Authors

Discussion

Pronunciation is one of the first things we learn about a new language and one of the most important components of effective communication. Russian language is prevailed with consonants and especially with coronal obstruents, differentiation and pronunciation of which often cause problems among L2 Russian learners with very different language backgrounds. In our research we have recorded and analyzed Russian speech of students, native speakers of 27 different languages. The analysis helped us to find out which problems in acquisition of Russian pronunciation can be characterized as common for speakers of all the languages, and typological problems - those common for speakers of some groups of languages. We have also found some specific accent features of speakers of particular languages. Based on this research, we have created an online course of Russian coronal obstruents on the Moodle platform. The course is designed to help students to recognize different Russian coronal obstruents in various positions in syllables, words and phrases, and consists of several topics created for speakers of particular languages. Being especially aware of the difficulties for students to study online on their own, we designed the course to be as engaging and entertaining as possible, through the use of specially made graphics, careful choice of colours, and the design of new types of interactive exercises not available in the classic Moodle.