The study explores Tolstoy’s linguistic innovations in his novella “Youth” and their role in the development of Russian literary language vocabulary and then identifies their narrative and artistic function. The relevance of this study stems from the need for a detailed examination of the relationship between Tolstoy’s linguistic innovations and his artistic system. The scientific novelty of the article lies in the fact that the authors conduct corpus and linguisticpoetic analysis of linguistic innovations in the novella “Youth”. The aim of the article is to identify and classify various types of author’s innovations and their role in the text. The research methods include a comprehensive sampling of occasional forms, their comparison with the usual norm using systemic lexicography data, a corpus-based method using contexts from Russian National Corpus to determine the future functioning of the lexemes in Russian texts, and contextual-semantic analysis to establish the narrative and artistic functions of these innovations. Using historical and modern explanatory dictionaries, the authors identify deviations of Tolstoy’s new expressions from the linguistic norm of the late 1850s. The National Corpus of the Russian Language traces the subsequent functioning of these lexemes in the language of fiction and shows the influence of Tolstoy’s word creation on Russians vocabulary. Furthermore, the ideological and artistic functions of each type of innovation in revealing the inner world of the characters and shaping the narrative are established. The authors proved that Tolstoy’s linguistic innovation is proved to be not a collection of spontaneous and isolated original word usages, but a purposeful poetic device for detailing artistic space. The research contributes to the theory of linguistic innovation and understanding the ways author’s style influences literary language. The prospects of the research include subsequent studies of the linguistic context of the biographical trilogy and applying the developed methodology to the analysis of the idiostyles of other 19th-century writers.
The study examines the microstructural Russian narrative competence of native Chinese speakers studying Russian outside the Russian-speaking environment. The relevance of the study stems from the need for an in-depth analysis of the mechanisms underlying the development of written speech production in a foreign language and the identification of specific difficulties of Chinese learners producing written narratives. The research is aimed at identifying the key microstructural characteristics of Chinese students’ written narratives, classify their typical deviations from the Russian linguistic norm, and establish systematic links between microstructural features and different types of errors. The material includes 60 narratives produced by Chinese learners during an experiment with MAIN. The methodology combined quantitative and qualitative approaches: microstructural features markup, error classification, statistical procedures, and correlation analysis. The results show that text length does not correlate with the number of errors, whereas low lexical diversity is associated with higher error frequency. The research demonstrates that the most problematic area is morphology; the most frequent errors include “frozen” initial and oblique forms, and errors in aspect, case, and gender. Graphic errors are also frequent and are caused by indistinction of consonant pairs and an underdeveloped orthographic word image. Lexical difficulties primarily concern verbs of motion. Correlation analysis reveals stable error clusters that reflect different sublevels of acquisition of the target language system. The written speech of Chinese learners outside the language environment is characterized by certain difficulties which are not typical for other learners of Russian as a foreign language. The findings may enhance teaching, particularly in the aspect of paradigms, verb aspects, and verbs of motion.
The relevance of the study is defined by the anthropocentric paradigm of modern linguistics considering phraseological units as means for accumulating and transmitting ethnic culture, which reflect collective experience and mental attitudes of a certain linguistic and cultural community. Phraseological units originating from the archaic spiritual culture, including divination, are of particular interest. The study aims at identifying and classifying Russian phraseological units associated with divination and defining their semantic features in view of their historical and cultural background. The research material includes data from specialized phraseological and ethnolinguistic dictionaries, folklore and ethnographic collections, monographs and scientific articles on the history of fortune-telling rituals. Research methods include continuous sampling, descriptive analysis, etymological analysis, semantic analysis, and method of cultural commenting. The authors examine the etymological features of these phraseological units, describe their meanings, identify their internal form and figurative components, and highlight their national and cultural features based on their idiomatic imagery. The cultural specificity of the phraseological units is determined through linguistic-cultural analysis, considering the semantic periphery of the unit, which is not included in the conventional dictionary definition and is linked to extralinguistic reality. The study shows that Russian phraseological units originating from divination function as specific culturally significant onomasiological signs, which retain key elements of national cultural code. The analysis demonstrates that the semantics of these phraseological units is determined by specific historical period, while their internal form reflect magical and ritual practices. The authors conclude that the origin and functioning of these phraseological units highlights their role as a linguisticcultural phenomenon, which accumulates archaic conscience, ethnocultural stereotypes, and historical memory of native speakers. The systematization of the phraseological units according to various types of fortune-telling practice shows their typological diversity.
