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Teaching and Adaptation of Non-Native-Speaking Students in the Process of Immersion in the Russian-Language Environment. Education & Pedagogy Journal. 2026;1(17):28-39. DOI:

The article examines the essential characteristics of adaptation among foreign-language students and analyzes practices for their immersion in a Russian-language environment. It describes scenarios for the development of discursive practices across educational, information, and communication, and cultural contexts, including instructional, socio-psychological, and cultural components. Using Mongolian students as an example, the study illustrates the organization of discursive practices and the specific features and strategies for overcoming communicative barriers in intercultural interaction. The authors identify adaptation to a new sociocultural reality and linguistic environment as the key criterion for successful acquisition of Russian by foreign-language learners. This point is supported by examples of Mongolian students’ teaching and adaptation in both the educational environment of a Russian university (and, more broadly, the Russian-language environment) and their natural educational context, namely Mongolian schools. An illustrative example of the organization and implementation of cultural and educational discourses in teaching Russian to Mongolian learners is the Russian humanitarian and educational project «Russian Teacher Abroad» of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation («Гадаадад орос багш»). As part of the project, a Conversation Club is being implemented at Secondary School No. 84 in Ulaanbaatar. Mongolian children in grades 7–9 in Mongolian schools in Ulaanbaatar and remote provinces of Mongolia are learning Russian online, for example, in Dalanzadgad, South Gobi Province (Өмнөговь аймаг). The activities of the online Conversation Club focus on familiarizing students with precedent texts from Russian and Mongolian cultures, including Russian and Mongolian folk tales, works of Russian and Mongolian classical literature, and text-based summaries of fairy tales. The article presents a method for working with fairy-tale texts and describes mechanisms of semantic and cultural immersion in the text. It also explores the challenges of effective communication in various speech situations. Finally, the article identifies and highlights the most effective ways to engage in intracultural discourse in the education of Mongolian students.

Keywords: discourse development, Russian language environment, discursive practices, communicative situations, intercultural interaction, “Russian Teacher Abroad” project