INTERACTIVE LESSON AS A MACRO-UNIT OF TEACHING RUSSIAN AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE IN SHORT-TERM COURSES

K e y w o r d s : interactive teaching; forms of teaching; teaching techniques; interactive lessons; speaking skills; verbal communication; short-term education; Russian as a foreign language; methods of teaching Russian. А н н о т а ц и я . Актуальность темы данной статьи обусловлена необходимостью усиления интерактивной стороны процесса обучения иностранному языку на краткосрочных курсах в языковой среде. Цель исследования – установить соотношение интерактивных форм и приемов, которые определяют специфику интерактивного урока иностранного языка. В противоположность существующим точкам зрения мы предприняли попытку доказать, что эффективность интерактивного обучения зависит от систематизации интерактивных форм и приемов обучения и последовательности их использования. Для исследования закономерностей интерактивного обучения иностранному языку мы применили следующие методы: наблюдение, эксперимент и аналитический метод. Анализ интерактивных форм и приемов обучения иностранцев русскому языку на краткосрочных курсах в России показывает, что использование обучающего потенциала языковой среды делает содержание обучения естественным, актуальным и интересным.

According to many researchers, successful formation of communicative competence while teaching a foreign language can result from creating certain conditions in class for strengthening the interactive aspect of the learning process. Interactivity, understood not only as verbal, but also as practical interaction, is the basis of communication and can become the mechanism and the cornerstone of foreign language education [Fedorova 2008]. H. Douglas Brown highlights that "interaction is the collaborative exchange of thoughts, feeling or ideas between two or more people, resulting in a reciprocal effect on each other. Theories of communicative competence emphasize the importance of interaction as human beings use language in various contexts to 'negotiate' meaning or simply stated, to get an idea out of one person's head and into the head of another person and vice-versa" [Brown 2007: 165].
Methods of Research. In order to form most complete understanding of specific features of the organization process for interactive teaching Russian as a foreign language (RFL) in short-term courses, we used the following research methods: observation, experiment and analysis. Observation of foreign language teaching practices in the supplementary short-term courses was used for revealing the main challenges in the development of oral-speech communication (OSC) skills in a non-native language. The experiment was carried out in order to test effectiveness of the system of exercises and tasks based on the suggested interactive techniques. The analysis of interactive methods and forms allowed us to establish their optimal balance in teaching the Russian language to foreigners in the short-term courses.
Literature Review. Researchers acknowledge achieving good results of the learning process while organizing classroom management in an interactive mode through a number of interactive teaching techniques. The most popular and effective methods of interactive teaching are based on taking into consideration, firstly, the contingent of learners [Abramova 2015], and secondly, conditions of the learning process [Yakimovich 2016]. The authors usually state at what stage of the lesson the use of interactive forms (warm-ups, fixing, homework, summarizing of learned material) will be most effective [Markova 2006]. While emphasizing the advantages of interactive teaching educationalists at the same time pay but little attention to such issues as systematic organization of interactive mode and the ways of its provision. As a rule, the authors focus on the use of some interactive technique, for example web-quest, role-play, case study, project work, etc. More often, the argumentation is limited to mere enumeration of interactive techniques with short commentaries which can be used in certain circumstances as well as possible topics recommended for the discussion. As a whole, researchers are more inclined to generalize the data and prefer reasoning on the anticipated theoretical results of the interactive teaching in general. As rightly pointed out, "interactive teaching has become an important tool in classroom teaching, but to make it a successful teaching process, there are a lot of restrain that we need to surmount" [Md. Mahroof 2014: 14].
At higher education institutions, where traditional forms of teaching foreign languages are still prevailing, normally the use of interactive techniques is entirely the initiative of a teacher. As a result, interactive teaching there is spontaneous and fragmentary. Perhaps, it is quite reasonable to take into consideration the standpoint of P. Seedhouse, who argues, "that it would be more satisfactory to take an institutional discourse approach where classroom discourse is regarded as an institutional variety of discourse, in which interactional elements correspond neatly to institutional goals" [Seedhouse 1996:16].
