No abstract

The article presents grounds for necessity for implying a learner-oriented course for bilinguals studying in modern Estonian school. Such a course is caused by changes in the State Curriculum. The second supposition is the need in teaching Russian to bilinguals not as a foreign language but as one of native ones, which is not provided by curricula of Estonian-speaking educational institutions, although many of them count more than 10% of students from Russian-speaking families. As a result, bilingual students fairly and without accent speak Russian, however experiencing difficulties in reading and writing texts. The realization of learner-centered approach for bilinguals via web blogs solves a vast number of organization problems, starting with the timetable settings for students from different classes and ending with individual approach to students’ personal achivements assessment. The article also decribes the course’s structure, which is organized in four cycles with eight lessons in each; contact classes are to be held in the beginning of the course and between the cycles for interim results, as well as in the end of the course for conclusion. Key words: bilingualism, bilinguals, learner-centered approach, competence of text production, web blog.

Авторы предлагают ознакомиться с предпосылками и принципами проведения курса «Двуязычие и родной (русский) язык» для магистрантов Таллиннского университета. Указанный курс стал результатом проведенных исследований в рамках нескольких научных проектов, а также руководства магистерскими работами. Кроме того, включено описание целей курса и содержание самостоятельной работы студентов.

This study aims to identify the associations between multiple identities (ethnic, civil, religious, Soviet, civilizational) and two types of social capital (bridging and bonding) in two post-Soviet republics: Estonia and Kyrgyzstan. In both republics, the sample included representatives of two generations of ethnic Russians and representatives of the ethnic majority (the Estonians and the Kyrgyz), with at least 150 respondents in each group, so the total sample was 1,296 respondents. The authors used their own techniques to evaluate multiple identities, and a modified version of the social resource generator was used to evaluate bridging and bonding social capital. The results of the study showed that the younger generation in the post-Soviet space tends to have lower social capital, especially the bridging one. "Soviet" identity in the ethnic Russians is not associated with social capital, whereas in the representatives of the ethnic majority it is. Religious identity proved to be an important factor of both types of social capital in all the groups considered. The civic identity is linked to the bridging social capital in the Russians in both republics. Among the Estionian and Kyrgyz young people, ethnic identity is strongly associated with their bonding social capital. Also, the "European" identity of both generations of the Estonians demonstrated a strong association with the bonding social capital.