Interregional conference “Russian language in the epoch of globalization” has taken place in Ufa

The present state of Russian language and problems of its teaching were discussed in Ufa at the interregional conference “Russian language in the epoch of globalization”, initiated by the Russian Council RB. Problems of bilingualism, the main tendencies in sphere of live spoken language and problems of teaching Russian language in the system of state education standards were under discussion there.

Opening the conference the chairman of Russian Council RB Timothy Azarov has stated that the sense of pride for native language, incarnating cultural and historical traditions of the nation, is considered an important constituent of national self-consciousness.

“The state of Russian language – loosening of traditional foundations and literary norms, stylistic vulgarization of oral and written speech – long ago arouses troubles both among philologists and among all those, whose professional activity is connected with speech communication” – he said.

Participants of the conference – philologists, pedagogues and school teachers – were talking that Russian language and literature formed the foundation of cultural potential of younger generations and the base of key values in consciousness of any man. They were also talking about the necessity to return Russian culture as a phenomenon of European and world scale, allowing all national cultures in Russia to exist and prosper, basing on it, to schools.

It is also stated in the final resolution that introduction of the unified state exam as a single criterion for estimation of pupils’ level of knowledge, often leads to formalization of education and to formation of exclusively mechanical skills for performance of typical tasks.