CC BY
46
DOI: 10.24411/2470-1262-2019-10063
УДК (UDC) 372.881.161.1
Ekaterina Popova, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
For citation: Popova Ekaterina, (2019).
Vocabulary Expansion of Students Learning Russian as a Foreign Language at the Elementary Level Using the Example of the Republic of Korea.
Cross-Cultural Studies: Education and Science Vol. 4, Issue 4 (2019), pp. 65-71 (in USA)
Manuscript received 29/10/2019 Accepted for publication: 25/11/2019 The authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
CC BY 4.0
VOCABULARY EXPANSION OF STUDENTS LEARNING RUSSIAN AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE AT THE ELEMENTARY LEVEL USING THE EXAMPLE OF THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA
РАСШИРЕНИЕ СЛОВАРНОГО ЗАПАСА СТУДЕНТОВ, ОБУЧАЮЩИХ РУССКИЙ КАК ИНОСТРАННЫЙ ЯЗЫК НА ЭЛЕМЕНТАРНОМ УРОВНЕ, ИСПОЛЬЗУЯ ПРИМЕР РЕСПУБЛИКИ КОРЕЯ
Abstract
This article reviews the selection of additional lexical units for the minimum vocabulary in Russian as a foreign language at the elementary level, to ensure productive types of speech activity, taking into account national and cultural specifics of the Republic of Korea. Considering the fact that textbooks written for a general foreign audience do not include vocabulary reflecting Korean realities relevant for Korean students, whilst teachers who have recently come from Russia are not familiar with Korean specifics, we explore vocabulary expansion of elementary level students studying at South Korean universities, in the framework of the list of topics in accordance with the national standard for Russian as a foreign language. At the elementary level, these topics include "Self-Introduction", "Work", "Studies", "Work day", "Free time", "Leisure", "Family" and others. This article will help teachers with limited knowledge of Korean language and its realities to avoid difficulties in working with Korean students at the initial learning stages.
Keywords: Russian as a foreign language, elementary level, nationally oriented approach, lexical Minimum, South Korean university.
Introduction. Every year, approximately a thousand people start studying Russian at universities in South Korea. Native Russian-speaking teachers are usually asked to teach students a "Conversational Practice" course. National-oriented textbooks on speech development targeted at Korean audience have not been published yet, so teachers from Russia use textbooks written in Russia, or their own methodological developments.
Theory. One of the features of modern Russian textbooks is that the tasks of learning the language merge with the tasks of learning about the country. Thus, through the language and the process of studying the language, students become acquainted with the national culture of the Russian people, gain knowledge of the history of Russia and modern Russian society. Therefore, a Russian teacher teaching the language as a means of communication, has a task of including cultural information about Russia in his/her classes. The importance of linguistic studies combined with regional studies was substantiated in the works of E.M. Vereshchagin, V.G. Kostomarov and other scientists back in the 90s.
Another modern trend in the methodology of teaching the Russian as a foreign language is the combination of communication-oriented teaching and cultural and national oriented approach to teaching. O.P. Bykova writes about teaching Russian as a foreign language in a foreign language environment, "nowadays we should talk about a comprehensive - linguistic, cultural, methodological - orientation of a teacher working outside of Russia, within the framework of cultural, socio-cultural approaches, implemented to consciously-communicative nationally oriented method." [2, pg.64] That is, modern methodologists recognize the importance of intercultural communication and the need to study a foreign language and culture in conjunction with student's native culture.
Data and methods. At the elementary level of learning, students studying the language in South Korean universities extract cultural information about Russia with interest from the language and speech, but do not have real opportunities of practical application. Situational dialogues organized by a teacher do not fully achieve the goal, since students are still unfamiliar with the aspects of Russian reality, hence the gained knowledge remains passive. Being outside Russia and outside of the language environment, in practical classes of the Russian language, students in their first year of study, who have not yet been to Russia, experience significant difficulties trying to describe their life in Korea with words that were given to them in textbooks.
Authors of textbooks and we, teachers, teaching vocabulary focus on lexical minimum in Russian as a foreign language. Questions related to vocabulary and the lexical minimum were considered by many researchers: B.V. Belyaev, P.N. Denisov, V.V. Morkovkin, E.M. Vereshchagin, V.G. Kostomarov, A.F. Kolesnikova, A.N. Shchukin, T.M. Balykhina, etc.At the state level as part of certified testing system of foreigners studying Russian, some work has been done on stratification of vocabulary by language proficiency levels and compilation of lexical minimums for each level. At present, the lexical minimum of elementary, basic, I and II levels
have been created. The volume of the lexical minimum of the elementary level is 780 units, the base level - 1,300 units. Selection of lexical material for these minima was carried out in accordance with the following principles: 1) stylistically unmarked; 2) ability of a word to enter various phrases; 3) semantic value (that is, the ability of a word to denote frequently occurring objects and phenomena); 4) high word-forming ability of the word; 5) frequency (taking into account frequency indicators for dictionaries, for the use in Russian textbooks, as well as the "thematic" frequency).
