Issues of Teaching Linguistic Disciplines to Migrant Students at Higher Education Institutions

Abstract

This paper is based on the authors’ long-term observations of migrant students studying at universities in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area — Yugra. The paper is devoted to the current issues that nearly every higher education institution in Russia is aware of. Most non-native-speaking students have a low level of Russian language knowledge, which poses challenges for mastering linguistic disciplines, on the one hand, and challenges for teaching, on the other hand. The paper examines the historical background of the modern ethnic situation in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area — Yugra. Socio-economic conditions in the area attract immigrants not only from other regions of the Russian Federation but also from post-Soviet countries. The authors describe the social profile of a migrant student, and provide a review of unresolved issues in teaching the discipline of Russian Language and Speech Culture to students of non-philological majors, while paying special attention to the challenges in teaching the Russian Dialectology and Modern Russian Language Morphology disciplines to students majoring in philology. The pressing issues of teaching migrant students should not be ignored. The authors suggest ways to address these issues. One of these is based on stricter requirements for applicants applying for philological majors. The other one suggests simultaneous training and correction of missing Russian language skills.