Questions the relevance of the traditional structural/grammatical approach to Russian course design. Suggests instead a functional notional approach and provides an overview of its rationale and principles. (EKN)

Advocates the use of good teaching practices in Russian language teaching. Specific recommendations are made regarding class preparation, motivation, and pattern drills. Attention is called to bad practices that are to be avoided. (AM)

English-Russian translation at the beginning level is defended if both languages are presented and used realistically and idiomatically. Students using this method attained a good knowledge of Russian and a respect for both languages. (CHK)

IF STATISTICS WERE AVAILABLE ON THE DROPOUT RATE AND UNSATISFACTORY ACHIEVEMENT OF COLLEGE STUDENTS TAKING RUSSIAN, THEY WOULD PROBABLY SUPPORT THE WIDELY HELD OPINION THAT RUSSIAN IS DIFFICULT. THE DIFFICULTY IS ATTRIBUTABLE LARGELY TO THE FACT THAT RUSSIAN IS NEITHER A GERMANIC NOR A ROMANCE LANGUAGE, AND STUDENTS THUS FIND IT HARD TO RECOGNIZE…

Examines practical ways to improve the quality of Russian language instruction in higher education. The article reviews briefly chapters from two recently revised Russian textbooks, suggests a move from a grammar-based to a communicative syllabus, and notes difficulties and rewards in switching to a notional-functional syllabus. (SM)

A course in technical Russian is shown to differ from the usual language course in aims (translation, not oral skills), rate, caliber and motivation of student, demands on the background of the teacher, and material used. A sample outline of class procedure is included. (GK)

An experiment in language behavior comparing two methods of learning grammatical word order in a new language presents scientific evidence supporting the use of pattern drills in foreign language teaching. The experiment reviews the performance of three groups attempting to learn small segments of Russian "microlanguage": (1) a drill group learned…