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FORMATION OF SOCIO-CULTURAL ADAPTATION OF FOREIGN STUDENTS WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE PRACTICE-ORIENTED PROJECT “WE ARE IN RUSSIA” // Tomsk State Pedagogical University Bulletin. 2019. Issue 7 (204). P. 130-139

Introduction. Currently, within the world market of higher education, the number of foreign students admitted each year is one of the main indicators of a successful university. Therefore, it is important to study cultural adaptation of foreign students during the course of their education at Russian universities. There is a growing need for new methods of training that stimulate individual adaptation. Project activities as part of teaching Russian as a foreign language proved to be the most effective method of socio-cultural adaptation. The study examined specific problems and peculiarities related to the process of adaptation of foreign students during the course of their education. The language barrier was identified as the main difficulty. The purpose of the study was to substantiate the feasibility of project activities implemented in the practice of teaching Russian as a foreign language. The goal of these activities was to improve social and cultural adaptation of foreign students and to demonstrate how positive results were obtained during the experiment. Materials and methods. The study was based on personality-oriented, systematic and dialogue-and-activity approaches. Common scientific methods used were: questioning, comparative analysis, synthesis and generalization. The main methodology was project-based learning. Results and discussion. The scientific novelty of the research consists in the application of the method of project training in the course of Russian as a foreign language in the framework of a long-term practice-oriented project for the formation of socio-cultural adaptation of foreign students at the II certification level. The specificity of project training in the conditions of formation of social and cultural adaptation of foreign students is defined. The scientific idea of project training in the field of Russian as a foreign language is concretized. The study reviewed a group of factors affecting the process of adaptation. Adaptation, as applied to the educational environment of a university, is defined as a diverse process resulting from many factors such as: admissions, development and personality growth of foreign students within the educational space. The study investigated the basic concepts of project-based learning and proved the efficiency of project activities during the course of studying Russian as a foreign language. The practice oriented project “We are in Russia” was presented as an examples of the tools used in the process of socio-cultural adaptation of foreign students. The study showed that the program of the project is successful in encouraging foreign students to further study in Russian at a Russian university. Moreover, the program proved useful in helping foreign students who already spoke Russian at certificate levels 1 and 2 adapt better. The necessity of including project activities in the educational process of this category of students was substantiated. The study expands our scientific understanding of the practice of teaching Russian as a foreign language. It also offers teachers of Russian language an opportunity to choose the correct tools in order to facilitate adaptation within a changing educational environment, and also serves as the basis for further research in the field of professional training of teachers of Russian as a foreign language. Publication materials provide teachers of Russian as a foreign language an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the potential and diversity of project-based training practices while adapting to the conditions of a specific educational institution. Conclusion. The proposed method is aimed at eliminating the negative effects of the external environment while allowing the individual to adapt to the changing social environment. It also plays an important social and adaptive role in the life of foreign students. Thus, the project methodology was conceived as an interactive activity, which allowed us to obtain personality-significant expertise, and was defined as the most effective way of learning Russian as a foreign language.

Keywords: adaptation process, sociocultural environment, language barrier, communicative activity approach, project activity, project training method, educational project, project group, practice-oriented project on Russian as a foreign language