However, in case of short-term course training, where the educational process is not regulated by any state documents, the systematic implementation of interactive techniques, and, consequently, the issue of structuring the categories of interactive teaching, becomes highly relevant. Especially if the objective is advancement in learners' previously acquired language proficiency and speech skills rather than mere development of speech skills.
Scientific literature assessment has shown that the issue of creative solutions to the development and mastering of oral language abilities at short-term language lessons remains open. The solution of the problems mentioned above becomes especially relevant in the context of teaching a foreign language at short-term courses in the country of the target language, for example, teaching Russian as a foreign language (RFL) at the short-term courses in Russia.
The primary benefit of learning a foreign language at short-term courses in the country of the target language is the opportunity "to dive" into the authentic language environment. Such favorable circumstances increase learning effectiveness, contribute to acquiring linguistic and socio-cultural knowledge, foster language proficiency and development of speech skills. Despite the widespread network of the language courses for foreigners learning Russian, the traditional forms of teaching do not always respond to the challenges of the intensification of the educational process and do not take into account the favorable learning opportunities of the language environment [Leontiev 1983;Orekhova 2003;Burina 2015].
The goal-oriented use of the language environment should be facilitated by the introduction of interactive teaching as a system, which, according to ten principles of interactive teaching proposed by Wilga M. Rivers ], can join theoretical provisions and real communication.
As our observations show, all personality-oriented technologies are endowed in any way with the features of interactivity as well as interactive teaching technology includes elements of other innovative technologies.
Due to the development of learning information technologies, the number of interactive forms of teaching a foreign language will dramatically increase, as "the use of the interactive learning tools on the digitally-native students can facilitate and enhance teaching and learning" [Pradono et al. 2013: 46].
Taking all of the above into consideration, we think that the short-term RFL classes in Russia should be based on interactive mode, which enables the psychological barrier to be minimized or eliminated, facilitating further growth of the communicative abilities needed for effective interpersonal communication in the target language.
In order to ensure effective communication for the students in real life situations, the interactive learning technology should function as a well-structured system consisting of a wide range of interactive techniques promoting the independence and activity of the students, to foster the development of their communication skills in the target language.
Results and discussion. The main functional load of interactive technology while teaching Russian as a foreign language is to develop the students'"authentic type of behavior" [Kolosnitsyna 1997]. In this case, the interactive mode in class is designed through certain interactive actions and sequential movement on the part of the learners through interaction stages. At the same time, the active interaction of learners is aimed at solving a specific communicative task, as a result of which certain speech actions are acquired that are necessary for fluent communication with native speakers of the Russian language.
From our perspective, the framework of preparation for interaction in real situations of communication is an interactive lesson as a macro-unit of content selection and organization of RFL training in short-term courses. This implies that interactive forms and methods are presented in a scheme of interactive exercises and assignments, specially chosen for each communication scenario and arranged in a certain order, categorized according to the phases of speech behavior in distinct communicative circumstances.
The concept of the organization of pedagogical interaction of E. V. Korotayeva [Korotayeva 2016] became a methodological basis for the creation of the system of interactive exercises for effective development of oral speech skills in Russian as a foreign language in the conditions of the target language environment.
Students are taught in interpersonal communication at each level, performing interactive duties that indicate certain particular speech activities. In an interactive task of this or that sort a certain communicative task is established that is important for students in short-term courses is set, due to which oral speech communication skills evolve. Consequently, the process of interpersonal interaction, during which foreign language communication takes place, requires the formation and consolidation of not only the specified interactive skills, but also the skills of the OSC in general.
If the interactive lesson is a macro unit of learning RFL, then the interactive task can be considered as a minimal, specially organized unit of the educational process that is micro-unit interactive teaching.
The interactive lesson has a three-part structure: motivational-introductory, activity-oriented and resultant blocks, within which certain communicative goals and objectives are set. There are sets of interactive exercises in each block to organize interaction and communication simultaneously in the classroom. Sets of interactive exercises are complied with interactive techniques and forms that contribute to the formation and improvement of the relevant skills of OSC.
For each block of the interactive lesson, the list of interactive forms and techniques is open, because they can be used in different modifications and variations; the main thing being the correspondence to the stages of interaction and gradual increasing complication.
