The use of texts of Russian folk songs in teaching a foreign language at a non-linguistic university

The professional activities of the Arts faculty graduates are largely associated with the promotion of the cultural heritage of the peoples of Russia. This research paper reveals the potential of the discipline “Foreign Language” in teaching values of Russian folk culture to the university students. The purpose of the study is to consider the possibility of using translations of Russian folk songs lyrics in foreign language classes. The Russian folk songs served as a basis for improving language skills and abilities, as well as introducing the students to the national picture of the world displayed in the lyrics, to their imagery and symbolism. The paper outlines three stages of working with the songs, including pre-text, text and post-text tasks. Different types of assignments for each stage are presented. Apart from the development of receptive and productive language skills, the given tasks help analyze the ways of transmitting specific words, images, symbols, lexical and syntactic expressive means by means of the English language. While doing the proposed assignments, the students get acquainted with the rich Russian cultural heritage. As the study has proven, the use of song lyrics contributes to the development of students’ creative abilities, increases their motivation to learn a foreign language, and facilitates acquisition of general and professional competencies of future cultural workers. The assignments presented in the article have practical application and can be used in foreign language classes for students of different academic programmes.