#Humanitarian sphere #Education #Cooperation

PetrSU Students Hold an Online Meeting with a Brazilian Researcher

12 December 2025

On December 10, fourth-year students of the Institute of Foreign Languages at PetrSU held an online meeting with Brazilian researcher Professor Livia Miranda de Paulo (University of Sao Paulo) on the topic: "From Reading Comprehension to Literacy Development in French as a Foreign Language Classes: Theoretical and Practical Issues."

During her presentation, the lecturer discussed the specifics of developing the competencies necessary for adequate perception, understanding, and interpretation of various types of written texts in French as a foreign language classes, touching on the basic psychophysiological mechanisms of reading as a form of speech activity and the theory (generation) of meaning. During the master class, students were offered non-standard practical tasks on decoding text fragments, which were followed by an engaging discussion.

Here are some participant reviews:

Anna Gotchieva, fourth-year student at the Institute of Foreign Languages of PetrSU:

“Our group recently participated in an online meeting with Brazilian researcher L. Miranda de Paulo. Her presentation was very interesting and informative. We learned a lot about the psychophysiological features of written language mechanisms. The lecturer also shared her ideas and methodological approaches used in classroom French as a foreign language classes to develop skills for accurately perceiving, understanding, and interpreting textual information. It was very pleasant to hear original French speech. We hope that similar meetings will continue to take place.

Yana Pashkova, fourth-year student at the Institute of Foreign Languages of PetrSU:

“On December 10th, students from Group 142 of the Institute of Foreign Languages of PetrSU took part in an online scientific meeting dedicated to developing reading comprehension skills and various types of literacy in French as a foreign language classes. The lecture was given by Livia Miranda de Paulo, a lecturer at the University of São Paulo (Brazil). The conference proved to be very informative and relevant for our group, especially in anticipation of school teaching practice. The speaker discussed in detail how to develop students' autonomy, a critical approach to reading materials, the ability to reflect, and meaningfully engage with different types of texts. The methodological recommendations, including how to structure assignments, how to maintain students' interest in the reading process, and how teachers should foster an active, research-oriented approach in the classroom, were of great interest. Furthermore, during the presentation, we were able to immerse ourselves in a wide range of professional vocabulary and gain valuable experience in understanding academic French. We thank the organizers for the opportunity to participate in this event!

Organizers of the scientific meeting: Associate Professor of the Department of the German and French Languages of the Institute of Foreign Languages S.R. Nedbaylik; Senior Lecturer of the English Language Department of the Institute of Foreign Languages V.A. Dmitrieva.