The relevance of the study is driven by the need to develop evidence-based recommendations for designing video content tailored to the cognitive characteristics of Vietnamese students learning the Russian language. In the absence of natural communication, video lectures within the “flipped classroom” model become a key tool for compensating for the lack of a Russian-speaking environment. The aim of the study is to systematize linguodidactic criteria that take into account national-oriented challenges and students’ cognitive strategies to optimize their autonomous work in learning Russian as a foreign language. The research material consisted of structured video lessons based on the principles and requirements of the “flipped classroom” model. The methods employed included a theoretical literature analysis, student surveys ( n = 83), interviews ( n = 6), and content analysis. The study was conducted at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam). The results established that the methodological value of the content takes priority over its technical features and revealed the high significance of logical material structuring and the use of the native language as a supporting meta language to implement the “scaffolding” strategy. Students’ preference for static visualization and color coding in Russian video lectures was identified, and the optimal video duration (15-30 minutes) was specified. The research prospects include implementation of this criteria system into the practice of creating video lectures in the Russian language for a Vietnamese audience. The integration of adaptive technologies and artificial intelligence will allow for the personalization of Russian language teaching and increase the effectiveness of the “flipped classroom” model in the modern educational context.
The relevance of this study is related to the linguistic-cultural potential of vocabulary with an ethnic meaning, having complex systemic characteristics and implicit culturally marked content, that should be included in teaching Russian to foreign students. The study is aimed at identifying and describing the linguistic-cultural potential of vocabulary with an ethnic component for teaching Russian to foreign students based on lexicographic sources. The main methods used in the study are lexicographic, semantic, quantitative, associative, and interpretative analysis of vocabulary. The study material was a corpus of lexical means with an ethnic meaning (more than 400 units in general totality) collected with a continuous sampling from academic explanatory, semantic, and ideographic dictionaries of the Russian language and coordinated with the “Lexical Minimum in Russian as a Foreign Language. II Certification Level” (select collection). The authors established that vocabulary with an ethnic component is a complex structure, including anthroponyms, ethnonyms, and words with the same root; it contains systemic, connotative, associative and evaluative, background, and idiomatically conditioned culturally marked information. The study demonstrates that the linguistic-cultural potential of this vocabulary must be considered when teaching Russian to foreign students. The research prospects include the creation of a comprehensive educational dictionary “Russian Vocabulary with an Ethnic Component”.
The study analyzes decorative texts from a linguistic-axiological perspective. The relevance of the research is explained by the wide spread of textualized objects of reality in the modern linguistic space. The aim is to analyze the axiological parameters of Russian decorative texts and identify the dominant values in the axiological sphere of the collective consciousness of contemporary Russian society. The study material included Russian decorative texts written on clothing, cars, bento cakes, gifts, disposable coffee cups, jewelry, and interior design. The value parameterization was conducted with the help of methods of linguisticaxiological interpretation, definition analysis, and conceptual analysis of key words. As a result, decorative texts have been proved to be a new form of the language on objects of reality, alongside with study and electronic media; such texts function as catalysts of value meanings in the modern linguistic space. I-mentality as a predominant model of self-identification of the linguistic personality has been identified. This is determined by the inherent self-presentational function of decorative texts and by the expansion of mass culture with self-promotion as its norm. It has been found that deliberate violation of linguistic norms distorts axiological norms and offsets value meanings, which are displaced by simulacra. The following axiological parameters of Russian-language decorative texts have been established: the importance of material values, a hedonistic world perception, and egoistic, assertive, and antisocial behavior. The prospects for the research lie in expanding the corpus of Russian decorative texts to enhance the objectivity of linguistic-axiological analysis and in studying the axiologemes of Russian decorative texts in the form of aphoristic statements.
