SOCIOCULTURAL AND SOCIOLINGUISTIC COMPETENCES IN TEACHING RUSSIAN TO ARAB STUDENTS

This paper reports on the experience of teaching Russian to Arab high school students to provide students with opportunities to integrate more efficiently in their first year of university in Russia. The paper suggests recommendations for implementation in a foreign language curriculum. The curriculum modifications aim to develop intercultural awareness which is required for the achievement of communicative learning goals in an Arab cultural context. The experience of teaching Russian to Arabs displays the gap between discursive practices required for successful implementation of communicative curriculum and Arab communication patterns that could impede its implementation. A didactic analysis of classroom experience and a culturological analysis of the Arab style of communication attempts to adapt Russian communicative curriculum to an Arab cultural context. A comparative analysis of Arab students' discursive practices and the components of communicative competence revealed deficient components of communicative competence that cannot be used appropriately by Arab students in classroom interactions. To explain the didactic problems revealed in the Russian classes for Arab students, the study analyses particular aspects of communication specific to Arab culture. The analysis of Arab communication patterns was carried out on the basis of cultural dimensions delineated in cross-cultural communication research. Findings highlight the peculiarities that are inherent to and unavoidable in the Arab style of communication. In learning situations, Arab communication patterns affect the structure of a classroom dialogical interaction. They imply a violation of the communicative distance between the teacher and students. Their excessively emphatic exchange, a significant desire for encouragement and a lack of learning autonomy affect the effectiveness of the curriculum. In conclusion, the paper describes modifications of the Russian curriculum that concerned the use of teaching materials, learning resources and teaching methods. The modifications were suggested in the sociocultural, sociolinguistic and pragmatic content so the Arab students could become efficient in Russian communication. The curriculum modifications are relevant not only for teaching Russian in an Arab cultural context; they are relevant for any foreign language curriculum as well, as they allow for successful implementation of communicative curriculum in an Arab cultural context.