Learning RFL and UFL in Ukrainian Universities: Focus on Arabic Students

Abstract

Purpose: To determine the peculiarities in learning Russian as a foreign language (RFL) and Ukrainian as a foreign language (UFL) by Arabic students at Ukrainian universities. Material: 112 Arabic francophone students aged 21-22 studied at preparatory departments in 5 Ukrainian universities participated in the research (n=54 studied UFL, n=58 studied RFL). Results: The test demonstrated that students who learned UFL showed the best results in listening (arithmetic mean of errors = 5.98, t=2.8, deviation of mean = 0.08, p≤0.01), worst results in grammar (arithmetic mean of errors = 6.67, t=2.9, deviation of mean = -0.18, p≤0.01). The students who learned RFL done more errors in grammar (arithmetic mean of errors = 7.81, t=2.9, deviation of mean = 0.02, p≤0.01), and showed the best results in speaking (arithmetic mean of errors = 7.22, t=3, deviation of mean = 0.24, p≤0.01). Conclusions: the research determined that the social and politic situation in the country influences a lot on the language skills of foreign students. The research confirmed that Ukrainian language is easy to learn than Russian language at least for the Arabic francophone students. The profound study of the problem issues, individual approach, and linguistic environment could solved the revealed problems.