Autobiographical memories retrieved by bicultural Russian-English bilinguals were compared across languages. Results suggest that bilinguals' languages may influence cognitive styles, so that when speaking a language associated with a more individualistic culture, bilinguals produce more individualistic narratives, whereas when speaking a language…

Briefly describes the differences between specialized foreign language schools and ordinary general education schools in the Soviet Union. The changes currently taking place in the organization of English language teaching in schools in the Soviet Union are discussed. (22 references) (Author/CB)

A preliminary report on a long-term empirical investigation of advanced language acquisition in a study-abroad environment is presented. The project is based on an American Council of Teachers of Russian (ACTR) longitudinal study of the gains in Russian language competence demonstrated by American students in semester-long language programs in…

Two studies compared the effectiveness of the bilingual-dichotic method with conventional diotic methods for teaching Russian vocabulary to English-speakers. Subjects were 101 college students. In the bilingual-dichotic method, the foreign word is presented to the right ear and simultaneously, the equivalent native word is presented to the left…

Comparison of language proficiency gains in Russian study abroad in Russia looked at homestay versus dormitory residence. Statistical analysis of the American Council of Teachers of Russian students records database, which contains proficiency data on 2,500 study-abroad participants, was used to compare gains made in speaking, listening, and…

A study investigated the relationships between anxiety experienced by students in the second language classroom (usually associated with test anxiety, fear of negative evaluation, and communication apprehension), irrational thoughts associated with these anxieties, and classroom achievement among three groups of language learners. The Foreign…

Focuses on the similarities and differences between the rhetorical structure of some Slavonic and English scientific texts. The study tests the assumption that scientific discourse has universal features that are language-independent. Results point to differences between the two types of rhetorical patterns resulting from cultural and academic…

For emerging democracies civic education issues have special meaning. Often these issues play a vital role in the process of nation building and democratic consolidation, which makes the interplay between the school system and the socio-political environment particularly important. Estonia, which inherited from the half-century Soviet occupation a…

This study examines the geographic distribution of 13 eastern, western, and southern Slavic languages. Commentary on the expansion of Proto-Slavic precedes a brief history of the Slavic literary languages. Separate sections on comparative phonology and comparative grammar are included. A selected bibliography, classified by subject, concludes this…

Reports on an attempt to compare two data-collecting instruments, Think-aloud Protocols and strategies questionnaires, applied to capture reading/writing strategies. Subjects were immigrant speakers of linguistically different heritage languages, Russian and Amharic first languages, and thus represented two ethnic groups, who went through the…

Compares the format frequencies of the six basic Russian vowels as spoken and perceived by native speakers from Moscow, Minsk, and Kiev. Three experiments examine (1) perception of artificial vowel stimuli; (2) production of vowels from three dialect groups; and (3) dialectal perception of an English vowel. (LMO)

Compares pronunciation guides to Russian in 15 texts and supplements intended for the English-speaking student. Transcription systems and a few other problems facing beginning students are also discussed.

A variety of methods for testing students' Russian language proficiency before, during, and after study in the Soviet Union are compared and discussed, including U.S. government-developed and other standardized examinations, interviews versus written methods, pretests-posttests, and testing emphases and problems. (MSE)

Examines a task that can be applied in a uniform fashion across different languages to compare levels of vocabulary development in foreign-language learning. Results indicate that the lexical decision task can be a useful tool for the assessment and cross-linguistic comparison of lexical development in foreign-language learning. (37 references)…

This paper analyses the opinions, awareness and perceptions of trilingual or multilingual students, regarding their language teacher. Findings of a comparative study carried out in two different cultural contexts, Ireland and Israel, are discussed, where participants (435 in total) included Russian-speaking students in Israel studying English or…