The relevance of the study is determined by the need to comprehend the transformation of Russia’s public political language against the backdrop of radical socio-political shifts in the 20th-21st centuries and the digitalization of the media environment. The aim of the study is to identify and linguistically describe the systemic shifts in the political media rhetoric of the USSR and Russia and to determine the specifics of their impact on the structure of the Russian language. The methodological basis integrates critical discourse analysis and linguistic methods. The empirical material includes a sample of texts of political media communication from 1920s to the 2020s (press, leaders’ speeches, TV and digital content). Lexical-semantic, syntactic, metaphorical, intertextual and diachronic corpus analysis (Russian National Corpus) were applied. Diachronic analysis has distinguished three evolutionary phases with systemic impact on the Russian language. The era of the monologue was characterized by a ritualized, clichéd idiolect with complex syntax, nominalization, and semantic inversion of basic concepts. The era of communicative chaos radically transformed the language structure: semantic instability of terms, legitimization of criminal jargon, syntactic reduction, and fragmentation of the collective subject (“we”). The modern era of managed polylogue has established a strategy of “selective complexity”, i.e. the technological variation of linguistic codes from bookish syntax to digital agrammatism and the hybridization of official discourse with Internet slang. The author proves that the evolution of political media rhetoric in Russia is a process of permanent structuring of the grammatical, syntactic and lexical foundations of public speech in the Russian Language. Its specificity lies in the technological modernization of archaic ritual models of communication, where the Russian language acts simultaneously as the object and the key instrument of this transformation.
The relevance of the study is determined by the need to study diminutives in learning Russian as a foreign language due to their widespread use in the everyday speech of native speakers. Mastering key models of diminutive word formation based on a functional-semantic approach allows foreign learners to significantly expand their vocabulary and improve their communication efficiency as a result. The aim of the study is to develop exercises for enriching the speech of Iranian students with diminutive vocabulary (level A1-B1) based on a functional-semantic approach. To achieve this aim, the authors used a set of complementary methods: a theoretical and methodological analysis of linguistic and methodological literature on the topic; a comparative analysis used to identify differences in the system of subjective evaluation in Russian and Persian; a word-formation analysis of diminutives; and an included pedagogical observation of teaching Russian to Iranian students. The study presents exercises based on the functional-semantic approach for developing the skills of using diminutive vocabulary in the speech of Iranian students. The exercises contain scientific and methodological recommendations and educational materials, structured and adapted according to the levels of Russian language proficiency. The exercises use relevant lexical and grammatical topics, diminutive forms of personal names, animal names, and descriptions of human appearance, and so they can be flexibly integrated into existing educational programs for various forms of education - universities, short-term courses, and independent study. The prospects for research include application of a functional-semantic approach to study other diminutive meanings in the course of Russian as a foreign language - emphatic forms, subjective evaluation forms, and emotional prefixes. This will allow Iranian students to experience the emotional features of Russian speech.
The study identifies the linguodidactic potential of Russian ergonyms in the ritual services sector within the context of teaching Russian lexicology at the university level. The relevance of the research is substantiated by the need to integrate this onomastic material into the educational process in order to expand students’ linguistic-cultural competence, develop analytical thinking, and enhance skills of semantic interpretation. The aim of the study is to determine the possibilities of using ergonyms in developing lexical and linguistic-cultural competencies of future philologists. The research employs structural-semantic, cultural, and cognitive analysis. The empirical material comprises 88 Russian names of organizations in the ritual services sector functioning in the contemporary sociocultural space of Kazakhstan. The study substantiates the effectiveness of systematically incorporating ritual service ergonyms into teaching Russian lexicology to Kazakhstani students. The key structural-semantic and linguistic-cultural features of these units are identified, and their linguodidactic potential is confirmed. The research shows that ergonyms can form an instructional basis for developing students’ professional linguistic competencies, reflective attitudes toward lexical units, and understanding of nationally specific cultural realities. A model for ergonym analysis is proposed, and principles for selecting ergonymic material for educational purposes are formulated. The research prospects include the development of exercises and teaching materials aimed at integrating ergonyms into Russian lexicology courses at univiersitites.
The virtual turn in linguistics after the inclusion of artificial intelligence (AI) as a fundamentally new type of actor in human communication forms new directions in the study of language. The relevance and novelty of the research are manifested in formulating and predicting possible ways of modern communication development with the significant role of AI. The aim of the study is to show that the distinction between humanitarian and neuro stylistics is the category of emotionality inherent in humanitarian stylistics. With the help of general scientific methods of observation and generalisation, author’s scientific reflection, meta-analysis of secondary data and intuitive-logical prediction, the role of the category of emotionality in human and neural network communication was shown. The material for analysis was the answers of the Russian neural network Yandex GPT to the prompts given by the author of the study and the results of the two-factor linguistic experiment conducted with students (stylistic experiment) and with artificial intelligence (generative experiment). We revealed that AI can imitate, name, and analyse emotions, but it does not feel them itself. AI cannot feel complex simultaneous emotions, it algorithmically decomposes them into separate feelings and thus destroys human feelings. We proved that emotionality, which plays a crucial role in human communication, is reduced in the structure of AI linguistic personality. The study predicts the further development of modern communication, which will increasingly involve AI, and raises the question of human control over such communication.
