Formation of self-regulated learning skills using blended learning when teaching Russian as a foreign language

The relevance of the study is determined by new tasks in the field of organizing students’ self-regulated learning in the course of Russian as a foreign language under the conditions when the amount of self-regulated work with the mandatory e-learning is growing significantly (due to reduced class hours). New tasks are brought to life, first of all, by the qualitative changes of modern students, whose activities are almost entirely mediated by information and communication technologies. The aim of the study is to characterize the features of autonomy, the specifics of modern students’ activity and further to propose a methodology for organizing their self-regulated learning in the course of Russian as a foreign language, taking into account the new realities in education. Analytical, descriptive and empirical methods, methods of observation and interpretation are used. The material is the works of Russian psychologists, who consider the problems in formulating the objectives of the study, as well as the practice of teaching Russian to foreign second-year students of RUDN University Bachelor’s program (specialty “Psychology”). Basing on the works of the representatives of the cultural-historical psychology, the objective challenges of modern students who have to act independently are analyzed. To overcome the identified challenges, a methodology has been developed that allows students to form the skills of self-regulated learning using blended learning. This technique is based on the law of formation of higher forms of behavior, according to which internal behavior necessarily passes through the external stage of development. Accordingly, the formation of self-regulated learning skills involves two stages. The first stage is carried out within the classroom; at this stage, the student’s activity is directed by the teacher. At the second stage, in the course of e-learning, the student, being at a distance from the teacher, begins to learn to manage his own activity. The practical implementation of the proposed methodology for forming self-regulated learning skills in Russian as a foreign language is demonstrated. It seems promising to use the described methodology, which takes into account the psychological characteristics of modern students, to streamline the system of blended learning of Russian as a foreign language and increase its effectiveness.