ConLab: The Tromsø Constructicon Laboratorium

By /

Principal investigator: Tore Nesset

Project title: ConLab: The Tromsø Constructicon Laboratorium

Summary of the project:

Norway needs strong competence in Russian language and internationally competitive Russian language programs. The goal of ConLab – The Tromsø Constructicon Laboratorium – is to contribute to a sustainable future through building the expertise and enhancing the quality of UiT’s Russian language program. ConLab is linked to and supports two projects funded through DIKU (CPRU-2017/10027, NCMRU-2016/10025) by further developing and implementing our digital resources for pedagogical purposes. While focusing on Russian, ConLab promotes Norway’s “PANORAMA strategy” in a broader sense, insofar as ConLab includes researchers from other relevant countries: Japan, Brazil, and the USA.

The main activities in ConLab are organized in five work packages (WPs):

  • WP1: “ConLabClass – Constructicon from Research to Classroom” develops writing exercises based on our digital resource the “Russian Constructicon”.
  • WP2 “Come and Go with Constructions” includes student mobility to Tromsø and from Tromsø (to Tallinn).
  • WP3 focuses on the integration of the new construction-based exercises into UiT’s language courses on Russian.
  • WP4 organizes dissemination of the new construction-based resources to wide academic and pedagogical community.
  • WP5 “Post-Pandemic joint PhD/MA course” is a hybrid PhD course that combines physical and digital pedagogical strategies.

Project duration: 08/2021 – 07/2025

Collaborators:

  • Tore Nesset (UiT The Arctic University of Norway)
  • Anna Endresen (UiT The Arctic University of Norway)
  • Laura A. Janda (UiT The Arctic University of Norway)
  • Valentina Zhukova (UiT The Arctic University of Norway)
  • Reza Soltani (UiT The Arctic University of Norway)
  • Svetlana Sokolova (UiT The Arctic University of Norway)
  • Elena Bjørgve (UiT The Arctic University of Norway)
  • Zoia Butenko (University of Oslo)
  • Taras Andrushko (University of Oslo)

 

 

Project results:

Sokolova, Svetlana, Anna Endresen (Eds). (2022) “Collaboration beyond the classroom: Undergraduate research in Russian Language studies.” Special Issue of the Russian Language Journal: Vol. 72: Iss. 1. 215 pp. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/rlj/vol72/

Advanced PhD course HIF-8040 “Constructicography: Advanced Topics in Construction Grammar” – Spring 2023, UiT (https://site.uit.no/clear/course-constructicography/; UiT page in study catalogue: https://uit.no/utdanning/emner/emne/785431/hif-8040)

A free open access digital educational resource “Construxercise! Hands-on learning of Russian constructions” built in collaboration between instructors, researchers and students of Russian (launched on June 8, 2022 at UiT; upgraded in 2025). The resource offers over 180 interactive exercises on 59 constructions. https://constructicon.github.io/construxercise-rus/

Webpage of the Tromsø Constructicon Lab (ConLab): https://site.uit.no/clear/conlab/

A new educational resource for advanced learners of Russian “V temu” [On the topic] based on the fully updated MA-level course RUS-3041/43 “Practical oral and written Russian” (fall 2024, new educational materials enriched with tasks on constructions, produced by V. Zhukova and A. Endresen).
 

Contribution to the volume “Assessment of Russian as a Foreign Language: Unlocking Proficiency” (2025) published by Routledge Series “Russian Language Pedagogy and Research”: Chapter 6 by Anna Endresen and Valentina Zhukova entitled “Constructionist approach to assessment of language proficiency in Russian as a foreign language.” pp. 82-97. DOI: 10.4324/9781003476122-8.
 

A full printed version of the Construxercise textbook is made available for students (210 pp).
 
 

Funding:

This project is funded by the UTFORSK 2020 grant received from the Direktoratet for høyere utdanning og kompetanse (Diku: https://diku.no/): SIU/DIKU/HK-DIR project (UTF-2020/10129)

Key publications:

  • Endresen, Anna and Valentina Zhukova. (2025). Constructionist approach to assessment of language proficiency in Russian as a foreign language. In: Pastushenkov, D., Zalaltdinova, L. (Eds.) Assessment of Russian as a Foreign Language: Unlocking Proficiency. Routledge Series “Russian Language Pedagogy and Research”. pp. 82-97. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003476122-8
  • Zhukova, Valentina and Laura A. Janda. (2024). Russian grammar as a constructicon: beyond a list. Russian Linguistics 48, 15. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11185-024-09298-z
  • Endresen, Anna and Olaf Mikkelsen. (2024). Ten good reasons to build the Norwegian ConstructiCon, a dictionary of grammar.Lexicographica – International Annual for Lexicography 40(1), 121-145. https://doi.org/10.1515/lex-2024-0007
  • Zhukova, Valentina. (2023). How to threaten in Russian: a constructionist approach. Russian Linguistics 47, 141–166. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11185-023-09274-z
  • Endresen, Anna, Valentina Zhukova, Elena Bjørgve, Daria Demidova, Natalia Kalanova, Zoia Butenko, George Lonshakov, and David Henrik Lavén. (2022) “Construxercise! Implementation of a construction-based approach to language pedagogy.” Russian Language Journal: Vol. 72: Iss. 1. 47-71. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/rlj/vol72/iss1/4
  • Nesset, Tore, Kristian Bjørklund, and Petter Hov Jacobsen. (2022) “Flipping the classroom? From text to video in teaching Russian grammar.” Russian Language Journal Vol. 72: Iss. 1. 71-87. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/rlj/vol72/iss1/5
  • Janda, Laura A., Jan Ove Nikolai Almendingen and Linn Thea Kaldager Josefsen (2022) “Empirically determined strategic input and gamification in mastering Russian word forms.” Russian Language Journal: Vol. 72: Iss. 1. 29-47. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/rlj/vol72/iss1/3
  • Sokolova, Svetlana, Andrei Rogatchevski, Kristian Bjørklund, David Henrik Lavén, and Håkon Sverdrupsen. (2022) “The Participatory Approach and Student Active Learning in Language Teaching: Language Students as Journalists and Filmmakers.” Russian Language Journal: Vol. 72: Iss. 1. 87-109. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/rlj/vol72/iss1/6
  • Janda, Laura, Anna Endresen, and Svetlana Sokolova. (2022) “Introduction: Student co-creation of teaching resources, methods, and social integration.” Russian Language Journal: Vol. 72: Iss. 1. 1-5. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/rlj/vol72/iss1/1

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

  •  

Scroll to Top