Artificial intelligence in teaching Russian as a foreign language

Nowadays, artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and AI-tools created on their basis are dynamically integrated into education, including teaching Russian as a foreign language (RFL). The aim of this study is to systematically describe AI-tools as innovative tools for teaching RFL, as well as subjects of the learning process in the triad “learner - artificial intelligence - teacher”, and to determine their language didactic potential. The research materials include academic articles on the methods of teaching foreign languages and RFL published in academic journals. The practical material in the study was the most widespread and available for a wide range of students AI-tools: chatbots and voice assistants, corpus technologies, ChatGPT. The authors used theoretical (analysis, classification, synthesis, generalization) and practical (observations) research methods. The results allowed authors to formulate the language didactic potential of AI tools, allowing students of RFL: on the basis of language practice with AI, to continue studying aspects of the Russian language, to develop speech activity, to study the culture of Russia and its regions; to participate in foreign speech communication out of class; to get the opportunity to practice with authentic language material; to develop cooperative learning skills when participating in project activities on the basis of distance learning technologies; to develop learners’ autonomy skills in learning Russian.