Adapting to Digital Education: Insights into Teaching Russian as a Foreign Language Online in Turkey

The article is devoted to the current trends in digital education with a focus on the use of distance learning for teaching Russian as a foreign language (RFL) in Turkey.The global pandemic and subsequent national lockdowns have provided a valuable experience in this field.In Turkey, distance learning for RFL continues to be popular prevailing trends of deglobalization and regionalization.This popularity is also due to Turkish Higher Education Development Plan 2030 of complete digitalization.Developing effective distance learning methodologies and integrating social sciences with modern online technologies are essential for advancing RFL teaching methods.In the process of developing teaching methods instructors' experiences and attitude towards this innovative format, together with their readiness for change are very important.The aim of the study is to describe the experience of teaching RFL in a distance format in Turkey.Its primary goal is to identify the perceptions, preferences, readiness, and willingness of instructors to transition to this new instructional format.The research employed both theoretical (analysis) and empirical (online questionnaire) methods.The study was based on the responses from 73 RFL instructors in Turkey.The online survey, created using Google Forms, consisted of 29 multiple-choice questions and one short-answer question designed to see satisfaction with the online format of teaching RFL.The survey also included socio-demographic questions and targeted queries about the challenges, features, and observations of the online educational process.The study revealed that during the transition to online format, instructors encountered several challenges, particularly in developing writing skills, phonetic competence, speaking skills, managing homework, and explaining complex topics.Some instructors believe that traditional face-to-face teaching methods are ineffective in an online environment, yet they continue to use