Sociocultural component as a marker of text complexity (based on Russian as a foreign language textbooks)

The article provides an overview of Russian language textbooks for foreign learners with specific focus on sociocultural content. This approach helps to identify the main strategies used in educational materials to present culture-specific units across various proficiency levels, tailored to the needs of the intended audience. The study employed various methods including critical discourse analysis, comparison, semiotic analysis, and contextual analysis. The data was drawn from a collection of tagged Russian language textbooks published over the past two decades in Russia and abroad. The study describes the implications of sociocultural and linguocultural units at different levels in educational texts, which serve as potential indicators of text complexity and require specific commentary. The analysis revealed an imbalance in the presentation of historical and contemporary information about Russia and Russian culture, as well as a tendency for greater coverage of humanities in comparison with mathematics or natural sciences. The findings of the study provide insights for drafting recommendations regarding the sociocultural content of contemporary textbooks aimed at L2 Russian learners across different levels of language proficiency, as well as for selecting stimulus material to validate the conclusions through experimental methods.