Pedagogical Potential Of Online Resources In Developing Professional Speech Competence In Russian For Medical Students

Abstract

Digital transformation has made online resources—learning management systems, videoconferencing, mobile applications, and interactive multimedia—central to language education. In medical higher education, Russian-language professional speech competence supports discipline-specific reading, professional dialogue, and medical documentation, and therefore requires systematic practice of specialized vocabulary, genre conventions, and interactional routines. This article analyzes the pedagogical potential of online resources for developing professional speech competence in Russian for medical students through a structured narrative synthesis of research in computer-assisted language learning and Russian as a foreign language (RFL) pedagogy. Evidence from a major CALL meta-analysis indicates that technology-supported language learning is at least as effective as non-technology instruction, with a small overall advantage in favor of technology-supported pedagogy. Studies in RFL and medical contexts show that learning management systems and videoconferencing can support professionally oriented tasks, self-regulation, and continuous assessment when they are integrated into staged instructional designs. The article proposes conditions under which online resources are most likely to improve outcomes in medical Russian: professionally authentic tasks, blended organization that protects interaction, clear task standards that enable independent work, and feedback mechanisms that target both accuracy and appropriateness. The analysis concludes that online resources have strong pedagogical potential, but effectiveness is conditional and depends on instructional design rather than platform presence.