A Dual-language Approach to Teaching a Russian Media Undergraduate Course

Abstract

Instruction in Languages for Specific Purposes (LSP), especially in the less commonly taught languages, creates a resource challenge. Higher education institutions are often hesitant to support courses that draw small numbers of students. Even when fiscally possible, staffing such courses can represent a compromise between best practices in language pedagogy and the instructor’s expertise in the specific purpose subject at hand. This article describes a unique dual-language approach for teaching a Russian media course, which students can elect to take as an English-only course or as a subject whose language of instruction is English, but nearly all the other work (assignments in reading, writing, and oral presentation) is completed in the target language at proficiency levels commensurate with other upper-division Russian-language courses.