Alla A. Smyslova
Alla holds her M.A. in Slavic Languages and Literatures from Indiana University, Bloomington, and her Ph.D. in Second Language Acquisition from Bryn Mawr College. She joined the Department of Slavic Languages in 2002 and taught at it until she retired in December 2024. From 2016 to 2024, Alla directed the Russian Language Program. She taught all levels of Russian as a foreign or heritage language to undergraduate and graduate students, as well as trained graduate instructors. From 2004 to 2024, she also directed the Russian Practicum.
Alla is the co-author (with William Comer, Lynne deBenedette and Jon Perkins) of an online open-access textbook for beginning Russian «Между нами»: An Interactive Introduction to Russian. The textbook is used widely in college and pre-college Russian Language programs, and in 2017 it received the AATSEEL Prize for Best Book in Pedagogy.
Alla’s research and teaching focus has always been on issues of foreign and heritage language acquisition by adult learners, skill development, and the effects of instructional intervention. In 2002, she designed and developed the course Russian for Heritage Learners, which she taught until December 2024. The American Academy of Arts and Sciences, in its 2017 report Investing in Language Education for the 21st Century, recognized this course as a pedagogical model to be adopted elsewhere in the US and applied to other heritage languages.
Alla regularly presented at national and international conferences. She contributed articles to the books Russian Language Studies in North America: New Perspectives from Theoretical and Applied Linguistics (Ed. V. Makarova. London: Anthem Press, 2012) and Studies on Language and Culture in the Russophone World (Eds. R. Brecht, L. A. Verbitskaja, et al. Moscow: Azbukovnik, 2009).
Alla has actively contributed to the Russian field. She served on the Russian Standard Setting Committee for the American Councils for International Education; she wrote items for the national AP exam. Additionally, she served on the committee for New York State Teacher Certification Examinations, and on various national selection committees for study abroad and internship programs. In 2010-2022, she served on the editorial board of Russian Language Journal, and on the Board of Directors for the American Council of Teachers of Russian (ACTR). As a member of the ACTR Board of Directors, she chaired its Nominations Committee from 2017 to 2020; she also chaired the National Post-Secondary Russian Scholar Award and co-chaired the National Post-Secondary Russian Essay Contest from 2012 to 2020. In spring 2021, Alla was charged with the task to make sure that the National Slavic Honor Society Dobro Slovo-- the organization that was in distress at the time after its Chair of fifty years had stepped down--to provide Dobro Slovo with the platform and structure for its operations and to keep its independence and uniqueness. Today, the National Slavic Honor Society Dobro Slovo is in good shape and growing, and it continues on its mission of recognition of academic excellence in the study of Slavic languages, literatures, and cultures.
In 2020 - 2022, Alla served as Vice-President of the American Council of Teachers of Russian, and in 2020, she received the ACTR Distinguished Service Award for her outstanding service to the profession.
Courses Designed, Developed & Taught at ColumbiaUniversity
UN 1101-1102 First Year Russian
S 1101-1102 Intensive Beginning Russian
UN 1103-1104 Russian Grammar for Beginners
UN 3106 Voices of (Dis)agreement: Russian Culture In and Outside Russia Today
UN 3331-3332 Third Year Russian
UN 3430-3431 Russian for Heritage Speakers
UN 3335 Advanced Russian through History
GU 4347 Reading for Social Sciences
S 4333-4334 Intensive Advanced Russian
GU 4350-4351 Beyond Advanced: Language, Culture, Society in Today’s Russia
GR 6040 Developing Academic Discourse