American Textbooks of the Russian Language and US Language Policy: on the Issue of Motivating to Learn

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the US language policy in the field of teaching foreign languages, including Russian, and the relationship between language policy and the national security strategy of the country. At the same time, due to the lack of federal regulation in the field of teaching foreign languages, the creation and use of textbooks of the Russian language as a foreign language is not regulated and is given to the educational and regional organizations on the state level. Based on the study of textbooks of Russian as a foreign language compiled by American authors from the beginning of the 20th to the beginning of the 21st century, which is conducted according to several parameters — the content of the preface, methodological and motivational component, textual and lexical material, as well as the target audience — the author of the article concludes that textbooks do not reflect the real picture of cultural and social life in Russia, do not motivate learners, do not keep up with the changes taking place in Russian society, and thus create a false stereotypical image of our country among American students. The author sees the solution to this situation in the creation of digital textbooks of Russian as a foreign language.