German as a Second Foreign Language for Russian Students - A Dilemma of Choice: Classical or Pluricentric German?

The article raises the problem of teaching German as a second foreign language within the framework of a pluricentric approach. Its relevance for the Russian undergraduate and graduate students is dictated by the modern needs and opportunities to obtain further education in the Common European higher institutions of Germany (D), Austria (A), the German-speaking part of Switzerland (CH), as well as the opportunity to participate in various international student exchange support programs of these countries. The aim of this article is to assess the willingness of the bachelor's and master's students undertaking the Foreign Languages and Intercultural Communication course not only to study the classical German language but also to get familiar with the features of the standard German language in Austria and Switzerland. The pluricentric approach is based on the generally recognized theory of pluricentrism, according to which the German language is considered as a single language incorporating the national linguistic specifics in the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the German-speaking part of Switzerland. The article conveys the main ideas of the pluricentric theoretical research studies and covers the linguodidactic and methodological foundations in teaching pluricentric German developed by a special research group and described in the so-called ABCB theses. The readiness of students to learn German in the diversity of the linguistic and cultural national specifics of the DACH-Lander is one of the basic requirements of the pluricentric approach. The conducted research allowed assessing the readiness of the bachelor's and master's students to study the classical German language, taking into account the existing distinctive linguistic features of the standard German language in Austria and Switzerland. The research was based on the questionnaire method in the form of a written poll. Given the results of the research, students of the bachelor's and master's programs are equally willing to learn the standard Austrian and Swiss German vocabulary in the German language classes. Among bachelors, 70% prefer the vocabulary of the Austrian version and 65% of the Swiss version of German; among master's students, 75% want to learn the vocabulary of both the Austrian and the Swiss versions of German. Besides, knowledge of the features of the standard German language DACH-Lander is considered as a prerequisite for traveling and further education in these countries. These statistics confirm the high motivation of the bachelor's and master's students to study German applying the pluricentric approach. The students also demonstrated the thoughtful choice of the Second Language Country Studies as a discipline for studying German, taking into account the diversity of the linguistic and cultural national specifics of DACH-Lander.