Although by now the need to create a problem-oriented educational environment in higher education when mastering academic disciplines (including FL as a university subject) has already been proven both theoretically and experimentally, nevertheless, the Linguodidactic analysis of 100 syllabuses in a foreign language as an academic discipline and 100 FL course-books (written by Russian university teachers & published in 2019–2023) shows the lack of orientation among most of their authors towards its creation due to their lack of awareness of the linguodidactic foundations of modeling a problem-oriented educational environment in a university educational context, integrating communicative-approach, problembased approach and sociocultural approach in teaching & learning a foreign language as a tool of intercultural communication. The article briefly summarizes the results of scientific understanding of the problem-based approach in education, its general and specific features with the view to the linguodidactic interpretation of the concepts of “problem-based learning”, “problem-based teaching”, “problem-based mastering of the discipline” in relation to teaching a foreign language the learner and his/her socialization by means of a foreign language, gives a description of a system of interconnected cultural and linguocultural problem-solving tasks and assignments, problem-oriented types of learners’ monolingual and bilingual activities, creative types of university students’ verbal activities in co-learning languages, including recommendations for the methodological design of cultural problem-solving tasks, with which the teacher starts forming a problem-oriented educational environment in the FL classroom and outside it.

The paper discusses the issues of a language teacher professional growth and improvement and increasing his/her competence in line with modern trends in education. It addresses the topic of self-development and its impact on the quality of teaching foreign languages. Self-development of language teaching staff is shown to be the main factor of their professional competence. The work provides a rationale for the relevance of the chosen topic and discusses the significance of teacher self-development in the modern world. Possible ways to improve his/her professional skills are considered. They involve a critical reflective analysis by the teacher of his/her professional competencies, the quality of teaching students a foreign language and prospects for personal growth. It is shown that the process of professional development should be ever-lasting, assume collegiality and provide mentoring within a single educational organization. Self-development and improvement of professional competence implies collaboration with foreign colleagues and experts in the professional field. The paper proposes a scheme of self-development for a language teacher, based on a reflective analysis of his/her professional competence and place in the profession.

The article is aimed at describing a number of certain recurrent features of Russian English in the academic, educational and literary domains of the written discourse in English created by the Russian speakers of English. The article argues that Russian culture, identity and academic traditions are verbalized through a range of translingual practices, starting with the transference of the Russian punctuation and sequence of presenting ideas, including lexical variety and Russian-English hybrids, and finishing with the “nativization and localization” [Platt, Weber and Ho, 1984: 2–3] of the common lexical units, terms, urbanonyms included, and even classic world literature, which is retranslated into Russian English from Russian (for instance, Andersen’s Thumbelina and Brothers Grimms’ Snow white). The combination of analyzed characteristic features invariably turns Russian English presented in the written discourse into a potent tool for the Russian identity construction recognizable both to the Russian and non-Russian speakers of English, specifically to those who are familiar with Russian culture and academic traditions. Yet, written discourse created via Russian English might mislead the speakers of other Englishes in case they have not been exposed to this particular variety on a regular basis.

The paper analyzes the use and translation of zoometaphor in political media and Internet discourse. Translation of zoometaphors is discussed based on an English fable about the Donkey, Tiger and Lion. The research has revealed that in British English the word donkey metaphorically objectivizes the semes of ‘pomposity’ and ‘stubbornness’; in American English, like in Russian, the semes of ‘stupidity’ and ‘stubbornness’. However, the Chinese English discourse reveals a new meaning — ‘humbly doing hard work’, which is similar to the Russian derived verb ishachit ‘to drudge’. Meanwhile, a Chinese English context can be either negative and positive when the semes ‘without tiredness’ and ‘perseverance’ are activated. The word lion creates a metaphoric image due to the semes ‘power’ and ‘majesty’. British and Indian Englishes, as well as Chinese English reveal one more meaning — ‘power guard’. The word tiger as a metaphor has traditionally activated the semes of ‘danger’, ‘aggressiveness’, and ‘force’, but nowadays in the Asian context it has the positive seme ‘rapid development’ and the negative ‘high-ranking corruption’. The article compares the participation of these words in making phraseological units used in the political discourse and points to the challenges they present in translating to Russian. The paper concludes that it is a cultural underpinning that causes most problems in translating pluricentric English.