The didactic potential of songs in teaching Russian pronunciation to Vietnamese students

Importance. The need to improve methodological approaches to teaching Russian pronunciation to Vietnamese students learning Russian as a foreign language is a promising research direction. A particular challenge for this category of learners is the intonation and rhythmic features of Russian speech, which differ from analogous characteristics in the Vietnamese language. The scientific and methodological rationale for using songs in pronunciation training remains insufficiently developed. Therefore, this work aims to investigate the features of Russian pronunciation and intonation that are particularly difficult for Vietnamese students and to develop an algorithm for organizing a Russian as a Foreign Language lesson using song materials and artificial intelligence technologies to optimize the Russian as a Foreign Language learning process. The objective of the study is to examine the didactic potential of songs in teaching pronunciation and to provide a rationale and methodological recommendations for the development and use of song materials and artificial intelligence technologies in teaching Russian as a Foreign Language to Vietnamese students, with the aim of improving their pronunciation and developing listening skills. Aim of the research is to identify the didactic potential of Russian-language songs in developing pronunciation skills among Vietnamese students and to substantiate methodological recommendations for their use in the Russian as a Foreign Language system. Tasks: 1) analyze the cross-linguistic differences between the Russian and Vietnamese phonetic systems; 2) identify the typical difficulties Vietnamese students face in perceiving and reproducing Russian intonation and rhythm; 3) characterize the didactic factors that facilitate and hinder the development of pronunciation skills when working with song material; 4) propose an algorithm for organizing an Russian as a Foreign Language lesson utilizing songs and artificial intelligence technologies.

Research Methods. The content analysis of scientific literature on the problem, structural and semantic analysis of song texts from the point of view of their phonetic value are used (the study includes a selection of songs (“Katyusha”, “Moscow evenings”, “Oh, frost, frost”, “Dark night”, “Oh, the viburnum blooms”, “I’m walking on Moscow”, “Kalinka”, etc.), their phonetic analysis (rhythm, intonation, stress), as well as pedagogical observation of students’ reactions), generalization and systematization of pedagogical experience.

Results and Discussion. The analysis showed that the use of song material contributes to the development of the intonation-rhythmic component of pronunciation as a particular aspect of phonetic and phonological competence. Positive didactic factors were identified: authenticity (with simultaneous linguistic complexity), emotional involvement (despite possible interference of the native language), rhythmic organization (at the risk of distortion of prosodic models). Popular Russian songs (“Katyusha”, “Moscow evenings”, “How delightful evenings are in Russia”) with high potential for the development of auditory and pronunciation skills are considered as examples of song material. Based on them, exercises have been developed aimed at perceiving rhythmic patterns, working out reduction, accentuation and intonation patterns. Based on the proposed model, an algorithm for organizing Russian as a Foreign Language lesson using songs and artificial intelligence technologies has been developed, including the stages of goal setting, material selection and adaptation, task creation, visualization and control of results.

Conclusion. The use of Russian songs in pronunciation training contributes to the formation of phonetic and phonological competence of Vietnamese students, the development of rhythmic, intonation and articulation skills, and also increases the motivation and involvement of students. The developed algorithm and methodological recommendations can be used both in pronunciation courses for students with tonal native languages, and in advanced training programs for Russian as a Foreign Language teachers.

1. Prosvirnina I.S. (2004). Teaching phonetics of the Russian language. Izvestiya Ural’skogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta, no. 33, pp. 46-60. (In Russ.) https://elar.urfu.ru/bitstream/10995/23408/1/iurg-2004-33-06.pdf

2. Shchukin A.N. (2017). Methods of Teaching Speech Communication in a Foreign Language. Moscow, 454 p. (In Russ.)

3. Ilner A.O. (2016). Development of Foreign Language Speech Hearing in the Context of Educational Multilingualism. Ekaterinburg, 136 p. (In Russ.) https://elibrary.ru/ygiewp

4. Zinder L.R. (1979). General Phonetics. Moscow, 349 p. (In Russ.)

5. Kokorin S.A. (2022). Russian intonation as a tool for teaching Russian as a Foreign Language. Sovremennaya vysshaya shkola: innovatsionnyi aspect, vol. 14, no. 2 (56), pp. 128-133. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.7442/2071-9620-2022-14-2-128-133, https://elibrary.ru/lnaihn

6. Li I., Tan K., Lu Dzh. et al. (2021). Encoding of pitch in the human cerebral cortex in tonal and non-tonal languages. Nat. Commun, vol. 12, no. 1161. (In Russ.)

