Russian 4

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2016:

170 hours

Russian 3 or equivalent

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

The overall goal of this intermediate Russian subject is to enable students to move from the private to the public sphere of discourse so that they begin to engage with more sophisticated cultural and social topics in listening, reading, writing and speaking. Students will encounter visual and printed texts that allow them to view multiple perspectives and genres in both written and oral forms (literarture, film and information texts). Instead of the traditional approach to language instruction that is structured around a sequence of grammatical topics, this subject relies on the texts themselves to provide the textual, informational and lexico-grammatical features that serve as the basis for developing students' language abilities. The subject's emphasis on improving students' ability to narrate, compare and contrast, express opinions and establish causal relationships in speaking and writing lays the groundwork for the historical texts used in Russian 5 and 6.

On successful completion of this subject, students should:

• be able to interpret and synthesize information from texts of intermediate difficulty about the self, other people and places from a variety of audio-visual media;
• be able to engage with Russian literature (short story) in the original;
• be able to start to develop a more advanced vocabulary from a range of communicative situations;
• be able to use more advanced grammatical and syntactic structures of Russian;
• have developed an openness to the world and an awareness of cultural and historical contexts;
• be able to find information from various sources, including dictionary, library and the internet;
• have become familiar with Russian cultural traditions and practices, and to appreciate regional diversity;
• be able to develop a differentiated and informed understanding of self and other and of cross-cultural exchange;
• be able to apprehend and appreciate features of the interaction of language and identity.

• Weekly language assignments equivalent to 2000 words (50%)
• Oral (10%) and written (40%) exam equivalent to 2000 words due during the exam period (50%)

Hurdle requirement: Students must attend a minimum of 75% of tutorials in order to pass this subject. All pieces of written work must be submitted to pass this subject.

Note: Assessment submitted late without an approved extension will be penalised at 10% per working day. In-class tasks missed without approval will not be marked.

N. Volkova, ‘Let’s Improve Our Russian’, Textbook 1, St. Petersburg, 2014

This subject potentially can be taken as a breadth subject component for the following courses:

• Bachelor of Biomedicine
• Bachelor of Commerce
• Bachelor of Environments
• Bachelor of Music
• Bachelor of Science
• Bachelor of Engineering

You should visit learn more about breadth subjects and read the breadth requirements for your degree, and should discuss your choice with your student adviser, before deciding on your subjects.

Students who successfully complete this subject should:

• have acquired more advanced skills necessary for future research (library, internet, cross-references etc.);
• have gained sophisticated analytical tools for understanding the system of language;
• have acquired foundations in intercultural communication practices;
• have acquired written communication skills through writing and seminar discussion;
• be able to show attention to detail through preparation and writing;
• have acquired time management and planning skills through managing and organising workloads for regular (weekly) assignment completion;
• have acquired public speaking skills through tutorial and seminar discussion and class presentations;
• have developed the ability to reflect on their language learning process and on linguistic and cultural differences of the target language and cultures.