We emphasize once again that for mastering of OSC in foreign language the verbal interaction of students is of paramount importance; and that is a consequence of productive creative activity in a group. Such interaction is organized in various interactive forms assuming work in pairs, minigroups and groups, thus creating the atmosphere of increased interest and providing the authenticity of the speech.
Interactive tasks are carried out using interactive techniques to stimulate speech activities needed for adequate speech behavior in a speech scenario, which is one of the stages of ultimate outcome achievement (solving the issue). Knowledge obtained as a result of interactive tasks and exercises will form a motivational basis, and their application in the subsequent activities will keep students interested in collective activities, give them confidence in their abilities, which will lead to an awareness of the significance of their participation in the overall result [Fedotova, Vasilieva 2018]. One can judge the efficiency of interactive techniques and forms on the result obtained in real communication with a native speaker.
Thus, interactive techniques as units of speech impact [Passov 2009: 38] are implemented in various forms of interaction between subjects of the educational process. E. I. Passov classified these techniques according to the conformity of the formed skills of the OSC with a certain stage of interaction. Interactive forms, in turn, are one of the possible ways to organize the interaction of students in the classroom in order to achieve some practical result through dialogue communication in active performances, that can be cre-ative, game or search based. The choice of form is primarily prompted by the planned result, as well as taking into account the content of a specific communication situation, the selection of which in short-term education is better to conduct considering the degree of discomfort for students [Vasilieva 2017].
Let us consider in more detail which skills of OSC are formed and how verbal and non-verbal interaction is carried out in interactive forms and techniques of each of the three blocks of the interactive lesson.
Given the fact that speech interaction is primarily an active communication performance in the target language, the blocks were named in accordance with the regulations of the activity-oriented approach (I. A. Zimnyaya, A. A. Leontiev, S. L. Rubinstein).
The purposes of motivational-introductory block: • to form motives of intellectual and cognitive plan (to interest and cause positive emotions); • to encourage speech-thinking activity by creating particular conditions (to remove the psychological barrier); • to cause communicative and learning-cognitive need (thanks to the use of experience and background knowledge in the target language and taking into account the national and cultural specifics of students). Introductory-discussional, evaluation-introductory and motivational sets of interactive exercises, embodied in interactive forms and techniques will facilitate the formation and growth of this block's OSC abilities.
A heuristic conversation "What if?" is aimed at removing the psychological barrier and creating motivating conditions for communication. The orientation phrase, for example, "What if…?" ("What do You think if we have dinner tonight?" or "What if we go cycling this weekend?" etc.) clearly indicates the topic of a lesson and starts the mechanism of speech interaction. Previously shaped dialogical skills are activated in such a discussion.
Cluster and "Brainstorming" interactive techniques boost task efficiency in such an interactive way as "Auction of thoughts" for instance. These techniques and forms contain questions and tasks for discussion, and recommend that students turn to their own life experience and background under-standing. So one can develop the skills necessary to enter into real communication -to join and maintain communication, to present one's own point of view.
The subsequent development of dialogical skills occurs in such an interactive form as Debates based on authentic audio and video materials. Staying in the natural environment of the language being studied requires foreign students to quickly and correctly perceive oral information and to respond adequately. The use of various kinds of videos related to the topic of a lesson helps to develop listening and pronunciation skills. The main requirement is the presentation of the text without any written support.
Audio and video text for an interactive lesson should not only be authentic, but also difficult, in which case students will be able to immerse themselves in the socio-cultural setting. Tasks built up on the material of sounding texts, that perform informative and communicative functions, draw attention to the subject of speech activity, which is acquired during the dialogues carried out.
An interactive technique "Complete the dialogue", suggests working in pairs and is used to develop linguistic flair and anticipation. By means of the dialogues typical communication situations of people are reproduced whereas they perform certain social roles: a restaurant visitor versus a waiter, a patient versus a doctor, a tourist versus a tour operator, etc.). In these dialogues, samples of real communication with a native Russian speaker are presented. The use of a mobile phone Dictaphone records is proposed as an interactive learning tool.