7. Pivovarova M.O. (2014). On the syllable peculiarities in Vietnamese. Vestnik Sankt-Peterburgskogo universiteta. Yazyk i literatura = Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Language and Literature, no. 1, pp. 204-209. (In Russ.) https://elibrary.ru/sbgpvn

8. Remarchuk V.V., Ngiem Khieu. (1970). The difference between the phonetic systems of Vietnamese and Russian languages and the characteristic features of the Vietnamese syllable. To Help Teachers of Russian as a Foreign Language. Moscow, pp. 182-191. (In Russ.)

9. Chin T.Z. (2018). Emotionally expressive turns of speech with the meaning of surprise in Russian from the point of view of a native Vietnamese speaker. Sbornik statei 17 Vserossijskoi nauchno-prakticheskoi konferentsii molodykh uchenykh s mezhdunarodnym uchastiem «Aktual’nye problemy russkogo yazyka i metodiki ego prepodavaniya: traditsii i innovatsii» = Proceedings of the 17th All-Russian Scientific Conference of Young Scientists with International Participation “Current Problems of the Russian Language and Its Teaching Methods: Traditions and Innovations”. Moscow, pp. 192-197. (In Russ.) https://elibrary.ru/vpbjas

10. Sorokina E.V. (2005). The foreign students perception skills development in teaching the Russian language. Vestnik Rossiiskogo universiteta druzhby narodov. Voprosy obrazovaniya: yazyki i spetsial’nost’, no. 1, pp. 23-30. (In Russ.) https://elibrary.ru/ijevwf

11. Shaklein M.V. (ed.) (2022). Sbornik statei 19 Vserossijskoi nauchno-prakticheskoi konferentsii molodykh uchenykh s mezhdunarodnym uchastiem «Aktual’nye problemy russkogo yazyka i metodiki ego prepodavaniya: traditsii i innovatsii» = Proceedings of the 19th All-Russian Scientific Conference of Young Scientists with International Participation “Current Problems of the Russian Language and Its Teaching Methods: Traditions and Innovations”. Moscow, 147 p. (In Russ.) https://elibrary.ru/relakd

12. Barkova T.P., Vasyukova M.V., Glazkova M.M. et al. (2021). Current Issues of Preparing Foreign Citizens to Master Professional Educational Programs in Russian. Tambov, 181 p. (In Russ.) https://elibrary.ru/ozurhw

13. Burnham D., Jones C. (2002). Categorical perception of lexical tone by tonal and non-tonal language speakers. Proceedings of the 9th Australian International Conference on Speech Science & Technology. Melbourne, pp. 81-86.

14. Storchak L.B. (1984). On the dependence of Vietnamese students’ perception of Russian speech and pronunciation on the phonotactic rules of their native language. Russkii yazyk dlya studentov-inostrantsev. Moscow, pp. 33-38. (In Russ.)

15. Ludke K.M., Ferreira F., Overy K. (2014). Singing can facilitate foreign language learning. Memory & Cognition, vol. 42, no. 1, pp. 41-52. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-013-0342-5, https://elibrary.ru/dxhmiw

16. Patel A.D. (2008). Music, Language, and the Brain. New York, 514 p.

17. Tierney A., Kraus N. (2013). Music training for the development of reading skills. Progress in Brain Research, vol. 207, pp. 209-241.

18. Sysoyev P.V., Filatov E.M., Evstigneev M.N., Polyakov O.G., Evstigneeva I.A., Sorokin D.O. (2024). A matrix of artificial intelligence tools in pre-service foreign language teacher training. Vestnik Tambovskogo universiteta. Seriya: Gumanitarnye nauki = Tambov University Review. Series: Humanities, vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 559-588. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.20310/1810-0201-2024-29-3-559-588, https://elibrary.ru/jazkme

19. Sysoev D.V., Kuripta O.V., Proskurin D.K. (2013). Introduction to the Theory of Artificial Intelligence. Voronezh, 170 p. (In Russ.) https://elibrary.ru/snfgbe