Orthographic literacy of Russian-speaking schoolchildren in Latvia

The research is devoted to one of the current problems of speech development of Russian-speaking schoolchildren of the diaspora (grades 4, 6 and 9) - orthographic literacy and is intended to contribute to the research on this problem. The topicality of the problem is substantiated by the necessity t...

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Main Author: Margarita A. Gavrilina
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University) 2022-03-01
Series:Russian Language Studies
Subjects:
Online Access:http://journals.rudn.ru/russian-language-studies/article/viewFile/30670/20532
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author Margarita A. Gavrilina
author_facet Margarita A. Gavrilina
author_sort Margarita A. Gavrilina
collection DOAJ
description The research is devoted to one of the current problems of speech development of Russian-speaking schoolchildren of the diaspora (grades 4, 6 and 9) - orthographic literacy and is intended to contribute to the research on this problem. The topicality of the problem is substantiated by the necessity to explore the issues related to the quality of written speech, including orthographic knowledge and skills in the Russian (native) language of bilingual schoolchildren living outside Russia. The topic has not been sufficiently studied. The aim of the research is to describe the orthographic literacy of Latvian Russian-speaking schoolchildren of grades 4, 6 and 9 in 2015-2021. The research is based on the analysis of written works of 11 938 schoolchildren that were developed by the author of the article and specia- lists of education and science of Latvia. The methods of research include comparative, statistical, focus-group discussion. The research results: 1) the level of orthographic literacy of Latvian Russian-speaking bilinguals remains low; 2) the same typical spelling mistakes are found in the speech of schoolchildren of all ages, but the mistakes rate depends on the bilingual education model; 3) schoolchildren have difficulties in spelling arguments; 4) the main reasons of schoolchildrens spelling mistakes in Russian include the low motivation of school- children to develop literacy in written speech, interlanguage interference, insufficient amount of school hours on studying spelling material of the Russian language at school; 5) the literacy in Russian is less important than in English and Latvian in the value paradigm of schoolchildren. According to the new educational reform of Latvia (Skola2030), the number of Russian language lessons in schools for national minorities is significantly reduced. It is possible to predict a further decline in the level of spelling in schoolchildren in the coming years. Therefore, understanding objective orthographic difficulties encountered of bilingual schoolchildren open prospects for further exploration of effective orthography strategies in teaching the mother tongue to bilingual schoolchildren in a changing environment.
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spelling doaj.art-bcfbe2a0695540818fd10eb13deff2072022-12-21T23:33:31ZengPeoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University)Russian Language Studies2618-81632618-81712022-03-0120110111410.22363/2618-8163-2022-20-1-101-11420837Orthographic literacy of Russian-speaking schoolchildren in LatviaMargarita A. Gavrilina0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2795-2047University of LatviaThe research is devoted to one of the current problems of speech development of Russian-speaking schoolchildren of the diaspora (grades 4, 6 and 9) - orthographic literacy and is intended to contribute to the research on this problem. The topicality of the problem is substantiated by the necessity to explore the issues related to the quality of written speech, including orthographic knowledge and skills in the Russian (native) language of bilingual schoolchildren living outside Russia. The topic has not been sufficiently studied. The aim of the research is to describe the orthographic literacy of Latvian Russian-speaking schoolchildren of grades 4, 6 and 9 in 2015-2021. The research is based on the analysis of written works of 11 938 schoolchildren that were developed by the author of the article and specia- lists of education and science of Latvia. The methods of research include comparative, statistical, focus-group discussion. The research results: 1) the level of orthographic literacy of Latvian Russian-speaking bilinguals remains low; 2) the same typical spelling mistakes are found in the speech of schoolchildren of all ages, but the mistakes rate depends on the bilingual education model; 3) schoolchildren have difficulties in spelling arguments; 4) the main reasons of schoolchildrens spelling mistakes in Russian include the low motivation of school- children to develop literacy in written speech, interlanguage interference, insufficient amount of school hours on studying spelling material of the Russian language at school; 5) the literacy in Russian is less important than in English and Latvian in the value paradigm of schoolchildren. According to the new educational reform of Latvia (Skola2030), the number of Russian language lessons in schools for national minorities is significantly reduced. It is possible to predict a further decline in the level of spelling in schoolchildren in the coming years. Therefore, understanding objective orthographic difficulties encountered of bilingual schoolchildren open prospects for further exploration of effective orthography strategies in teaching the mother tongue to bilingual schoolchildren in a changing environment.http://journals.rudn.ru/russian-language-studies/article/viewFile/30670/20532russian-speaking schoolchildrenschoolchildren of the diasporawritten speechorthographic literacyspelling skillsspelling mistakegrammar argumentationcauses of errorsbilingual educationspeech environment
spellingShingle Margarita A. Gavrilina
Orthographic literacy of Russian-speaking schoolchildren in Latvia
Russian Language Studies
russian-speaking schoolchildren
schoolchildren of the diaspora
written speech
orthographic literacy
spelling skills
spelling mistake
grammar argumentation
causes of errors
bilingual education
speech environment
title Orthographic literacy of Russian-speaking schoolchildren in Latvia
title_full Orthographic literacy of Russian-speaking schoolchildren in Latvia
title_fullStr Orthographic literacy of Russian-speaking schoolchildren in Latvia
title_full_unstemmed Orthographic literacy of Russian-speaking schoolchildren in Latvia
title_short Orthographic literacy of Russian-speaking schoolchildren in Latvia
title_sort orthographic literacy of russian speaking schoolchildren in latvia
topic russian-speaking schoolchildren
schoolchildren of the diaspora
written speech
orthographic literacy
spelling skills
spelling mistake
grammar argumentation
causes of errors
bilingual education
speech environment
url http://journals.rudn.ru/russian-language-studies/article/viewFile/30670/20532
work_keys_str_mv AT margaritaagavrilina orthographicliteracyofrussianspeakingschoolchildreninlatvia