Eliminating lexical lacunae in landscape design when teaching Russian as a foreign language to Chinese students

The research aims to justify the expediency of eliminating lacunae when teaching the lexical aspects of professionally oriented speech and its activation in Russian as a Foreign Language classes (using the example of Chinese students majoring in Landscape Architecture). The article presents a system of exercises for working with lacunary lexical material in the field of landscape design, which includes receptive, reproductive, productive, and assessment (controlling) exercise types and complexes that reflect the sequential stages of speech skill development. It is noted that the systematic presentation of lexical units based on their nationally marked features contributes to increasing the effectiveness of teaching professionally oriented speech to Chinese students. The scientific novelty of the research lies in justifying the necessity of developing international students’ skills in choosing methods to eliminate lexical lacunae in the field of landscape architecture (landscape design) based on the activated lexical material. An original system of exercises has been developed, aimed at forming images of the national worldview, focusing on the neutralization of linguo-cultural interference, and imparting a research character to the students’ activities. This approach stimulates interest in independent knowledge acquisition and deepens the motivation to study Russian for professional communication. The study established that first, the degree of comprehension of a foreign language text depends on the type, number, and specific location of lexical lacunae; second, to develop linguistic competence based on lacunary lexis, it is necessary to adhere to specific parameters, such as knowledge of the semantics of professional lacunae and skills in their usage, as well as knowledge of and ability to apply methods for their elimination; third, the ability to conduct linguistic observation of language facts during the comprehension process facilitates the formation of skills for producing one’s own texts in foreign language speech activities.