The growing interest in Russian education, culture, and science results in the pressing demand for tools to select educational texts for Russian as a foreign language. The study is aimed at working out the algorithm and instruments for assessing the lexical complexity of text in Russian as a foreign language on CEFR with the help of LLM. The study is based on the material of a training sample, including standardized lexical minima in Russian as a foreign language and 232 texts ranked in difficulty by experts, and a test sample with 14 texts for listening in Russian as a foreign language. The methods of computational linguistics (Python script process_word_lists, LLM), expert assessment and metrics for statistical evaluation of the quality of classification models were used in the work. The study describes the successfully used large language models to assess the complexity of Russian-language texts on the RuLingva platform. The results of the study include the created linguistic profiles and the identified abilities of the large GLM 4.6 and Grok 4 fast language models to assess the complexity of educational texts in Russian as a foreign language (A1-C1). The proposed algorithm ranks texts by complexity with a high degree of accuracy, develops test tasks and selects texts for textbooks on Russian as a foreign language. The results obtained can be used by teachers in Russian as a foreign language, testologists, and linguists for preparing teaching materials, glossaries, and test assignments. The prospect of the work is to improve the developed algorithm by expanding the corpus and applying classification models for texts of different genres.
The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into the process of teaching Russian as a foreign language (RFL) created new additional functions for teachers. These are associated with the need to competently structure the educational process within the new paradigm, “teacher - artificial intelligence - student” triad. In this regard, methodological AI competence of RFL teachers is becoming particularly relevant. The aim of the study is to develop a course program for building AI competence among RFL teachers and to test its effectiveness through experimental training. The research employed the following methods: analysis of scientific literature, experimental training, modeling of the educational process using AI tools, generalization of experience, and observation. The materials for the analysis included scientific articles, lesson fragments and assignments developed with AI technologies by the participants of the experimental online course. As a result, the following key aspects of the methodological AI competence for RFL teachers were identified: a) prompt engineering, b) teaching and assessment, and c) organization of the educational process. The results of the empirical study revealed varying levels of mastery and relevance of various course topics among students. The modules on prompt engineering and the development and assessment of pronunciation skills using AI posed the greatest challenges. At the same time, students successfully and easily mastered topics related to planning and developing AI-based teaching materials for Russian as a Foreign Language (RFL), developing and assessing lexical and grammatical skills, developing oral and written communication skills (both dialogic and monologue) using AI, conducting AI-based research, and constructing the educational process within the “teacher - artificial intelligence - student” triad. A promising direction for this study is the creation of models for the systematic implementation of AI tools in the teaching of Russian as a foreign language.
The relevance of the study is determined by the need to develop new methods and approaches in a relatively young field of axiological linguistics, and to understand the term ‘dominant cultural value’, which has been recently introduced into scientific use by Professor V.I. Karasik. The moral and ethical guidelines of Russian society, reflected in the value attributes of the concept “God,” shape the national-ethnic consciousness and self-determination of Russian language speakers. The aim of the study is to reconstruct the model of the concept “God,” reflecting the views of Russian speakers on faith in God as one of the most important social values and to analyze the attitudes and behavioral stereotypes of Russian people embedded in the value attributes of this concept. The material used includes explanatory and etymological dictionaries of the Russian language, Russian National Corpus, 54 proverbs and sayings with the component God selected with a comprehensive sampling method from paremiological dictionaries, and the lyrics of contemporary Russian-speaking singers. The aim was achieved with the help of descriptive, linguistic-cultural, and linguistic-axiological methods. The ambivalent features of the concept “God” are revealed; on the one hand, God represents the supreme supernatural power, and on the other, he is a person possessing authority. The etymon of the concept verbalizer, or the name of the concept is an Old Indian root meaning ‘lord, bestower of wealth’. This is reflected both in the conceptual and figurative features of the concept under study; God represents the source of light, the highest degree of goodness, and a force that governs human life and predetermines human destiny. The analysis of proverbs and sayings with the component God, and Russian-language lyrics identified the value content of the concept “God,” which determines the behavioral attitudes of Russian speakers. A promising direction for research is the reconstruction of the concept “God” in other linguistic cultures compared with the Russian linguistic culture.
