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Publication Slovenistika na Univerzi Kansas(Ljubljana : Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete Univerze v Ljubljani, 2019) Pirnat-Greenberg, MartaPublication Tajik Persian: Readings in History, Culture and Society(University of Kansas Libraries, 2016) Ahmad, RaziTajik Persian: Readings in History, Culture and Society seeks to help students develop reading proficiency in Tajik at advanced level through authentic texts written for native speakers and provides them glimpses into the history, culture and society of Tajikistan without losing its focus on cultural aspects of the country—an aspect that constitutes a core component in the second language acquisition. The book can be adopted by instructors as a supplementary or the main textbook for advanced-level courses.Publication Supplementary Materials for Reading Svašta u mojoj glavi, a story by Miro Gavran(2014-12-01) Pirnat-Greenberg, MartaThis work includes supplementary materials for reading Svašta u mojoj glavi, a young-adult novel in Croatian written by Miro Gavran. The materials aim to provide reading support for a BCS learner with (at least) intermediate level proficiency so that s/he would be able to understand and appreciate a longer piece of Croatian literature without adaptation. That support comes in the form of extensive glossing and annotation as well as elucidation of language, stylistic devices, and the sociocultural context of the story. In addition to comprehension questions, various other activities are included to engage the learner in a more in-depth examination of the text and its language, as well as to help him/her internalize and activate targeted vocabulary, language patterns, and forms of discourse.Publication Thinking through Teacher Talk: Increasing Target Language Use in the Beginning Russian Classroom(Russian Language Journal, 2013) Comer, William J.In July 2012 the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) adopted a position statement calling for instructors and learners to use the target language (TL) for 90% plus of instructional time. Implementing ACTFL’s recommendation can be particularly challenging for instructors of less commonly taught languages, particularly at the beginning levels of instruction. The purpose of this article is to synthesize the findings from extant research studies of classroom language use, identify impediments to target language use in the Russian language classroom, and offer specific advice, suggestions and resources to help beginning teachers and teaching assistants of Russian increase the amount of Russian used in classroom instruction. The article includes two appendices (Appendix 1 shows an opinion exchange activity with sample teacher talk needed to conduct the activity entirely in Russian; Appendix 2 presents a lengthy Russian-English list of instructions for different kinds of classroom activities, with selective commentaries on language usage).Publication Processing Instruction and Russian: Further Evidence is IN(Blackwell Publishing, 2011-11-14) Comer, William J.; deBenedette, LynneIn response to Leaver, Rifkin, and Shekhtman (2004), Wong and VanPatten (2004) challenged instructors of Russian to present evidence for the claim that mechanical drills (Traditional Instruction) were necessary for second language learning, and to demonstrate empirically the claim that Processing Instruction would not be an effective intervention for Russian. The current study compares the effects of the two instructional models for teaching the distinction between directional and locational expressions in Russian. Processing Instruction is found to be more effective than traditional mechanical drills, because learners made significant improvement in interpreting as well as producing locational and destinational sentences, while the Traditional Instruction group improved most only on the production task. The study shows Processing Instruction's robustness for teaching complex form-meaning mappings in Russian.Publication Mind the Gap: English L2 Learners of Russian and the Null Possessive Pronoun(American Council of Teachers of Russian, 2009) Comer, William J.This article compares the usage patterns of possessive pronouns in contemporary English and Russian prose, by analyzing two original language texts and in their translations into the other language. The cross linguistic research yields both quantitative and qualitative data about the usage of Russian’s three possessive structures in narratives (ø [i.e., the null possessive], свой, and the personal possessive pronouns). This information is in turn applied to questions of L2 teaching and learning of these structures, hypothesizing a likely acquisition order for свой and making suggestions for classroom practice.Publication Recordings of Slavic-language translations of Jaroslav Hašek's Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka(2010-06-15T18:24:29Z) Greenberg, Marc L.Sample parallel texts of the first few paragraphs of various Slavic-language translations of The Good Soldier Schweik by Jaroslav Hashek.Publication Appendices to: Processing Instruction and Russian: Issues, Materials, and Preliminary Experimental Results(2009-07-09T13:05:11Z) Comer, William J.; deBenedette, LynneThe attached materials are the unabridged appendices to the article "Processing Instruction and Russian: Issues, Materials, and Preliminary Experimental Results" which will appear Slavic and East European Journal Volume 54 Issue 1 (Spring 2010).Publication Implementing Task-based Teaching from the Ground Up: Considerations for Lesson Planning and Classroom Practice(Russian Language Journal, 2007) Comer, William J.After synthesizing the scholarly literature on what makes a task in language teaching, the author presents a detailed look at one implementation of task-based language teaching in an beginning-level Russian language classroom. Appendices include classroom materials and lesson plans.Publication Making Our Way toward Teacher Education Programs in the Slavic Languages.(Slavica Publishers, 2000) Comer, William J.Reflecting on the state of the field of teacher training in Slavic language programs in the 1990s, the author recommends programs build alliances for teacher training with other programs in the Less Commonly Taught Languages. Beginning teachers should focus on three areas the continuing development of their own language skills, their ability to analyze classroom dynamics and implement changes in them, and expansion of their “pedagogical content knowledge.” Technology may be available to help teachers in all three of these areas.Publication How do Džon and Džein Read Russian? On-Line Vocabulary and its Place in the Reading Process.(Slavica Publishers, 2000) Comer, William J.; Keefe, LeannWhen reading authentic texts, intermediate-level students face many problems (lack of vocabulary, difficulties with word order and syntax, unfamiliar target language discourse practices) that can significantly impede their comprehension. Intermediate-level students of Russian read two newspaper articles online, where they could click on any word and receive a contextual gloss. Before receiving the guess, they had to guess the meaning of the word and give a reason for their guess. The data reveal interesting patterns in student reading strategies as well as patterns of misreading.