Activity-oriented block is directed on: • the formation of generalized methods of action (work "on the pattern" with a discussion of ways how to solve communicative tasks of a certain type); • the intensification of speech acts "on the pattern" and the accumulation of experience in the knowledge application (comprehension, mastering, consolidating, and applying the pattern in speech practice); • meeting the need for acquiring new knowledge (expanding the horizon), increasing the motivation to master the skills for solution of certain communicative tasks in new types of practical activities.
Interiorized and activity-thinking sets of interactive exercises assist keep the necessary activity of the learners, boost their communication productivity, and develop socialization and cognitive activity abilities skills.
An interactive technique Use of a problem situation (where you can have a rest at the weekend, which fitness club to go to, etc.) is embodied in the interactive tasks built up on the material of the second type of dialogues -a telephone conversation between friends discussing a particular problem. In the process of working in pairs and mini-groups with Internet resources (for example, addresses and phone numbers of travel agencies, restaurant menus, etc.) it is possible to realize an inclusion in the social environment and the assimilation of the sociocultural elements of communication, and to develop the ability to achieve consensus when performing various types of practical activities.
Work with Internet resources entails the usage of method of synectics, which allows forming an ability to develop their ideas and support the other ones in the discussion of a particular issue. Because of interactive forms: mosaic, "Take a position", "Conflict of opinions", an authentic speech situation is created in class that contributes to the formation of naturally motivated communication skills.
Students are introduced to the dialogues that demonstrate the scenarios of Russian communicative behavior and stereotypes of speech interaction. Dialogues are modeled in such a way that subsequently foreign students can use language means and speech-speaking norms of foreign language communication in a telephone conversation with a real Russian friend / Russian girlfriend. By means of the interactive form "Call a Friend", speech skills of oral communication are developed and the ability to change tactics during the dialogue is formed.
Despite the fact that this kind of tasks in their wording resemble speech exercises, where dialogue-models material is either way used by both parties, the didactic value of "Call to a Russian friend", is that in the phone conversation we only know the general direction of the course of the dialogue: the speech of the interlocutor moves on the "other side" of the phone and is impossible to predict, therefore, the formation of anticipation mechanism represents particular importance.

Aims of Resultant block:
• semantic processing, information storage and application of learnt knowledge and acquired skills in new situations of solving theoretical and practical problems; • solving the certain task in different ways and in different situations; • awareness of the personal importance of the output for a student. Exteriorized, activity-oriented and co-creative interactive exercises facilitate this.
Socio-cultural knowledge and formed skills of OSC in the framework of an interactive lesson are exteriorized in such an interactive form as "Call to organization", which allows solving a certain communicative task in a genuine communication situation and contributes to the formation of the ability to independently model speech behavior in real unprepared communication with a native speaker. When working in such forms, foreign students learn to exercise self-control and self-correction of speech actions and select appropriate language means according to the situation and in order to build subsequent speech passages. Out of the results of a telephone conversation (completion of communicative tasks), students can assess the effectiveness of their speech behavior by themselves and the formal accuracy of the language means used. Tasks based on the interactive form "The call to the organization" can be regarded as genuinely communicative, since communication takes place in real situations with Russian-speaking interlocutors who perform their social role (boyfriend / girlfriend, restaurant manager, hotel administrator, tourist complex manager, etc.).
Interactive techniques "mini-projects", "technique of collective search for original ideas" or "cases" help to create genuine situations of communication in class, where a speaker is involved in the discussion on his/her own initiative. As a result, when discussing certain issues in the process of group communication in a foreign language, the capacity to integrate thoughts and express their own views is created.
The results of using these techniques are documented in such an interactive form of the resultant block as Presentations, in the process of creating these techniques the usage of the foreign language becomes not a goal, but a means to achieve Bagramova N. V., Vasilieva A. V. Interactive Lesson as a Macro-Unit of Teaching Russian as a Foreign Language... a specific result in the implementation of practical activities.
The climax stage of the lesson turns out to be co-creative tasks based on such an interactive technique as, for example, "The Expert Group". This technique stimulates the intense speech activity of students and their fluent usage of the material studied in class, and contributes to the development of spontaneous speech, which is important for solving communicative problems in real-life dialogues. In interactive forms of tasks role-playing game, quest, round table, talk show all students take part in creating a common result that is meaningful for all, they are trained in activities that do not have an educational orientation, but form the ability to work together in cognitive activity. For example, "a web quest allows you to model real multilateral communication, involves working with a real practical situation or a problem that requires exploration either in individual or in group form" [Vavulin, Nikolenko 2017: 54].