Modern linguodidactics is being fundamentally transformed because of the intensive use of artificial intelligence (AI) in education. This requires a comprehensive analysis of the current state and development trends in this field. The study is aimed at identifying the evolutionary directions and thematic structure of scientific discourse on AI in teaching Russian as a foreign language in 2022-2025. The research is based on publications from open resources, CyberLeninka and eLibrary. The methods of bibliometric and content analysis, frequency and terminological analysis based on TF-IDF, thematic modeling, terminological diversity assessment with the Shannon index, network analysis with the Louvain algorithm, and ForceAtlas2 visualization are applied. A clear evolutionary direction in discourse development has been identified, from describing tools and stating their capabilities (2022) through the integration of AI into learning tasks and scenarios (2023) and methodological optimization (2024) to focusing on motivation, learning personalization and critical analysis of socio-pedagogical consequences (2025). Network visualization of authors’ connections revealed a segmented structure with a core-peripheral organization and four key topics: the implementation of AI services, speech skills development, digital transformation of linguodidactics, and the methodological normalization of AI usage. Further development of the field is the transition from issues of technical capability to the studying productive ways to use AI tools in teaching Russian as a foreign language, adaptive learning systems, methods for assessing digital literacy and forming new types of language competence, including the ability to critically evaluate AI-generated content.
In the era of digital transformation, the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies into the educational process, including foreign language teaching, is particularly relevant. Modern AI tools open new opportunities for creating adapted learning materials, that promote individualized learning and increase its effectiveness. The aim of this study is to identify the methodological potential of the AI platform Suno in developing Russian listening skills among Vietnamese students at the beginner level. As empirical materials, the authors used songs generated with the help of the “singing AI” Suno. The main research methods include pedagogical observation at a series of practical Russian language classes where AI-generated songs (AI-songs) were used, a survey, subsequent analysis, and synthesis of the collected data. The study shows that AI-songs stimulate learners’ motivation to study Russian, improve the perception of spoken language, and enhances interest in the culture of the target language country. The survey results confirmed the methodological potential of the Suno AI platform in Russian language teaching. The authors conclude that “singing” AI technologies such as Suno can become an effective tool to support the development of learners’ listening skills provided that these technologies are applied purposefully, not chaotically, and are pedagogically grounded. Suno’s “singing AI” creates an interactive, emotionally rich language environment where listening skills are developed with increased motivation, learner autonomy, and creative engagement in learning Russian.
The relevance of this research is due to the spread of artificial intelligence technologies in all spheres of life, including the education. This study suggests that artificial intelligence in teaching Russian as a foreign language can increase the effectiveness of students’ communicative competence formation. The study is aimed at identifying and evaluating the methodological potential of artificial intelligence for educational content design. The research was conducted with the methods of complex theoretical analysis, questionnaires, experiment, and observation. The empirical basis of the study consisted of scientific publications on artificial intelligence in education, the results of a survey among teachers of Russian as a foreign language, and authentic texts in Russian. The analysis revealed that the use of artificial intelligence in the educational space of the Russian Federation was moving towards systematization. Despite the interest in technologies for teaching Russian as a foreign language, a lack of professional competencies interferes with systematic and multifaceted use of artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence is as a didactic tool which complements traditional teaching and learning tools and can be used both in the teacher’s work and in students’ independent learning. Key areas for artificial intelligence in education include developing speech skills, optimizing language learning, and improving teachers’ efficiency through automated adaptation of authentic materials and educational texts generation. Artificial intelligence in learning Russian as a foreign language has advantages and disadvantages to be considered. The research prospectives include working out a system of teaching Russian as a foreign language using artificial intelligence.
The authors perform the linguistic analysis of neural network modeling of the semantic field “Internet” on the material of available online Russian-language content. The relevance of the study is ensured by the quality and quantity of the linguistic material in the “big data” format and by an innovative methodological approach to its meta-description with neural network instruments. The study is aimed at giving a linguistic characteristic of neural network modeling of the semantic field “Internet” in Russian-language discourse. The material was Russian-language Internet content. The volume of the content had not been limited to obtain statistically representative metadata. This approach corresponds to the mainly declarative limitations of the Internet discourse functionality. Due to the focus on the “intelligent” algorithms for processing Internet content, such as basic for our research OpenAI project, the high referentiality of language data was ensured. The authors used a wide range of methods, from component analysis to discourse analysis, with modern neural network instruments. A two-dimensional neural network modeling was carried out with cluster and stratum analysis of language units associated with the conceptual phenomenon Internet. The conducted research demonstrated the potential of neural network modeling techniques to study the semantic field “Internet”. The modeling identified and verified a wide range of language units whose speech functionality was associated with the conceptual phenomenon Internet as the core of the corresponding semantic field. The results obtained are promising; we can confidently implement the neural network modeling patterns tested in this study into linguistic practice. This, in turn, will develop the paradigm of linguistics, modernize methodological approaches to language functioning, and identify and qualify speech innovations.