Besides words from the lexical minimum, 10% of additional vocabulary is allowed. Selection of these 10% has to be approached with particular care. Certain selection criteria exist, the most important of which would be, firstly, compliance with learning objectives and requirements of the curriculum, i.e. it is necessary to have an exact learning goal, to know exactly "what language" we are going to teach. Secondly, we take into account that the vocabulary for the elementary level should contain the most productive and most representative vocabulary from the point of view of reflecting life realities of students. Thirdly, additions to the standard lexical minimum should reflect the national-cultural specifics of the country where Russian language is being studied, in our case, South Korea. Fourth, the additions to the lexical minimum in numerical terms should meet the objectives of intermediate level of learning.
Given the fact that textbooks written for a wide foreign audience cannot include vocabulary reflecting Korean realities that are relevant specifically for Korean students, and teachers who have recently arrived from Russia are not familiar with Korean specifics, we would like to consider expanding the vocabulary of elementary level students in South Korean universities.
As it is known, work on vocabulary is intended for passive and active learning of the vocabulary of a language. According to A.N. Schukin [6], the methodology usually distinguishes between active and passive lexical minimum. Active dictionary includes words that students must learn and use to express their thoughts, while passive dictionary includes words that students should understand when reading and listening a foreign language speech. Passive vocabulary is increased by a potential vocabulary, because it includes words, the meanings of which students can guess by their similarities with the words of their native language, context and word-building elements. [7, c. 90]
During language practice classes, it is important for us to form active vocabulary that provides productive types of speech activity (speaking and writing). At the same time, general lexical minimum should be oriented to specific requirements of students in specific educational conditions. In our case, these are Korean students of their first year of study, who begin to study Russian at a South Korean university.
Since Korean students are primarily aimed at passing certification exams, proving the level of language proficiency, it is advised to use the list of topics in the classes in accordance with the State Standard for Russian as a Foreign Language: for the elementary level, this is "Self-Introduction", "Work", "Studies", "Work day", "Free time", "Leisure", "Family". In addition, it is expected that students at elementary level will be able to communicate on topics necessary for
survival in a foreign language environment: "Food", "Health", "Weather", "Transport", "Shopping", "City, and orientation in the city". In our opinion, for successful construction of vocabulary within these topics, vocabulary of students should be expanded with at least the following lexical units.
In the topic "Self-Introduction", the student is asked to answer the question "Where do you live?" The teacher should take into account that the spelling of the address in Korean differs from the order that is used in Russia. In Korea, the address is reported in the sequence: country, province, city, county, district, house, and apartment. Hence, the introduction of such words as a province (провинция) and a county (округ), without which the Korean address will be incomplete, is important. Currently, a large number of citizens live in residential complexes, which Korean
students call "apartments" (O^M). A non-Korean teacher may over look this error. To avoid it,
it is necessary to introduce a stable collocation "жилой комплекс'' (residential complex). In addition, textbooks targeting European students, as a rule, do not include names of Korea, as well as the closest neighbor countries Korea has historically and culturally connected with: Japan and China. Amongst students studying Russian, it is more common to find speakers in Japanese or Chinese (по-японски или по-китайски) than in French or German. Accordingly, these units are becoming more relevant to a Korean audience.
The topic "Work" lacks such names of professions as diplomat, civil servant, company employee, owner / waiter of a restaurant / shop, which are popular in Korea. In classrooms, and in the workplace, we are surrounded by not only tables and computers, but also monitors, laptops, printers, projectors, air conditioners. We no longer use phones, we now have smart phones. Our students cannot be without the Internet, headphones and chargers (зарядное устройство/ зарядка), so these lexical units become necessary already at the elementary level, while the "tape recorder" and "cassette" are clearly outdated.
The theme of "Studies" also requires greater expansion, due to differences in Korean and Russian education systems. It is advised that the student answering a question "Where do you study?" in the following sequence: university, faculty, department, course. Furthermore, not to use
the word "university" to describe courses or language centers(^^), of which there are many in
Korea. Given the hierarchical nature of the Korean society, the following units have a special relevance - fellow student/classmate, senior, freshman, and senior / junior fellow. Another feature is that Korean students often take a second specialty, so they study not only the Russian language and literature, but also management, law, trade, management. The word "lesson"(ypoK) cannot replace our class (занятие), since they have different semantics, and besides lectures, there are seminars at the university.
In the topics "Free time" and "Leisure", as a rule, first, units are introduced to watch TV, ballet, listen to radio, opera, be in a theater, in a museum. But we have to state the fact: our students are far from opera and ballet, and rarely visit museums. They like to watch movies and often go to the cinema, love and watch not only football, but also baseball(not well known in Russia), play computer games in computer clubs, go to the gym, play in the sports ground, ski,
snowboard, ride bicycles, ride amusement rides, on Fridays go tonight clubs, karaoke, on Sundays go to church, and on vacation -water parks, amusement parks and go abroad, study not only in the library, but also in coffee shops, and also regularly relax with friends in restaurants selling
alcohol (^S) and take a lot of pictures. Without knowledge of these lexical units, our students
simply have nothing to say about themselves. Due to frequent mistakes under the influence of lexical interference when working on this topic, special attention should be paid on verbs such as walking (гулять) and playing (играть), explaining the difference in their lexical meanings. It should be borne in mind that there is no complete equivalence in the translation of words, such as a bathhouse (баня) or sauna - a popular form of relaxation among Koreans; strictly speaking, a
traditional Korean "shikdang" (^oh) cannot be called a restaurant: given the cultural differences,
one can even speak of in equivalence here.
