Didaktik Slawischer Sprachen (Didactics of Slavic Languages) (DiSlaw) is an Open Access journal that is published twice a year and follows a strict double-blind peer review process. DiSlaw is indexed by the DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals) and listed in the Fachportal Pädagogik (Education Research Portal) and Ulrichsweb. DiSlaw meets the urgent need for a subject-specific journal focused on the teaching and learning of Slavic foreign and heritage languages in German-speaking regions. It combines theoretical foundations with practical approaches to address the challenges of guided language acquisition. We – the editorial team – do not see subject didactics as a mere collection of best practice examples but rather as a research-driven, theory-based, and practice-oriented discipline. Therefore, DiSlaw provides a publication platform for various types of contributions that engage with the teaching and learning of Slavic languages. In addition to scientific-theoretical articles and theory-guided studies from teaching practice, DiSlaw also publishes practical teaching examples and book reviews (e.g., of textbooks). DiSlaw presents itself as a multilingual journal, publishing articles in German and English as well as in Bosnian, Croatian, Russian, Serbian, Slovenian, and Ukrainian. The journal is also open to contributions in other Slavic languages. Information on this journal is also available in Russian, Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian and Slovenian at the following links: [О журнале] - [O časopisu] - [O reviji] ISSN: 2960-4117
Issue 10: Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in Slavic Language Teaching
How can education for sustainable development (ESD) succeed in Slavic language teaching, and how can one thus contribute to creating a more sustainable world? Critical-ecological awareness-raising is a task and a goal of both ESD and Global Citizenship Education (GCE), i.e. of educational concepts recommended to be implemented as a cross-disciplinary matter throughout all subjects and classes by the UNESCO roadmap #esdfor2030. In foreign language teaching, the issue of sustainability can be raised in various ways in the context of interacting with language, culture and literature – the three pillars of foreign-language teaching. A framework is available in the form of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), codified since 2015 in the Agenda 2030 "Transforming Our World". The tenth issue of DiSlaw is dedicated to the possibilities of ESD in the interest of cultural sustainability in Slavic language teaching.
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Editorial: Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in Slavic Language Teaching
The Global Development Organisational Framework provides a practice-oriented framework of competencies that is underpinned by both the “Guide to Embedding” Textbooks for Sustainable Development (UNESCO/MGIEP, 2017) and the “European Sustainability Competence Framework”, GreenComp (Bianchi et al., 2022). Platforms such as bne-portal.de, bildung2030.at and education21.ch offer a wide range of lesson examples for implementing Education for Sustainable Development across all subjects. Regarding English language teaching methodology, Uwe Küchler’s seminal work, Environmental Literacy and the Teaching of English (2025), presents the subject-specific pedagogical foundation for foreign language teaching informed by the Environmental Humanities. The teaching of Slavic languages, which has lacked such a foundational work to date, is thus provided with a solid basis upon which it can build its specific concepts for language, literature, and media pedagogies. The tenth issue of the journal DiSlaw – Didactics of Slavic Languages cannot (yet) close this gap. Rather, the scientific-theoretical contributions, theory-guided studies from teaching practice, and the best-practice contributions in this issue demonstrate the challenges faced by ESD in the teaching of Slavic languages. However, they also highlight the opportunities it offers as a forward-looking educational approach, well beyond 2030.
On the Common Goals of the New Curriculum and the Integration of Aspects of Sustainable Development into Slovenian Language Instruction
This article focuses on the new curriculum for Slovenian language instruction in the Slovenian education system (UN 2025), which, in addition to updated content, also includes so-called common objectives. These have been incorporated into the curricula and knowledge catalogs as part of the reform with the aim of developing common competencies in various subject-specific ways. The new curriculum is presented from the perspective of five common goals and the subject-specific competencies they introduce (language, citizenship, culture and the arts; sustainable development; health and well-being; digital competence; entrepreneurship). Emphasis is placed on sustainable development and the integration of elements of sustainable development and sustainability competencies into Slovenian language instruction. The didacticization of the main subject-specific sustainability competencies, as presented by UN 2025 in accordance with the European Framework of Competences for Sustainability (GreenComp), is also outlined and evaluated; namely: embodying sustainability values, embracing the complexity of sustainability, envisioning sustainable futures, and taking action for sustainability. The article thus provides a starting point for integrating goals that, at first glance, are not directly related to Slovenian language instruction. It also offers insight into the curricular reform of Slovenian language instruction and takes a critical approach to the current attempt to introduce these new competencies into Slovenian language instruction.
