Authentic language vs. adapted teaching materials in Russian language study courses for adult beginners

Russian Language courses for beginners are offered at the Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) both to local and foreign students. Keeping in mind the adult learners' need for context authenticity, the objective of the present research is to find out how elements of non-adapted language can be introduced in a beginner course. It is crucial for the study process productivity to make study materials manageable, enjoyable, and sufficiently challenging at the same time. While adapted language provides a safe learning environment which ensures learners' confidence, it should be noted that adults are experienced language learners who have gone through the language learning process more than once. Therefore, they do need some kind of digression from the beaten track of predictable question-answer routines and grammar drills. The research has been carried out by developing study materials and teaching methods based on authentic language, introducing those in Russian Language courses, observing and analyzing study processes, as well as collecting students' feedback through a post-course questionnaire (83 participants). Throughout the course of the research, some methods to deal with most prominent difficulties that are typical of Russian language beginner learners have been worked out and introduced. The teaching materials are based on a well-balanced variety of adapted and non-adapted language. The non-adapted language that has been used comes from such authentic linguistic sources as tongue twisters, proverbs, rhymes, songs, cartoons and films. The validity of the approaches has been confirmed by positive feedback from the students. Authentic language that comes from elements of Russian culture is a rich source of ideas to experiment with both for the course developer and for learners who become active collaborators in the study process.