Principal investigator: Tore Nesset
Project title: ConLab: The Tromsø-Moscow 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 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). The resource offers over 150 interactive exercises on 57 constructions. https://constructicon.github.io/construxercise-rus/

Webpage of the Tromsø Constructicon Lab (ConLab): https://site.uit.no/clear/conlab/
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)
- Svetlana Sokolova (UiT The Arctic University of Norway)
- Valentina Zhukova (UiT The Arctic University of Norway)
- Reza Soltani (UiT The Arctic University of Norway)
- Elena Bjørgve (UiT The Arctic University of Norway)
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. Frthc. 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”. Routledge.
- Zhukova, Valentina and Laura A. Janda. Russian grammar as a constructicon: beyond a list. Russian Linguistics 48, 15 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11185-024-09298-z
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Endresen, Anna and Olaf Mikkelsen. (Frthc. 2024). Ten good reasons to build the Norwegian ConstructiCon, a dictionary of grammar. Lexicographica – International Annual for Lexicography, 40.
- Zhukova, Valentina. How to threaten in Russian: a constructionist approach. Russian Linguistics 47, 141–166 (2023). 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