COGNITIVE STRATEGIES OF RUSSIA’S IMAGE PRESENTATION IN FOREIGN TEXTBOOKS IN RUSSIAN AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE FOR SLAVIC LANGUAGES SPEAKERS
The article studies cognitive strategies used by the authors of textbooks in Russian as a foreign language published abroad to present the image of Russia (its history, material and intellectual culture). Six strategies of Russia’s image presentation are singled out: strategy of denial of cultural component and its replacement by pure grammar; strategy of distribution of stereotypes of the Russian culture disregard of contemporary sociocultural context; strategy of separation the language and culture with the emphasis on the native culture of students; strategy of well-balanced presentation of the Russian culture and the native culture of the students learning Russian as a foreign language; strategy of introduction of phenomena of Russian culture into the world cultural heritage; strategy of combination of traditional and latest information in description of the current situation. The article describes the essence of such cognitive strategies that meet the requirements of social and pragmatic tendency in teaching a foreign language (strategy of well-balanced combination of foreign culture and the native culture of the students learning the language; strategy of combination of traditional and latest information in description of the current situation), and the principles of readiness for intercultural dialogue and consideration of the factors of polycultural environment in learning a foreign language (strategy of introduction of Russian culture into the world cultural heritage). It is underlined that pragmatic approach to the choice of teaching aids helps reduce the negative effect of stereotypization that often appears when learning the history and culture of the foreign language, as well as to get rid of confrontational strategies that penetrate into the teaching aids form international political and mass media.