Science Fiction in Russian Heritage Language Instruction
The article presents the development and piloting of a teaching module for Russian as a heritage language, designed for bilingual adolescents aged 12–16 and built around science fiction (SF). The module comprises three workbooks based on works by R. Bradbury, L. Biggle Jr., and I. Asimov (CEFR levels B1+–B2). A detailed design of a five-lesson cycle based on R. Bradbury's short story The Veldt is presented. The story models a disruption of family system sustainability — the replacement of human relationships with digital technologies — and serves as a basis for developing key ESD competencies: systems thinking (the technology–family balance) and normative competence (ethical responsibility). The methodological framework draws on the concepts of sustainable literary competence (Myren-Svelstad, 2020) and performative literacy (Blau, 2003). The practical pilot was conducted with an eighth-grade class at a state school in North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany) within the Heritage Language Instruction programme (Herkunftssprachlicher Unterricht — HSU). Teacher observations and surveys of students and parents confirmed positive dynamics in bridging the gap between oral and written proficiency, increased social responsibility and awareness among adolescents regarding the impact of digitalisation on family communication, and enhanced academic motivation.
Word Order in Teaching Slovenian as a Foreign Language Based on a Sample Text About a Slovene–Austrian Sustainable Mobility Project
As experience shows, word order is a challenging syntactic topic in the teaching of Slovene as a foreign language. As a linguistic foundation, the paper summarises well-established findings on Slovene word order and outlines categories involving free and fixed word order positions. The linguistic rules are illustrated with examples drawn from a newspaper article on an Austrian–Slovene sustainable mobility project, thereby linking cognitive and affective learning objectives. The paper also includes exercises designed to consolidate word order patterns based on the text about the aforementioned Austrian–Slovene sustainable mobility project. These exercises are suitable for use at elementary to advanced levels of Slovene instruction (CEFR A2 and above).
Interdisciplinary Links and Sustainable Approaches in Russian Heritage Language Instruction (HLI)
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is increasingly understood as a cross-curricular task in school education. In this context, heritage language instruction (HLI) is of particular interest because it is inherently oriented toward multilingualism, language awareness, and connections between school subjects. Curricula for HLI in the German federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Saxony emphasize coordination with other subjects and the development of metalinguistic competences. This makes HLI a potentially relevant context for addressing the aims of ESD. The article examines, first, to what extent HLI curricula correspond to key ESD criteria (Wittlich, 2024), and second, how teachers of Russian as a heritage language establish interdisciplinary links in their teaching practice. The empirical basis of the study consists of ten semi-structured interviews with teachers conducted between 2022 and 2025. The findings show that teachers employ different strategies. Some focus on developing Language Awareness through language comparison and metalinguistic reflection. Others integrate subject-related content from geography, history, or the natural sciences, drawing on CLIL-oriented approaches. These practices are not mutually exclusive and often occur in combination. Overall, heritage language instruction shows considerable potential to support key goals of ESD, including reflexivity, interdisciplinary thinking, and a reflective engagement with linguistic and cultural diversity.
Between Tradition and Sustainable Education in Foreign Language Education
Given ongoing social debates, migration-related diversity, and global political developments, democracy education, critical thinking, and sustainable development are increasingly central to educational discourse. Especially since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, teaching Russian in schools has taken on particular significance. Due to the high degree of heterogeneity in learning groups, Russian language teaching offers considerable potential for promoting intercultural communicative competence (ICC) as a basis for education for sustainable development (ESD) and political education. This article examines the importance of ICC in Russian language teaching from the perspective of Russian teachers in Germany. It is based on an exploratory study using Q methodology that captures the subjective attitudes and interpretative patterns of 15 teachers. The results identify four different approaches to ICC: a knowledge-oriented and critically reflective approach, an everyday life-oriented approach, a politically and socially critical reflective approach, and a conflict-avoiding and apolitical, experience- and knowledge-oriented approach. Overall, ICC is viewed positively and perceived as already present in Russian lessons, although different understandings and priorities underlie these convictions. The study provides insights into current attitudes and teaching practices, and highlights the potential of Russian language teaching to promote sustainable and intercultural learning as well as the professional development of foreign language teachers.
