10-RES-Ukrainian Reading Skills

Resources > Read Ukrainian! An online Ukrainian reading course for ab initio learners

Introduction
Read Ukrainian! is a self-study online reading course for ab initio learners of Ukrainian. It is intended to support the acquisition of reading skills by students of dedicated reading courses in Ukrainian, or for the reading elements of general Ukrainian language courses. No knowledge of any aspect of Ukrainian is assumed, making the course suitable both for learners who have no knowledge of a Slavonic language, and for those who already have some Slavonic background, the assumption being that the latter will work through certain sections at a faster pace.
The course consists of 20 units, presenting language in a conventional order of progression. Whilst there is no systematic introduction of specific themes, or of the associated vocabulary, reading texts have been selected so as to reflect authentic usage of the language being presented. Each unit includes reading texts, grammatical tables and explanations, and self-correcting exercises. Units 1-3 also include audio files to assist acquisition of the alphabet and sounds of Ukrainian, and to assist learners who have a predominately aural memory. In addition to the units, the course contains a reference section consisting of a glossary of grammatical terms, a Ukrainian-to-English transliteration table, and a list of additional resources.

Mode of Delivery
Online Learning
The Read Ukrainian! materials are entirely web-based; all content is presented online. Students themselves select the units and assignments . The course can also be used by independent learners to acquire reading skills and basic Ukrainian grammatical knowledge.

Course Types
Specific Skills
Read Ukrainian! is designed to develop reading skills in the language to an intermediate level, and to enable learners to acquire the grammar needed to access authentic texts.

Syllabus Types
Skills-based
The primary purpose of the course is to develop the reading skills to an intermediate level.

Activities
Reading
The course consists of 20 units, which present the language in a steady progression, enabling the learner to consolidate the comprehension of lexical items and sentence structure in a systematic way. Vocabulary support is provided through a mini-dictionary. In Units 1-5 additional help with new lexical items is provided by means of pop-up screen tips, which give either the meaning of the item or its dictionary form. In addition to drills and text-based short exercises, activities include information retrieval, translation and summary, which can be checked by accessing suggested “model” answers.

Listening
In Units 1-3 the audio files are used to teach the students the sounds of the individual letters, syllables, etc. This is important as hearing the letters will assist in committing them to memory, and will be of particular benefit to students with a more efficient aural memory.

Vocabulary
Vocabulary is introduced as and when it is needed in texts and grammatical explanations. Various strategies are introduced to assist learners in the comprehension of new lexical items, and are practised through drills and text-based exercises.

Grammar
Ukrainian, like many other Slavonic languages, is highly inflected, and meaning can only be accurately accessed if learners master verb forms, cases of nouns and adjectives, and other basic grammar points. Considerable emphasis, therefore, is placed on presenting grammar in a clear, graded and systematic way. Explanations of grammatical points, tables and illustrations are introduced in a logical progression. Grammar is practised and consolidated by means of drills and text-based exercises.

Example of a self-correcting grammar exercise on pronouns

Activities using authentic materials
Texts and exercises are based on authentic materials, ranging from simple items such as advertisements and brief descriptions to extracts from the printed media and literary texts.

Levels
Beginners to Intermediate
Since this is a self-access course, designed to support a variety of tutor-led courses, it is not possible to predict the level a user might reach. By the final units of the course, however, learners are likely to be accessing texts at level B1 on the reading skills scale of the Council of Europe’s Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).

Progression
Linear
The logical progression from one grammar point to the next, with each newly-introduced item building on previous ones, is an important feature of the course.

Assessment
Assignments
All assignments are self-correcting and self-scoring .

Web applications
Freeware
The materials were produced with IT support. The website was developed using XHTML/CSS/Javascript, and most of the exercises were generated using the Hot Potatoes freeware.

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