The study is relevant due to the need to improve students’ academic writing skills; the relevance is also substantiated by the ongoing transformation of scientific communication under the influence of artificial intelligence (AI). The study presents the results of a comparative analysis of metadiscoursive components in Russian-language abstracts written by undergraduates of engineering faculties before and after AI editing. The research focuses on the effectiveness of GigaChat neural network model in editing scientific texts in terms of the specific scientific and technical communication. The author used methods of quantitative and interpretative analysis. The research material consisted of 40 Russian-language abstracts written by the 2nd year undergraduates in engineering. The study revealed the frequency dynamics of metadiscoursive markers before and after AI text processing. The results showed that the number of boosters, attitude markers, and self-reference markers in the texts created with the developed prompts and edited by GigaChat reached the reference level, i.e. the normalized frequency of the metadiscoursive tools in the abstracts written by the leading researchers in technical sciences. The increase in hedging markers above the reference level softened the categorical statements. Despite GigaChat failed to achieve the reference frequency for all metadiscoursive markers after AI text editing the academic style significantly improved and came closer to the metadiscoursive canons of scientific and technical communication. The research studies transformations in scientific communication under the influence of AI and reveals the potential for optimizing the written scientific speech of novice researchers.
The relevance of the study is due to the interest of modern linguistics in the ethnospecificity of the verbal expression of universal life situations in the proverbial funds of different nations and to the insufficient study of proverbial modeling. The aim of this study is to identify the features of the proverbial representation of the situation of wine drinking through anthroponyms, zoonyms, and religionyms in Russian paremias. The material for the study was paremias containing Bacchic vocabulary from the collection “Proverbs of the Russian People” by V.I. Dal collected with continuous sampling method. The object of the study is proverbs and sayings about drunkenness which include anthroponyms, zoonyms, and religionyms. To analyze and interpret the obtained data, the authors used general scientific methods (analysis and synthesis, empirical observation, description, and generalization), linguistic methods (lexical-semantic, conceptual, contextual, and linguistic-cultural analysis), and techniques of modeling and interpreting figurative meaning of proverbs. The novelty lies in determining the specific functions of anthroponyms, zoonyms, and religionyms in modeling the proverbial situation of wine drinking. The analysis revealed that anthroponyms, zoonyms, and religionyms are used to objectify the subject and object, action and state, and the chronotope of the referential situation of wine drinking. Proper names in proverbs about drunkenness reflect the people’s perceptions of the subject, object, and the time of the referential situation. Zoonyms characterize the subject, their qualities, actions, and state and correlate with chronotope. Religionyms represent all the situation components. The externalization of the reference situation of wine drinking through anthroponymic, zoonymic, and religious vocabulary in Russian paremias places both the situation itself and its individual components in a coordinate system with a spiritual vertical and a human horizontal. The prospects for research are seen in studying ethnic specificity of proverbial modeling of other referential situations, including comparative perspective.
Internship readiness is critical for language majors preparing to enter the hospitality industry, yet little research has explored how service-learning supports this development in non-English language programs. In Vietnam, the rising demand for Russian-speaking hospitality professionals underscores the need for effective, discipline-specific pedagogical models. This study investigates how a service-learning project embedded in a Russian for Specific Purposes (RSP) module enhances students’ internship readiness through applied language use, reflective learning, and professional skill acquisition. A qualitative single-case study was conducted involving ten third-year Russian majors at a Vietnamese university. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, reflective journals, and bilingual materials produced during a semester-long community-based service-learning project. Thematic analysis was guided by Kolb’s experiential learning theory and the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) career readiness framework. The findings indicate that service-learning facilitates internship readiness by enhancing context-specific Russian language use, increasing students’ reflective awareness of communicative challenges, and fostering transferable skills such as teamwork, initiative, and intercultural competence. Students also reported increased self-confidence and a clearer understanding of their future professional roles. The study provides empirical evidence for the pedagogical value of integrating service-learning into RSP instruction. It demonstrates that experiential, community-engaged learning can effectively support both linguistic development and career preparedness. These insights offer a transferable model for vocational language education and contribute to broader discussions on employability-oriented curriculum design in non-English language programs.