Theory-Guided Studies from Teaching Practice
An ecocritical reading of fictional texts enables a deeper reflection on literary representations of nature in the context of hierarchy, duality, and the notion of the Other embodied by woman. In the selected literary works, this includes her demythologized role. Drawing on three selected short prose texts, the article examines the ecocritical dimension and proposes possibilities for addressing literature in a literary seminar. The analysis focuses on motifs and themes related to nature in the short stories Pod gladino by Mojca Kumerdej, Jabolkosnedka by Anja Mugerli, and Krota by Ana Marwan. The contribution highlights (lyrical) descriptions of nature and central motifs — such as the tree, air, toad, mosquitoes, birds, water, and the apple — which in all stories transcend mere description and lyricism: for the authors, nature also serves to articulate the inner emotional states of the characters. Disappointment, confinement, and loneliness are feelings they encounter because they fail to fulfil the maternal role expected of them by contemporary society.
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Compassionate Competency—How Literature Can Foster Empathy Towards Animals
Animals only appear indirectly in the SDGs, for example, in SDGs 13, 14, and 15. As implicit dimensions of these goals, animals, or rather human behavior towards them, represent an analytical lens how humans treat their environment in general. The seminar in literary studies proposed in this article addresses the question of how empathy towards the animal world can be enhanced in university teaching of Russian literature in BA and teacher education programs on the basis of fictional texts within the framework of education for sustainable development (ESD). The language of seminar instruction is German, and the source material is provided in German and Russian. The seminar incorporates methods for achieving sustainability skills into teaching. In addition to the subject-specific module objectives (acquisition of skills in literary studies and improvement of reading and writing skills in Russian), the following skills, among others, are intended to be acquired and enhanced in line with the ESD objectives: critical thinking, perspective-taking, and ethical judgment. Using transformative learning methods (emotion journal, storytelling) and based on selected Russian fiction (including Chekhov’s Kashtanka, Majakovskij’s Khoroshee otnosheniye k loshadyam), students will acquire ESD competencies in addition to key disciplinary skills.
ESD Competencies as an Opportunity for Interdisciplinary Links with the Integration of the Slovenian Language
Various studies since 2007 have found that interdisciplinary integration in school practice in Slovenia is only sporadic and quite rare. Therefore, we cannot rely on tradition if we want to plan the targeted development of competencies for sustainable development, which also applies to language teaching, both foreign languages and Slovenian. The sporadic occurrence of interdisciplinary integration is directly related to the lack of didactic material for interdisciplinary integration. We are trying to fill this gap by presenting a module that combines the development of competencies for sustainable development, the inclusion of fictional texts, and some other subjects in interdisciplinary integration. The module consists of learning units of varying lengths, prepared for different levels in the school system. Its advantage lies not only in the inclusion of fictional texts, but also in its consideration of the principles of successful communication of the environmental crisis, based on the principles of comprehensibility, locality, and narrativity. The material and didacticisation of the teaching units, which were developed in close cooperation with experts from various fields, have been partially implemented to date and have proven to be very well received and appreciated by teachers in terms of both their design and the achievement of their objectives. We see this as an incentive to develop a tradition of preparing teaching materials for interdisciplinary integration that includes various elements of sustainability.
Language Lessons as a Space for Transformation
Despite the growing importance of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in educational policy frameworks, its systematic integration into university-level language teaching remains limited. This article explores the potential of a communicative Russian language course as a transformative space for sustainability-oriented learning. Drawing on a B2/C1 university course centered on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with a particular focus on SDG 4 (Quality Education), the article presents a theory-informed conceptual approach to integrating ESD into advanced language instruction. The theoretical framework combines Global Citizenship Education, Environmental Literacy, cultural sustainability, intercultural learning, and Critical Literacy. These approaches are operationalized through a pedagogical framework that links language progression with competences in language-mediated perception, evaluation, and action. Using a detailed course plan and illustrative examples, the article demonstrates how global discourses on sustainable development can be critically explored, discussed, and related to students’ biographical and professional perspectives. It suggests that language instruction may contribute meaningfully to sustainable development by fostering reflective, discursive, and action-oriented engagement with societal challenges.