I would also like to mention the theme of "Holidays". The lexical minimum gives the most popular holiday among Russians for the New Year, while in Korea the most widely celebrated
holiday is the Harvest Day (Праздникурожая/ ^т^) and Lunar New Year (Новый год по
лунному календарю/ ее"). People give gifts for Christmas and Children's Day. The days off are Independence Day, Buddha's Birthday, and Korean Writing Day.
In the national mentality of Koreans, "Family" is of great importance. Along with their parents, they willingly talk about other relatives. On this topic, the standard general lexical minimum also needs to be supplemented. In this case, the foreign teacher should keep in mind that there may be cases of incomplete equivalence. For example, the words uncle and aunt correspond
to six Korean words, depending on which line this relative is in (relative: uncle: ■OHH^ -0^, !£¥, 0|H¥, / aunt: ■OlH, ^£0|H, ЛЙ, ^-^h ^Oh), as well
as 0^AA| / in the absence of family ties. In addition, hierarchy is very important for the
Koreans in the family, therefore the elder brother / elder sister becomes the minimum necessary units, which are translated differently, depending on the gender of the person, to which kinship
relations are indicated: ^ / ^тЦ for the male, / for females, and younger brother / younger sister: / COo^ needed as well.
In the topic of "Health", it is necessary to mention the organs, about which Koreans complain to have pain more often than others. These are the lower back, throat, shoulder, knee, and the
phrase often used in Korean also "my soul hurts" (душа болит/ OfsO^S). According to our
observations, a Korean very often reacts to colds with aches in their body. Hence "body aches / pains'' (тело ломит/ болит) -are as common symptom as a cough or a running nose.
"City and orientation in the city", "Transport". In modern realities, we use not only a ticket, but also a transport card. In some cases, the difficulty of speaking in this topic is related to the difference in etiquette. For example, a Korean will never say in Korean: "Are you coming out?
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Let me pass!" (Вы выходите? Разрешите пройти!) - as taught in our textbooks. A Korean will try to squeeze in silently, or saying "I'm sorry" or "I'm going out". It is required to exclude outdated words such as "милиция" (police) from the lexical minimum, now the word "police" is more relevant for both Russia and Korea. Talking about the sights of Seoul, it is impossible to ignore toponyms: not only Mount Namsan, the Hangang River, Gyeongbokgung Palace, Insadong Street, Namdaemun Market, Gwangwamun Square, but also Cheonggyecheon Stream, Hongdae District, Yoyoi-do Island and others.
"Purchases." In accordance with climatic features of Russia, the lexical minimum contains such units as scarf and hat, coat, and fur coat. It is unlikely to meet a student in Korea in a coat or in a fur coat. Our students wear down-paddedjackets and jackets. They put on not only shirts and dresses, but more often skirts, jeans, t-shirts, sweatshirts. They buy food at the supermarket, pay with credit cards, and if they need cash, they take it from an ATM.
Finally, perhaps the most popular topic among Korean students is the topic of "Food". Although it is almost not represented in the lexical minimum, it is necessary to introduce the names of products that form the basis of the Korean cuisine: Chinese cabbage, daikon, garlic, ginger, sweet potato, corn, pumpkin, zucchini, soy, pepper. Koreans love tangerines, strawberries, peaches, watermelons, melons, they eat appetizers (including kimchi) and desserts, drink not only tea or coffee, but also other drinks: Cola, Fanta, beer, Korean vodka soju. They like pizza, spaghetti, sushi, sandwiches, hamburgers, noodles, cereals and yogurt. And to eat Korean dishes, you need not only a fork and a spoon, but also chopsticks. When talking on this topic, students' speech is filled with in equivalent national-specific language units, only a few of which are familiar to Russians (kimchi, kuksu), and, essentially, semantization is required from students for a teacher
who does not speak Korean (Korean vodka rice mash kimchi thick soup
soya paste soya sauce Z}oh and others.) Achieving this from students, the teacher creates a good opportunity to develop their speech.
Conclusion. In conclusion, lexical units, which reflect national realities of the homeland of our foreign students, must be added to the main Lexical minimum. At the elementary level of learning, the volume of active vocabulary of Koreans studying the Russian language should be approximately 850 units (words, phrases, phrases, proper names). Additional vocabulary requires careful selection in order to ensure productive types of speech activity, taking into account national and cultural specifics of South Korea.
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8. https://namu.wiki/w/^0-|^g^h2h 10.07.2018. Information about the author:
Popova Ekaterina Vladimirovna - PhD in Pedagogics, Associate Professor, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Republic of Korea. E-mail: [email protected]
Contribution of the author. The author contributed equality to the present research.
