LN776     
Russian: Level Four (Standard)

This information is for the 2025/26 session.

Course Convenor

Requisites

Assumed prior knowledge:

Language skills and knowledge of Russian at B1/B2 level of the Common European Reference Framework for Languages are required.

Additional requisites:

For all students who aim to reach proficiency in Russian.

Language skills and command of Russian at the B1/B2 level of the Common European Reference Framework for Languages (CEFR); 250 hours of language learning (including self-study).

All students must gain permission from the tutor in the Needs Analysis Interview to take this course.

Course Aim:

• To bring the students to the advanced operational level of proficiency in Russian, corresponding to the B2/C1 level of proficiency defined by the CEFR.
• To consolidate students’ command of written and spoken Russian.
• To gain an insight into aspects of social, political, and cultural life in Russia and other Russian-speaking countries.
• To establish linguistic skills and attitudes required for promoting and facilitating further study of Russian.

Communicative Content: At the end of the programme students will be able to demonstrate competence in the use of communicative functions in the four skills (oral, aural, reading, writing) by:

• showing competence in the use of complex and technical language in a variety of contexts and with a substantial requirement to select and adapt appropriate language strategies;
• being able to respond to a wide range of spontaneous foreign language interventions;
• being able to use a variety of sources (print, audio, video, IT based);
• handling factual knowledge within a specific perspective;
• being able to produce, in a coherent and structured way, an oral presentation and a written work within the framework of studied topics;
• being able to grasp the main ideas of a document in a target language and produce a coherent summary in English.

Structural Content:

• This course is focused on discussion, gist translation, and essay work, based on extracts from newspaper articles, recorded materials, and topical texts.
• All major grammatical areas are revised and covered in depth; particular attention is paid to syntax. In written work, the emphasis is on the structure and register of the language.
• The language command in these areas is expected to be appropriate to the level and task with an emphasis on active usage.

2 hours of classes and 22 hours of classes in the Winter Term.
16 hours of classes in the Autumn Term.

This is a 40 hour-course.

Please refer to the LSE timetable for course teaching arrangements.

16 hours of classes in the AT. 22 hours of classes in the WT. 2 hours of group tutorial time, as arranged by the teacher during the AT, WT.

• Olga Sobolev, Natasha Bershadski et al,  Colloquial Russian 2, Routledge, 2018, ISBN-13: 978-1138098015
• the current Russian press and media materials.

Optional: 

• Terence Wade, A Comprehensive Russian Grammar, Blackwell, 2010 ISBN: 978-1405136396

Oral examination (30%)

Continuous assessment (70%)