Abstract:

The development of new technologies in the fields of information and communication changes the way people communicate. Researchers note the dominance of visual practices over verbal methods of transmitting and receiving information. In this regard, the importance of polycode texts when teaching languages is increasing, and philologists and language teachers use them more frequently in class activities.
This paper is devoted to the typology and functions of polycode texts. Polycode texts are often used to teach international students Russian as a language for special purposes at the Faculty of Philology of Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University). The aim of the research is to describe the effectiveness of polycode texts at different stages of teaching the Russian language.
The methodology of our research involves working in groups with international students. In order to make our experiment viable we analyzed educational texts in Russian; all examples are based on educational polycode texts derived from the new textbook on Russian as a foreign language Russian Kaleidoscope (Moscow: RUDN Publishing House, 2020), the novelty of which lies in its consistency – presented certification levels A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2. This article deals with level C2 texts.
The results show that students perceive and better assimilate most of the information via visual means, thus, we arrive at a conclusion that it is difficult to overestimate the role of visual signs at each stage of training. Furthermore, we come forward with recommendation on the use of Polycode texts in international groups of students.

Keywords:

polycode text, Russian as a foreign language, language for special purposes, teaching methods, RUDN University.