The Perception of Literary Discourse by Slovak Students

Based on the authors’ experience in analyzing and interpreting Russian works of art in a Slovak university, the paper identifies some of the difficulties that arise in the process of teaching Russian literature, culture and the Russian language. The conducted research pays attention to the discursive factors of the study of works of fiction, while relying on the theoretical foundations of the world-famous researchers of discourse. First of all, the authors focus on five codes highlighted by one of the representatives of structuralism and poststructuralism, the French philosopher, literary critic, esthetician and semioticist – R. Bart. Deciphering individual codes of literary works can motivate students of the Russian language and literature to read independently, which develops their critical thinking, broadens the horizons of knowledge, and also contributes to their professional and personal growth. In classes on the interpretation of texts of fiction in the framework of teaching Russian as a foreign language, various difficulties are often encountered, in particular, with the decoding of the named codes. The purpose of this paper is to comment on these difficulties, highlight the factors associated with the interpretation of the elements of literary discourse, and also offer some solutions which teachers can implement to help Slovak students studying Russian as a foreign language get rid of these difficulties. The article can become an incentive for further observations in this area, contribute to an increase in the effectiveness of teaching Russian literature of the 18th – 21st centuries in Slovak universities.