Practical Application of Semantic Networks in Teaching Russian as a Foreign Language

Modern computer technologies are special and diverse. The scientific community is particularly interested in artificial intelligence algorithms. AI allows you to write “smart programs” and train computers to autonomously solve complex problems. In addition, artificial intelligence is relevant even in the humanitarian sphere, for example, in the process of teaching languages, in particular, Russian as a foreign language. Teachers use various applications and websites as part of the digitalization of education in modern learning, to increase students’ productivity and motivation. To implement the game processes directly in the classwork, we offer a mobile application concept for teaching foreigners the Russian language. We propose using AI semantic networks as the base of the development. This technology allows us to solve the problem of lexical polysemy, depicts the connections between concepts and their intensity. This tool allows us to offer a lexical learning game as a model, which helps students to update vocabulary, activate a lot of lexis from the passive vocabulary. In addition, it becomes possible to implement the linguo-didactic component of RFL and include the regional vocabulary of Siberia. The initial collection of material was carried out at the Digital Humanities hackathon “Word Game” which was held in NSTU. We managed to identify the necessary topics, gather templates and overlay them on graphs of semantic networks. In the future the game will help not only to update the vocabulary, but also include the grammatical component. This article lays in the field of interests of both linguists and computer scientists.