RUSSIAN 311, Fall 2002 - Syllabus
ASU Listing:
RUS 311, 3 credit hours, Time: TuTh
Course Web Page:
http://www.asu.edu/clas/reesc/rus3
Instructors: Tatyana
Dhaliwal, e-mail: tldhaliw@srpnet.com
Home page: http://www.stihi.ru/author.html?Athena;
Danko Sipka, e-mail: danko.sipka@asu.edu Home page: http://www.public.asu.edu/~dsipka
Course participants must
have attained 1+ proficiency level to enroll; the course is open to anyone at
this proficiency level (whether or not Russian one and two hundred level
courses are completed).
This level of
proficiency corresponds to the high intermediate level as defined by the
American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). This assumes the
skills described at the Rus 311 Web page cited above.
This level of proficiency, as defined for the purposes
of this course, stipulates acquisition of all regular and frequent irregular
grammatical patterns, the 1,500-unit lexical minimum (with at least 500 units
used in speech production), and an array of common pragmatic patterns.
B.
Objectives
This course, together
with Russian 312, is a part of the level two Russian program. Upon completion
of both these courses students are expected to acquire level 2 (limited working
proficiency) language skills as defined by the US Interagency Language
Roundtable (ILR). This level of proficiency corresponds to the advanced level
as defined by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages
(ACTFL). This assumes the skills described at the Rus 311 Web page cited above.
Take a look at the IRL
scale, the justification behind it, and an elaborate description of the levels
at: http://www.sil.org/lingualinks/languagelearning/mangngyrlngglrnngprgrm/theilrfsiproficiencyscale.htm
On the Defense Language Institute scale of foreign
language complexity, which ranges from 1 (simplest) to 4 (most difficult), the
value of Russian is 3, with only languages such as Arabic, Korean, Japanese and
Chinese being more difficult. Ample individual work will be needed to reach the
desired level during a two-month course.
This level of proficiency, as defined for the purposes
of this course, assumes acquisition of all regular and frequent irregular
grammatical patterns, the 3000-unit lexical minimum (with at least 1000 units
used in speech production), and an array of common pragmatic patterns.
The course will principally use the communicative
contrastive approach. Unlike the one and two hundred courses, which needed to
introduce the core grammar of Russian, this course will only touch upon several
finer points of grammar while reviewing problem areas of the core grammar. In
general, the course will be focused on building reading and listening
heuristics as well as techniques of efficient conversation and correspondence.
Elements of grammar-and-text methodology will be mediated by simplified
decision-making schemata and heuristics. Special emphasis will be put on the
cross-cultural differences. See the
explanation of how schemata and heuristics have been used in teaching
morphology at http://main.amu.edu.pl/~sipkadan/fdslsam.htm
The coursework consists of the following: a) classes
centered around real-life texts with ample role-playing exercises, b) homework
assignments, c) individual on-line work. This course will put a much higher
emphasis on the active participation on the part of the students than did the
one and two hundred level courses.
Prof. Sipka, a Slavic linguist, will teach the first
thirty minutes of the course covering relevant points in grammar, the lexicon,
intentional phrases, intercultural competence, as well as the norms of spelling
and pronunciation. The remainder of the course will be taught by Ms. Dhaliwal,
a native speaker of Russian, who will engage in composition and conversation
sessions putting thus the knowledge of language at work.
This course stipulates ample individual work (homework
assignments, engaging in on-line interactive training sessions, work with
learning objects provided by instructors, etc.)
In the odd weeks of the course the quiz will consist
of a composition assignment while in the even weeks the role playing assignment
will be used as the quiz result. Best five (out of eight) compositions and five
best (out of eight) role-playing tasks will be used to calculate the quiz
grade. The midterm exam will cover the first half of the course, the final exam
will cover the second half.
The course will encourage cooperative rather than
competitive relations among students in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere.
Students will be graded on the A (excellent) to E
(fail) scale depending on proficiency level reached, as defined by the ACTFL.
Until the instruments to measure this are developed the grades will be given
subjectively as a result of the collaborative opinion by the instructors.
The coursework will contribute toward the final
grade approximately as follows: attendance and participation 30%, homework 20%,
quizzes 20%, midterm exam 10%, final exam 20%
Real-life
texts will be used from selected newspapers and other sources. Students are
also expected to use selected on-line resources in their grammar and lexicon
acquisition effort (see the Links). Russian. A Practical Grammar with
Exercises by Pulkina and Zakhava-Nekrasova will be used for in-class
grammatical drills. The textbook Russian as We Speak by Khavronina will
be used to review Level 1+ skills.
Ample
on-line materials are available at: http://www.asu.edu/clas/reesc/rus3
Q=Quiz, ME=Midterm Exam, FE=Final Exam, T –Text,
S – Scenario
|
Week |
Topic |
Grammar |
Texts and scenarios |
Q/E |
|
1-2 |
General, Learning Strategies,
Problem areas |
T: Printed and radio weather
forecasts, News for tourists; S: Talking about weather and climate, Choosing
where to go on vacation, renting a car & more |
Q:Thu |
|
|
3-4 |
Social life
1: Going out, movies, theaters, bars, restaurants, shopping |
The Genitive |
T: Theater program, Menu,
Newspaper review of night life in |
Q:Thu |
|
5-6 |
Introduction, Social life 2:
Home, family, friends; Diseases and their treatment |
The Dative, The Accusative |
T: House plan; My family,
Matrimonial offers from newspapers, Real estate catalogs; S: Renting a flat, Gossiping
about one’s neighbors, Visiting a doctor & more |
Q:Thu |
|
7-8 |
Law, Police, Office, Forms |
The Instrumental, The
Prepositional |
T: Articles about crime and
legal processes, common forms; S: Interrogation; Legal process, Getting things
done with authorities & more |
Q:Thu |
|
9-10 |
Politics, media, history,
military |
The Pronoun |
T: Printed and radio news,
including war reports S: Campaigning, Conducting an interview, Issuing
commands |
ME:Thu |
|
11-12 |
Business, banking, finances |
The Adjective, The Numerals |
T: Business news, both printed
and radio, Banking ads; S. Conducting a business transaction, opening a bank
account & more |
Q:Thu |
|
13-14 |
Sports, games, hobbies, music |
Verbs, Aspect |
T: Sports section of a
newspaper, live coverages, interviews with musicians; S. Talking about
one’s hobbies, Chatting about favorite music & more |
Q:Thu |
|
15-16 |
Culture, customs, religion |
Verbs, Forms |
T: Texts about main holidays and
customs, Interviews with writers, Excerpts from the key works of literature;
S: Explaining American customs & more |
FE:Thu |