DIGITAL SINO-RUSSIAN LANGUAGE CONTACT AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF TEACHING RUSSIAN AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE: A SYSTEMIC MODEL AND LINGUODIDACTIC PERSPECTIVES

Abstract

The digital environment is changing the conditions, in which Sino-Russian language contact takes shape, yet the connection between these changes and the architecture of the linguodidactic system of Russian as a Foreign Language (RFL) remains theoretically underclarified. Two loosely coordinated interpretations coexist in the scholarly discourse: digital technologies are understood either as an external didactic instrument or as an isolated linguistic phenomenon, while their role in the internal restructuring of instruction is assessed in divergent ways. The aim of the work is to identify the pragmatic and syntactic mechanisms through which digital Sino-Russian language contact influences the RFL instructional system, and to develop a conceptual model of its systemic transformation. The material consists of authentic communicative precedents and the digital pragmatic reflection of Chinese learners collected on the Telegram, HelloTalk and Xiaohongshu platforms in 2025–2026; linguopragmatic and syntactic analysis, discourse analysis of multimodal texts, observation of online speech practices and conceptual modelling are applied. It is established that digital language contact is characterised by the massification of participants, the acceleration of communication, the casualization of discourse and the bidirectional nature of interaction, while the zones of communicative breakdown are reducible to three types: algorithmic distortions of conversational syntax by AI translators, multimodal dissociation in the decoding of emoji, and the pragmatic inversion of normative evaluative vocabulary. A systemic model of the digital linguodidactic transformation of RFL is proposed, comprising five structural levels and a feedback loop that turns learners’ reflection on online breakdowns into a source of the continuous updating of the content and methods of instruction. It is shown that the model is applicable in designing RFL curricula, developing specialised courses on digital discourse and fostering learners’ integrative digital communicative competence.