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RUSSIAN STUDIES IN THE USA IN THE XXI CENTURY: THE RUSSIAN LANGUAGE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION // Tomsk State Pedagogical University Bulletin. 2017. Issue 7 (184). P. 117-123

The article analyses the state of the Russian language in American education in the XXI century. As Russian is critically important for the USA, its teaching is closely connected with the issues of national defense and national security. The article shows that the present cooling of the relationship between Russia and the USA should not be regarded as the key factor in teaching Russian in American system of education and does not predetermine to a great extent the interest of Americans in learning it. The author focuses on the factors that may stimulate the interest in the Russian language in the USA, such as the activity of Russian communities, appearance of working places for Russian language specialists, spread of student and academic exchange programs, and the existence of the policy of the government which will aim at promoting foreign language teaching in the country in general. The article gives examples of the present day interest in Russian in the USA such as Russian dual programs, Russian-American exchange programs, student Olympiads, academic cooperation. The article looks at statistical data of the spread of the Russian language in American educational system nowadays and discusses the future perspective of the Russian language learning and teaching in the country.

Keywords: critical language, less commonly taught language, Russian dual programs, tactic-strategic model