REPOSITIONING THE STUDY OF THE RUSSIAN LANGUAGE IN NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES

Abstract

The teaching and learning of foreign languages have been a major concern for linguists over the years. Every nation needs to view the demand for foreign language teaching and learning within the context of national development. The Russian language is still counted as one of the world’s leading languages and many countries of the world are still interested in Russia and in the Russian language. The study of Russian language has helped in no small measure towards the improvement of cordial relationships between Nigeria and Russia. It is in view of this that for over many years the study of Russian is imperative; especially it is among the languages in the world whose role is extremely important in Europe and Asia. This article attempts to portray the challenges facing the teaching and learning of Russian as a foreign language in Nigerian universities as well as review the current status of the Russian language in the Nigerian education system. Repositioning the study of Russian language in Nigerian universities requires a lot of adjustments especially improving the communicative skills of students as the prospect of attaining proficiency in the language is threatened. This paper examines the problems encountered by the teacher and learner of the Russian language, and suggests ways of improving the communicative skills of the student through regular conversational interaction as well as government intervention to aid the teaching and learning of the language in Nigerian universities.