RUSSIAN LINGUISTIC EDUCATION IN 1990S: IMPACT OF CRISIS

Given a cyclic nature of such a complex phenomenon as crisis, it never ceases to draw attention of researchers in various fields of study. This paper provides an insight into political, economic and social crisis of 1990s in Russia in terms of its impact on linguistic education.

Political crisis – the result of the USSR collapse with its seemingly unshakable tenor – led to the need to rethink the Soviet educational system and determine main directions of its development in the new conditions. Economic crisis caused by transition to market economy conditioned a cutdown in spending on education and, to some extent, the lack of a unified state policy in the field of education. Social crisis was caused by rapid growth of social inequality and property stratification of society. At the same time, more privileged strata of society pressed for a better-quality education with special emphasis put specifically on in-depth study of a foreign (English) language, regarded as an indispensable condition for success in a globalizing world.

At the same time linguistic education was undergoing its own institutional crisis conditioned by change of paradigm in teaching foreign languages. When the iron curtain was lifted, it became clear that the widely adopted grammar-based translational method was no longer effective since its scope and objectives did not meet new challenges. Other methods, approaches and techniques in teaching foreign languages were being introduced to respond to new demands and needs. New non-state institutions and courses emerged offering foreign language teaching services to different age groups, but unfortunately, they could not always ensure good knowledge, which was partly caused by the lack of well-structured governmental policies.

The conducted analysis has revealed that despite quite a number of drawbacks and mistakes this period started a new era of Russian linguistic education.