Strategies of Mono-, Bi- and Multiculturalism in Textbooks of Russian as a Foreign Language

Abstract

The article deals with presentation strategies for the target language country image, with foreign textbooks of Russian as material for analysis. Methods used in cognitive linguistics and cultural linguistics (concept and context analysis) have been used to reveal mono-, biand multiculturalism strategies used in foreign textbooks of Russian for the Russian reality treatment. The authors highlight the importance of the multiculturalism strategy for creating a system of knowledge and an image of Russia for students learning Russian outside the Russian Federation. The article emphasizes the best productivity of the multiculturalism strategy for developing cross-cultural competences in students. The authors define ways and means of the target language country image presentation: on the levels of text (verbal and polymodal) and nomination, point out most important demands to modern textbooks of Russian for foreign students, make methodological recommendations to authors of textbooks of Russian as a foreign language, and, using materials from some textbooks, indicate frequent mistakes made by authors of textbooks.