BLENDED TECHNOLOGIES OF TEACHING GENRES OF DOCUMENTS AND BUSINESS LETTERS IN RUSSIAN TO INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
The article describes technologies for teaching business writing to international students with Certification Level II (level B2) of Russian. The first technology is “focus on the SAEC” (style, architectonics, etiquette, cross-culture). It is used in the classroom and involves focusing students’ attention on the features of the formal business style, architectonics and etiquette of a business letter/document. At the same time, teacher should take a cross-cultural aspect into consideration. The second technology is “focus on the SAE” (style, architectonics, etiquette). It is implemented in an electronic environment, where a foreigner is provided with detailed instructions on composing a genre of business written speech. In instructions, the emphasis is laid on the norms of formal business style, architectonics and etiquette of a business letter/document. Also, the instruction is supported by an electronic link, which is provided with a sample of a business letter/document, analyzed earlier in the classroom. To make this technology work, it is important to use the technique of duplicating theoretical information. It means that in the electronic environment, the student is given theoretical information, received earlier in the classroom. The third technology is “focus on the style”: on the basis of phrases, sentences and texts of the business letter/document genre, studied in the classroom, students consolidate their knowledge of linguistic features of the formal business style during their work online. The results of our experiment showed that by using three technologies simultaneously, we significantly increase the effectiveness of teaching Russian business writing to foreign citizens. The suggested technologies can be successfully applied when teaching other foreign languages in their business written variety in the process of blended learning.