Issue 9: The very first lesson in teaching Slavic languages as foreign and heritage languages
The very first lesson in language teaching has long been regarded as a particularly significant moment. It is far more than a mere organisational starting point: it is a moment in which expectations are met or disappointed, learning dispositions begin to develop, and the foundations for motivation and rapport are laid. Especially in the teaching of Slavic languages – whether as foreign or heritage languages – this first lesson can be of special importance. For foreign language learners, it opens the door to a new and often unfamiliar linguistic and cultural world; for many heritage speakers, it marks the beginning of a conscious engagement with the standard language of their family background. Thus, the first lesson is not only a pedagogical starting point but also a symbolic act of encounter, recognition, or re-orientation.
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Review of: Eva Binder & Magdalena Kaltseis: Audiovisuelle Medien im Russischunterricht. Tübingen: Narr Francke Attempto, 2025
The significance of audiovisual media for young people can hardly be overstated: Films, series, YouTube formats and social media have an impact on perception, communication and cultural practices. In light of this it seems only logical to systematically use these media in language teaching as well. For teaching Russian, however, there were no recent, didactically founded and practice-guided analyses until recently, when Eva Binder and Magdalena Kaltseis filled this very gap with their monography Audiovisuelle Medien im Russischunterricht (Audiovisual Media in Russian Language Teaching), released in 2025 by the publishing house Narr-Francke-Attempto. The authors combine academic perspectives from cultural and media studies as well as the didactics of language with tried-and-tested teaching materials and thus create a foundational work that is both theoretically well-founded and directly useful in practice.
(Not Yet) In Focus: The Neglected First Lessons in Slavic Language Teaching
This text examines the first encounter with a Slavic language in the classroom, a moment of renewed pedagogical and ethical relevance amid shifting sociopolitical contexts. The decline of Russian instruction following the war against Ukraine highlights the need to reconsider how this initial experience is structured and framed. The six contributions approach the “first lesson” from linguistic, cognitive, and practical perspectives, addressing phonetics, plurilingualism, and heritage-language learning. Yet the small number of submissions and predominance of traditional models reveal a gap between theory and innovation. Classroom insights from Hamburg illustrate how teachers increasingly prioritise social aims—community building, learner diversity, and reflection—over purely linguistic goals. Together, these studies emphasise the need to reconceptualise the first lesson as a space where language, identity, and pedagogy intersect in contemporary Slavic education.
When the First Lesson Is Missing or Interrupted
The first lesson is often considered an important element and a crucial moment in language acquisition, capable of having a lasting impact on subsequent learning. Not only does it mark the beginning of a new learning phase, but it also lays the foundation for fostering learners’ motivation, shaping the relationship between learners and the teacher, and setting expectations for the course. In the context of promoting family or heritage languages, this first lesson is particularly important: for heritage speakers, it is often their first conscious encounter with the standard form of their heritage language, which is now to be developed explicitly and systematically. But what reasons prevent participation in this first lesson, and which factors lead to students dropping out after attending only once? While the reasons for participation have already been well researched, the motives and barriers to non-participation or early withdrawal from Russian language classes in Germany remain largely unexplored. The aim of this paper is to close this gap and to gain new insights into these aspects. Based on empirical data from a project on Russian in Germany in an intergenerational comparison, the perspectives of Russian-speaking heritage speakers aged 7 to 16, as well as those of their parents, are analysed and evaluated in relation to key influencing factors. Potential explanatory approaches are also discussed.
