonova, and E.I. Motina. Obrazcy russkoj xudozhestvennoj prozy XIX--XX vv. Teksty, uprazhnenija, kljuchi. Moscow: PAIMS, 1994.
Zhuravleva, L.C., L.V. Shipico, M.M. Naxabina, T.N. Protasova, and M.M. Galeeva. Prakticheskij kurs russkogo jazyka (uchebnik dlja nachinajushchix) Moscow: Arsis lingva, 1993.
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[*] Translated from the Russian by Susan Bauckus.