Potential of working with literary quotations in Russian language lessons

The article examines the possibilities of working with literary quotations in Russian language lessons at school. The relevance of the study is due to the need to expand the range of methodological tools for teaching Russian. One such means is literary quotations as they have considerable methodological potential. The study aims to identify and describe the methods of working with literary quotations in Russian language lessons designed to enrich middle and secondary school students’ intertextual thesaurus. The research materials comprised the data of a comprehensive survey conducted on students at the Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia. In addition, we used the results of the analysis of a Russian language textbook included in the federal textbook list for 2023–2024, as well as the federal Russian language syllabus for basic general and secondary general education. The article summarises and reveals the functions of literary quotations in the process of schoolchildren’s language education and speech development. It also describes the principles, stages, and distinctive features of working with literary quotations in Russian language lessons. Drawing on the example of working with Russian writers’ quotations, we demonstrate various assignment types. The proposed tasks are variable; they can be both reproductive and productive. Moreover, they are designed for different student proficiency levels. The conducted research enables us to say that literary quotations are an important tool for linguistic personality development and assessment. Systematically structured purposeful work with quotations in Russian language lessons makes it possible to improve a few significant skills and competencies of students. While dealing with such materials, learners can expand their vocabulary and set of expressive means, understand intertext and its role in a particular work, interpret statements extracted from texts.