Language Animation in the First Russian Lesson
This article explores how the method of language animation – originally developed for non-formal learning contexts – can be adapted for use in school-based Russian instruction, especially in the very first lesson. Originating in Franco-German youth exchanges, language animation combines elements of game-based, experiential, and group-oriented pedagogy. Its aim is to activate learners holistically, reduce inhibitions, and create motivating first encounters with the target language. The article presents a detailed 90-minute lesson plan featuring four language games designed for learners below CEFR level A1, offering a playful introduction to the Cyrillic script. The unit is complemented by suggestions for classroom language use and opportunities for reflection. Aspects of differentiation and the role of heritage speakers are briefly addressed. Overall, the article advocates for a lively and engaging start to Russian language teaching.
This article presents a language-specific concept for the first Ukrainian lesson that centres on the use of cognates between Ukrainian and German to support beginner learners – especially in multilingual and heritage language contexts. Cognates such as 'mama' – 'Mama', 'telefon' – 'Telefon', and 'universytet' – 'Universität' serve as linguistic anchors that foster a sense of familiarity, reduce anxiety, and encourage early lexical acquisition. Learners are invited to identify similarities, build word associations, and gain confidence by realizing how much they already “know.” The lesson design integrates guided pronunciation exercises for key Ukrainian phonemes (e.g., [ɦ], palatalised consonants) to establish a foundation in sound awareness. Visual and auditory tools are used to reinforce accuracy and boost learner motivation. Culturally, the lesson introduces contemporary and regional elements of Ukrainian life while deliberately avoiding stereotypical representations. Music, media clips, and images illustrate the linguistic and cultural diversity of Ukraine, making the language personally relevant from the very beginning. By linking familiar vocabulary with sound and culture, this holistic approach offers a low-threshold entry into Ukrainian that supports both cognitive and emotional engagement. The model is adaptable to diverse educational settings and learner backgrounds, and it demonstrates how targeted use of Ukrainian-German cognates can become a powerful tool in inclusive language pedagogy.
I Don’t Speak a Word of Slovenian – Or Do I?
Learners attending beginner courses with no prior knowledge of Slovenian are often convinced that they will not understand a single word of this language. Therefore, we begin with a comprehension-based approach that emphasises the semantic dimension of language before moving on to a more detailed discussion of its structural aspects. Using examples that have been tried and tested in practice, we demonstrate how it is possible to design an introduction to a foreign language that may seem unusual to most course participants but, in our experience, motivates learners and sparks their curiosity. With the help of authentic texts, learners are introduced to strategies they can apply throughout their language-learning development – strategies that foster autonomous learning as a continuous and empowering process in foreign language acquisition.
Starting the Lesson with Multiple Languages
The present article explores a resource-oriented, multilingual approach to language teaching that supports learners' linguistic diversity while reducing language anxiety. Drawing on the Trio magazine "Hallo Österreich!", the present study proposes practical strategies for integrating learners’ full linguistic repertoires through translanguaging. The study highlights how multilingual materials and tasks can foster motivation, participation, and language awareness. A didactic proposal illustrates how to create inclusive, low threshold learning environments in which all languages are valued as resources from the very first lesson.
A Neurolinguistic Approach to the First Lesson in Teaching Russian as a Foreign Language
This article examines how the application of the Neurolinguistic Approach (NLA) in the first lessons of Russian as a foreign language (RFL) addresses common beginner-level challenges within the communicative-actional teaching paradigm and provides a solid methodological foundation for Beginner L2 Pedagogy. Originally developed in the late 1990s and early 2000s for French language instruction in intensive school programs in English-speaking Canada (Germain, 2018), the NLA has since been adapted for teaching different languages in diverse contexts. We present three instructional modules implemented in the first RFL lessons at the Université de Montréal. These modules serve as the basis for discussing the principles of NLA-based instructional design, its adaptation to RFL teaching, and theoretical foundation based on two neurolinguistic concepts. To highlight the advantages of the NLA in the first RFL lessons, we also compare it with the traditional PPP (Presentation–Practice–Production) model, particularly with the version developed within the Soviet-Russian Communicative-Actional approach (Passov & Kuzovleva, 2010). The article demonstrates that the NLA facilitates the development of oral proficiency from the very first RFL lesson — independently of students’ reading and writing skills and explicit grammatical knowledge — while simultaneously fostering them on the basis of oral competence.
