The practice of reading authentic literary texts in lessons of Russian as a foreign language

  This article describes the practice of reading authentic literary texts (LT) during the process of teaching the Russian language to international students. The increased attention to LT in the practice of teaching Russian as a Foreign Language (RFL) appears to be relevant due to its powerful linguodidactic, sociocultural, and cognitive potential.

   The purpose of this article, which is based on the cognitive model of reading developed by N. V. Kulibina, is to propose a system of working with LT aimed at solving the main reader’s task – comprehending the sense of the text – by solving problems related to the formation and development of students’ linguistic and communicative competencies.

   The article presents a possible variant for reading D. Rubina’s story “The Voice in the Metro”, which can be used by a teacher during the classroom work. The text material structuring is based on identifying key mini-situations, which are analyzed according to one logical-grammatical scheme (subject, event, place, and time). The strategy of thought-provoking reading is implemented through the observation of linguistic units in the text and comprehension of their function, accompanied by the use of updated lexical-grammatical material in speech, going from its linguistic meanings into the field of sense. Such an approach to teaching reading activates all types of students’ mental cognitive activity, bringing educational reading as close as possible to the natural perception of the text and its sense comprehension.

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