The Theme of the Russian-Ukrainian War in the Linguodidactic Dimension

Over the past decade, the topic of war has been a key one in various scientific discourses. Linguistic studies are also increasingly focusing on it. But today, this topic is still poorly studied in linguodidactics, particularly in teaching Ukrainian as a foreign language (UFL). This confirms the significance of this paper. The article analyzes the training materials (texts and exercises) for teaching Ukrainian as a foreign language (UFL), which reveal the events of the Russian-Ukrainian war, starting from 2014 to the present day. Linguistic and cultural content of the new textbooks in UFL is considered. The focus is on the educational materials of the textbook “The Key to Ukraine: Cities and People” in two parts (B2–C1 levels) and the textbook “Catch Skovoroda” (B1–B2 levels). Both books were prepared by the authors of the International Institute for Education, Culture and Diaspora Relations of Lviv Polytechnic National University. These textbooks take into account the historical and political events taking place in Ukrainian society and influencing the development of the Ukrainian language, in particular its lexical system. The article analyzes texts for reading and listening, new military vocabulary given in them, pre- and post-text exercises and tasks aimed at developing communication skills. Studying these materials will help foreign speakers to master military neologisms faster, ensure understanding of the news content in Ukrainian media, promote pro-Ukrainian narratives, and allow them to communicate on this topic in various fields. In addition, the realization of the topic of the Russian-Ukrainian war in UFL textbooks will help foreigners to develop socio-cultural competence about Ukrainians in the most difficult period of their lives and will evoke a sense of empathy for the heroic Ukrainian people. Key words: Ukrainian as a foreign language, linguodidactics, foreign language audience, Russian-Ukrainian war, textbook “The Key to Ukraine: Cities and People”, textbook “Catch Skovoroda”.