Editorial: The Very First Lesson in Teaching Slavic Languages as Foreign and Heritage Languages
Heritage Language Teaching of Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian in Bern and Zurich
Migration from the former Yugoslavia to Switzerland is highly complex in historical, geographical and linguistic terms. This article analyses courses for heritage speakers (Unterricht in heimatlicher Sprache und Kultur = HSK-Unterricht) of Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian in Switzerland. The aim of this study is twofold. First, to present the current state of heritage language classes in the cantons of Bern and Zurich. Second, to survey the speakers’ attitudes toward them. A sociolinguistic questionnaire with 62 participants mainly from Bern and Zurich provides data on awareness and perceived use of HSK classes. The results indicate that most respondents are unaware that the program exists, and fewer yet have ever participated. The study identifies inadequate advertising as a primary reason for the low level of participation, followed by the program's poor availability at the local level.
Phraseological Units in Teaching Serbian as a Non-Native Language
Serbian as a Non-Native Language in the Republic of Serbia is a mandatory subject for students educated in one of the languages of national minorities. The overarching document for organizing the teaching of this subject is the General Achievement Standards for Serbian as a Non-Native Language, based on which two Program variants have been developed: Variant A (primarily for students whose native language belongs to non-Slavic languages, living in homogeneous environments with less command of the Serbian language) and Variant B (primarily for students whose native language belongs to Slavic languages, living in heterogeneous environments and having better command of the Serbian language). An inseparable part of the linguistic richness and culture of a nation are phraseologisms, which are often an integral part of everyday communication. Mastering the use of phraseologisms in the appropriate context is a significant segment of learning a language. The Serbian as a Non-Native Language Program does not offer a selection of phraseologisms, nor are they included in supplementary literature that lists recommended lexicon. Therefore, based on existing literature, this paper presents a list of phraseologisms that can be incorporated into teaching, primarily in Variant A of the Program for elementary school.
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Lexical and Spelling Accuracy of Russian Adult Heritage and Foreign Language Learners in Written Elicited Narratives
This paper presents a preliminary study on correlations between the frequency of lexical and orthographic errors in written narratives produced by learners of Russian as a foreign language (FLLs; n = 11) and heritage speakers of Russian (HLLs; n = 14), in two elicitation modes: telling and retelling. The study also explores the correlation between lexical accuracy and overall language proficiency in these two groups. Narratives were elicited using the Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives (MAIN), and a validated multiple-choice language proficiency test served as the anchor test. The results of a preliminary study based on a small sample of participants showed that Russian FLLs produced significantly more lexical errors and fewer orthographic errors in both retelling and telling modes compared to HLLs. Moreover, a significant negative correlation was found between the frequency of lexical errors in telling and the results of the language proficiency test in HLLs. These findings show that the relationship between different components of language competence may differ significantly between HLLs and FLLs and be shaped by different patterns. The study further emphasizes the need for individual instructional strategies for different types of language learners.
Navigating Language Contact in the Digital Age
Belarusian, classified as vulnerable by UNESCO, is a low-resource language with limited digital and media representation. Preserving such languages demands a comprehensive approach, which is deeply interconnected with their linguistic and historical contexts. Thus, any study of Belarusian must consider its linguistic variability, historical fragmentation, and the dominant pressures of Russian and Polish. This best practice paper investigates the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in addressing the complex dynamics of Belarusian. It also outlines Iceland’s recent partnership with OpenAI to preserve Icelandic and argues that a similar AI–human collaboration could benefit Belarusian. The contribution aims to explore how AI can be utilised to support language learning, generate new vocabulary, and preserve the characteristic features of Belarusian. However, the study also acknowledges the limitations of current AI models. The activities presented can be implemented at both school and university levels, proving equally valuable for native speakers, language learners, and future teachers. This best practice paper relies on experiments and qualitative content analysis of the results and addresses two core questions: 1. Can AI tools cope with orthographic and grammatical complexities of Belarusian? 2. Can AI models successfully navigate linguistic interference in Belarusian? The protocols of the experiments can be transferred to other languages or rerun unchanged to track how new outputs and model biases evolve over time.
