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Contemporary Russian Written and Oral I

Module description

This module is crucial in ensuring you have the skills needed to benefit from study abroad in Russia in their third year. It involves practice of aural skills, which is an essential part of study abroad preparation. In addition it aims to ensure that you have covered all aspects of Russian grammar and can apply this knowledge when tackling translation passages from Russian, and that you have enough experience of writing independently in Russian so that you are well placed to deal with the writing element in your year abroad assessment. A growing level of skill in comprehension, grammatical knowledge, and vocabulary all contribute to developing your confidence in spoken Russian.

This module can be taken by students who have successfully completed a level one Russian language module, either MLR1001 or MLR1030.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module will enable you to:

• Build on the language skills you developed at level one
• Prepare you for study abroad in Russia in your third year
• Provide a solid foundation for advanced study of the Russian language at level three
• Cover all aspects of language learning: writing, speaking, translating written texts, and understanding spoken Russian

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Demonstrate a sound understanding of Russian grammar, including features found mainly in the written language, such as participles and gerunds
• 2. Understand, translate, and summarise a variety of authentic Russian texts, and to carry out exercises in aural and reading comprehension
• 3. Develop skills in spoken Russian, both in conversation and in presentations and discussions on topics related to contemporary Russian life
• 4. Progress from producing pieces of guided writing in Russian, to writing more independently

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 5. Students will acquire a sound understanding of a range of linguistic terms, and will use this terminology, to a limited extent, to identify and define their mistakes in the target language
• 6. They will access, under instruction from the tutor and independently, a range of sources in the Russian-language media

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 7. Communicate information and arguments of some complexity in a foreign language
• 8. Express and defend opinions on a range of current and abstract issues

Syllabus plan

Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:

• Grammar
• Oral practice
• Translation from Russian/ guided writing in Russian
• Aural/reading comprehension

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Terence Wade, A Comprehensive Russian Grammar (Blackwell, 2000)
• Terence Wade. A Russian Grammar Workbook (Blackwell, 2002)
• Terence Wade, Using Russian Vocabulary (Cambridge University Press, 2009)
• Paul Falla et al., The Oxford Russian-English/English-Russian Dictionary (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993)

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE – https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=1415

Key words search

Russian, written, oral,