Abstract:

Descriptive grammar of the Russian language (phonetics, morphology, syntax) is an obligatory part of the curriculum of philological studies. The issue of grammar in foreign language teaching has been a subject of dispute in glottodidactics for decades. According to the constantly changing tendencies in language teaching, it is sometimes placed on the periphery of the educational process, and sometimes in the centre. Different approaches are known depending on, among other things, the learning goal, the group of learners and the educational level. However, the place of grammar in the academic education of Russian philologists is indisputable, because in accordance with the concept of philological studies, including Russian studies, the graduates should possess various skills specified in the educational results and the knowledge of a given foreign language, including its systemic structure - and grammar is its integral part.

This article is devoted to the problem of teaching syntax, one of the levels of grammar of Russian as a foreign language at philological studies in Poland. The considerations are based on the experience of lecturers and students of Russian philology at the University of Bialystok (Poland), taking into account the current regulations concerning the principles of education at the academic level on philological faculties. It should be emphasized that the teaching content of syntax is realized in the subject "descriptive grammar of Russian language - syntax", so the nature of the classes is already defined in the very name of the subject. The syllabus of a given course clearly defines its aims: "The aim of the course is to provide knowledge necessary to construct sentences, to learn about types of word relationships, to learn how words can be combined in sentences, to learn about the function of words in a sentence, relations between words in a sentence and word order in sentences. To introduce students to the syntactic system of contemporary Russian, to develop habits of practical use of syntactic forms in independent oral and written statements". Achieving the objectives in the course of the classes is a difficult challenge, because in the stereotypical and quite common perception syntax is perceived as a subject boring in perception and difficult to tame. Only the use of appropriate teaching methods is the key to effective didactics and student satisfaction.

The main aim of the subject is to define the difficulties in teaching the syntax of a foreign language, and, most importantly, to indicate important methodological solutions facilitating the acquisition of theoretical and practical knowledge in a given field of grammar. The search for effective ways to make the subject interesting has become an inspiration to create a textbook for the subject "descriptive grammar of Russian - syntax" for philology students in the future. The methods and exercises proposed in this study reflect the pluralism of different linguistic areas - they integrate knowledge of syntax and knowledge of Russian culture and realities.

Keywords:

Descriptive grammar, Russian as a foreign language, philological studies, Polish education, syntax.