We present the structure of an interactive lesson on the example of the topic "Let's go for dinner" ( Table 1).
The material of each interactive lesson is presented in three aspects: linguistic, sociocultural and pragmatic.
The linguistic aspect provides command of the necessary knowledge of multi-level units of the Russian language system (phonetic, lexical and phraseological, morphological and syntactic). As it was mentioned above, in the process of interactive learning, students gain new knowledge based on their experience (including life experience) or on the knowledge acquired earlier. It is that knowledge and experience that become the basis for new knowledge. With interactive teaching of a foreign language, such experience is comprised of lingual knowledge, formed speech skills and abilities that provide the command of new knowledge. Sociocultural aspect reflects social and cultural features of verbal communication, including among representatives of different cultures, and stipulates the ability to comply with social norms of communication accepted in a foreign society. Verbal interaction of students, carried out in the process of performing interactive tasks, should lead to the activation of existing oral communication skills and the formation of personal skills of interactive speech, thanks to which students acquire new sociocultural knowledge. This knowledge also constitutes a motivational basis, and their application in further activities will help to keep students interested in collective activities and make them be more confident in their abilities, which will lead to the students'awareness of the significance for their contribution to the ultimate result. Clips from films, TV and radio programs, news, video blogs, etc., used as text material, on the one hand, are presented as scenarios of real communication, because they contain socio-cultural stereotypes, and on the other hand, contribute to the formation of the skill of attentive listening to live speech [Dobren'kova 1982: 30].
The pragmatic aspect is associated with the implementation of communicative functions according to the schemes of interaction in a particular situation of communication (acquisition of discourse structures, irony recognition, parody, command of speech behavioral tactics, etc.), that it demonstrates variants for interaction in specific situations of communication. Considering that most of interactive forms are "imitation of activities used in real society" [Panina, Vavilova 2007: 34], the interactive tasks developed on their basis correlate with possible ways of solving a particular problem that foreign students may face in the country of the language being studied. The teamwork is carried out in a group that acts as a micro social group and allows students to combine their experience and knowledge and, owing to this, to solve the communicative task jointly by means of a non-native language. Thus, the educational activity envisaged in the interactive lesson is a prototype of communication in real society in the conditions of the real language environment: the forms of work in a group are adapted to the forms of social communication.
Apart from above-mentioned aspects, the effective functioning of the system of interactive tasks aimed at the development and mastering of OSC skills is influenced by the psychological component as an integral feature of the whole process of interactive teaching, which creates the prerequisites for readiness both for natural communication in RFL and for overcoming communicative and psychological barriers during the lesson and to eliminate stress-forming factors. In addition, interactive tasks contribute to the creation of a favorable psychological climate and a system of consistent motives for communication, inducing a communicative need. The relentless interest in active work in target language constantly supports it.
The interactive lesson "works" and the interactive technology becomes a system, rather than separately used forms and techniques, if the exercises included in each of the three blocks and tasks in which interactive forms and techniques are used are interconnected and represent a coherent whole. The content of the system can vary, because within each group of interactive exercises different interactive forms and techniques can be used. However, the sequence of interactive exercises must always be the same, ensuring both constant training of certain interactive skills and abilities of OSC acquired during the performance of certain speech actions, and constant change of activity modes that is obligatory for the IT. If this condition is met, then the system will function, and, therefore, the objectives and tasks of the training will be achieved.
Conclusion. The developed system, being a private system of exercises for mastering speaking skills, allows classifying interactive exercises and tasks taking into account the stages of speech acts acquisition in situations of active interaction of communicants.
Interactive lesson as a macro-unit of teaching RFL in short-term courses is a hierarchically structured system of interactive exercises and tasks, where the sequence of introduction, working out and consolidation of the material is observed. As a result, each new portion of linguistic and cultural information, as well as new language knowledge, skills and abilities interact organical-