Teaching foreign language vocabulary in the twentieth-century Russia

The article examines approaches to vocabulary teaching in the Russian history of foreign language methodology of the twentieth century. Though the achievements of Russian scientists in the field of vocabulary teaching were considerable, the language was typically thought of as predominantly its grammar. It was considered advisable for foreign language students to learn grammar rules and some facts about the language, which did not facilitate the foreign language acquisition. The role of vocabulary acquisition was not discussed, as the vocabulary competence was of little interest to theoreticians.