The Role of Digital Media in the Russian Language Classroom and Teacher Education Programmes

The present study exemplifies the role digital media used to play in 2019-2020 in the Russian language classroom at secondary schools in Austria, Germany and South Tyrol (Italy) before the COVID-19-pandemic hit, whereby on which also current digitisation efforts are focused. The empirical baseline study aims at investigating the types of digital media and how frequently these are employed as well as the specific purposes they are used for in the Russian language classroom. Aside from addressing the positive effects that arise from working with digital media in classroom settings, also challenges that Russian language teachers face when implementing digital technologies are discussed. The data were collected in a mixed-methods procedure: quantitative data from online-questionnaires and qualitative data from face-to-face semi-structured interviews. The data represent the teachers' perspective on the one hand and that of the pupils on the other. The data from the online surveys were analysed with descriptive and inferential statistics, those from the interviews with qualitative content analysis whereby also individual case studies were conducted. This paper presents major study results and closes with implications for teacher training programmes as well as for future research.