A short-term course of Ukrainian as a foreign language: tasks, approaches, implementation

Abstract

The article defines tasks and outlines approaches and ways to implement a short-term Ukrainian language course for foreign students of a preparatory department using a course developed by the teachers of the Language Training Department of International Education Institute for Study and Research of V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University as an example. After the adoption of English as a medium of instruction at Ukrainian higher institutions, those international students of preparatory departments who do not have the appropriate language level have to learn two languages, i.e. English as a medium of instruction, and Ukrainian as the host country’s state language, which is crucial for functioning in the social and cultural environment. A limited amount of classroom time for learning Ukrainian makes it a challenge for teachers and methodologists. The core task is to develop a short-term course that would contain all the main structures of the Ukrainian language. In addition, there is an objective to build a communication competence sufficient to help the students adapt to a new social and cultural environment while studying in Ukraine. As a result, the students should master the Ukrainian language at the A2 level, which corresponds to the “basic user of the language”. The article includes the initial language proficiency level requirements according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages as well as the standards of Ukrainian as a foreign language at the A2 level. The authors also highlight how communicative methodology combines a structural approach and deductive, inductive, implicit, and interactive teaching methodologies. There is a conclusion on the relevance and advisability of such methodologies for the short-term Ukrainian language course for international students. The paper contains an analysis of the structure and content of the textbook “Learning Ukrainian” by V. Komarova, T. Laguta, and I. Sukhova based on the developed course materials. The book stands out among the other textbooks of Ukrainian for international students due to its condensed form and scrupulous selection of educational content. Moreover, the textbook corresponds to the needs of future international students who will be getting higher education in English at higher education institutions in Ukraine by forming communicative competence in Ukrainian. The authors examine the approaches and methods of teaching that correspond to the purpose and features of teaching a short-term course. The article showcases the communicative approach as the most widespread language educational method while studying any foreign language, and the Ukrainian language in particular.

Keywords

• short-term course
• textbook
• students of the preparatory department
• ukrainian as a foreign language