Revitalization of Russian among Canadian Doukhobors through a Community Course
This article explores pedagogical, linguistic, and cultural issues involved in designing a community Russian language course for Doukhobors in Canada. To date, only limited descriptions of the Doukhobors’ language use and structure are available, showing that they speak, first and foremost, Doukhobor Russian (DR), a severely endangered variety, which is currently maintained by only a few dozen elderly bilinguals whose dominant language is English, but who retain fluent proficiency in DR. Second, some of the community members speak idiolects which align somewhere along a continuum between DR and Standard Russian (StR). However, the use of any kind of Russian is rapidly diminishing in the community. To support the revitalization of the Doukhobors’ heritage language varieties, an online community Russian language course for adult Doukhobors is being developed. The article discusses key considerations in designing the course, including pedagogical approaches, choice of language variety to teach (StR or DR), and the selection of culturally significant topics and materials for inclusion. The article proposes a bilingual approach exposing learners to both DR and StR, and outlines a range of culturally relevant themes for the course. The article contributes to the topic of critically endangered minority languages.
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Worldwide, speakers who use two or more languages are continuously interacting with one another, resulting in constant contact between languages and cultures. This is especially evident in language teaching, where we observe a rich mosaic of cultural and linguistic exchanges. Various factors, including the target language, the language of instruction, and the diverse linguistic backgrounds of learners and teachers, contribute to these dynamics. All this highlights the relevance of language and cultural contact as an interdisciplinary research field, which not only informs language-teaching practices but also enriches student experiences. It is worth emphasising that in contact linguistics, the focus is not directly on contact between languages, but rather on the consequences of interactions between speakers. In other words, language contact leads to reciprocal influences, which manifest in both explicit and implicit contact phenomena – such as lexical borrowings, interferences, code-switching, or language change. The eighth issue of the journal Didaktik slawischer Sprachen is dedicated to this timely topic, which is by no means limited to the teaching of Slavic languages. This thematic issue brings together seven linguistic studies and didactic contributions on language and cultural contacts between individual Slavic languages, the findings of which provide a valuable basis for the teaching of first, foreign, second, and heritage languages. The volume is complemented by a review of a recent textbook that addresses diverse language contact situations and examines the institutional positioning of contact languages in Germany. Just as research on language and cultural contact can be defined as open-ended, covering the entire spectrum of contact and sociolinguistic aspects, and ranging from almost microscopic analysis of recorded language fragments to the fate of individual nations (Heath, 1984, 367), the contributions in this issue are also diverse and reflect different methodological approaches and thematic foci.
Review of: Katja F. Cantone et al.: "Spracherhalt und Mehrsprachigkeit: Eine Einführung. Tübingen: Narr Francke Attempto, 2024
This article reviews the book Spracherhalt und Mehrsprachigkeit: Eine Einführung by K. F. Cantone. It was published in 2024 by Narr Francke Attempto.
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"Objective" and "Subjective" Frequency of Internationalisms in Croatian
The article deals with the frequency of internationalisms in Croatian from a structural linguistics perspective, taking into account usage-based and psycholinguistic approaches (cf. Backus, 2013 for an overview). Specifically, two different kinds of frequency will be distinguished: The first one is the ‘objective’ frequency, which is taken from a Croatian frequency dictionary (cf. Moguš et al., 1999). The second one refers to the speaker-based, ‘subjective’ assessments of the frequency, which is taken from the Croatian psycholinguistic database (cf. Peti-Stantić et al., 2021). In addition, also the polytextuality (dispersion), i.e. the occurrence of the internationalisms in different functional style, will be discussed as reliable criterion for determination of a core inventory of Croatian internationalisms. Finally, some correlations between the subjective assessment and the polytextuality will be emphasized. The combination of them helps in the determination of the high-frequency inventory of Croatian internationalism, which in turn are a reliable indicator in how far the Croatian core vocabulary is influenced lexically because of language contact respectively puristic attitudes. This inventory of internationalisms is not only of interest from a linguistic point of view but also provides a solid basis for foreign language didactics. It can be assumed that internationalisms can facilitate text comprehension and therefore play a special role in language acquisition. In addition, it can be shown in how much objective and subjective frequency and polytextuality are important selection criteria when creating basic vocabulary.