ИСТИНА

One of the important problems of modern linguodidactics is the design of educational materials, in particular textbooks. This statement was confirmed by M.V.Vyatyutnev in his fundamental work on textbook theory: “in the methodology of teaching foreign languages one cannot name a single problem, idea, pattern, fact that, directly or indirectly, would not be related to the creation of textbooks” [Vyatyutnev 1984: 8]. Of course, many issues of textbook design have been developed quite deeply within the framework of the general didactic theory of the content of education (I.Ya.Lerner, V.V.Kraevsky) and textbook theory (D.D.Zuev, I.K.Zhuravlev, V.G.Beilinson, I.V.Tovpinets, B.C.Tsetlin). Compilation of a textbook in the light of the theory of content of education can be illustrated by the fact that the textbook is the final product of the implementation of the content of education on the normative level [Kraevsky 2007], more precisely on the level of educational material. It should be noted that the internal content structure of the textbook directly depends on the composition of the educational content. In the general didactic studies, the definition of a textbook was given in different ways: so in the work of S.G.Shapovalenko "Textbook in the system of teaching aids" the textbook was considered as "a means for mastering the foundations of the sciences, intended for students" [Shapovalenko 1976: 4], in the work of V.V.Kraevsky, it was defined as “a program for the activities of teachers and students” [Kraevsky 2007], and in the work of I.Ya.Lerner as "a materialized vessel of the foundations of social experience or part of it at the level of educational material, subject to assimilation by new generations" [Lerner 1992: 19]. Thus, within the framework of general didactic science, a textbook becomes a conveyer of the content of education and a means of teaching, namely, a means of organizing the assimilation of this content. The design of textbooks of the Chinese language for high school students is becoming especially relevant in connection with the introduction in the Russian Federation of the Unified State Exam (USE) and the All-Russian Chinese Language Olympiad. Since 2016, we are developing a system of educational materials for preparation to various aspects of the All-Russian Chinese Language Olympiad. Now it consists of three textbooks. The first textbook is “Theory and Practice of Teaching Writing. How to Write the Perfect Essay in Chinese”, which is intended for senior students (grades 10-11) of a specialized school, but can also be used in linguistic and non-linguistic universities in the 2-3rd years of bachelor's degree. The main purpose of the textbook is to develop skills and abilities of writing in the Chinese language. The textbook consists of 12 lessons. Of these, two lessons in terms of content are theoretical. The first lesson contains material on the foundations of the theory of discourse and reveals the principles of cohesion and coherence; it is assumed that the teacher will give accessible explanations and comments on this lesson, demonstrate with examples how the theoretical material is implemented in practice, and explain why it is important to know the foundations and principles of the theory text. In the second lesson, the criteria for evaluating the performance of written works of the Olympiad and USE in the Chinese language are presented, their analysis is carried out, the reasons for the most frequent errors are revealed, and students are invited to act as a jury and examiners of the USE on the basis of the last year's Olympiad compositions and samples of examination papers. It is expected that throughout the entire training course the student may return to the first two lessons as a guide for writing the “perfect” essay. Nine following lessons (from the 3rd to the 11th) make up a practical-theoretical block and have a uniform structure. The last lesson (12th lesson) is devoted to the preparation for the USE in the Chinese language. The second concerns linguocultural studies. It is called "China: History and Modernity" and is also intended for senior students of a specialized school, where Chinese is studied as the first or second foreign language. The structure of the textbook contains 50 blocks of the same type, each includes three levels of complexity of linguistic and cultural tasks: parts A, B, C. Each block in part A contains 10 test questions for controlling knowledge of the geographic, historical and cultural realities of China. Part B consists of assignments of various formats. The first of them presents one task to compare the linguistic and cultural realities of China, where it is required to correlate various cultural, geographical, literary and historical facts. Then there are four tasks to determine the truth of the statement. In tasks of this type, both correct and incorrect linguistic and cultural statements are given. The last assignments in Part B are six filling-in-the-blank tasks. This format tests the comprehensive knowledge of the linguistic and cultural realities of China and the ability to reconstruct information by the context. Part C consists of open-ended questions, where students can demonstrate the desired level not only of linguistic and cultural knowledge, but also of writing skills. The third textbook “All-Russian Chinese Language Olympiad. Preparing for the “Listening” part” is a collection of teaching materials of the coaching staff of the Moscow team for the All-Russian Chinese Language Olympiad. The audio texts of the textbook differ in the degree of complexity of lexical and grammatical means. The texts have been selected from original materials. For the complete mastering of the educational material presented in the tutorial, 72 academic hours are recommended. Thus, the main principles for the development of educational materials are: • the availability for students; • the compliance with the formats of the suggested control; • the relevance of the content of educational materials; • the communicative orientation of the designed exercise system; • the interactivity of the proposed materials (the use of modern technologies in the learning process); • the usage of original texts in Chinese; • the possibility to study the educational material independently (without a teacher); • the method "from easy to difficult".