What are common challenges faced by learners of Ukrainian

Common challenges faced by learners of Ukrainian include:

• Phonetic difficulties: Pronunciation can be challenging for learners, especially those from non-Slavic language backgrounds. The phonetic system of Ukrainian has sounds and intonations unfamiliar to many learners. ¹
• Lexical and grammatical complexity: Learners often struggle with Ukrainian grammar and vocabulary, including the use of cases, verb conjugations, and word formation. This can lead to misusage of language patterns. ¹
• Emotional and motivational factors: Learning Ukrainian can produce negative emotions such as disappointment, fear, or anxiety, which affect motivation and learning effectiveness. ^{2, 3}
• Anxiety in the context of crisis or war: For Ukrainian learners in Ukraine or refugees, anxiety related to ongoing conflicts can hinder their ability to concentrate and learn effectively. ⁴
• Student absenteeism and attrition: Regular attendance and persistence can be problematic for learners, especially in volunteer or crisis-driven language learning projects. ⁵
• Balancing work and study commitments poses a challenge for learners who may have other responsibilities. ⁵

These challenges are typical for both foreign learners and Ukrainian speakers switching to the language in different contexts. ^{6, 7}

Overall, challenges span linguistic (phonetics, grammar, vocabulary), psychological (anxiety, motivation), and situational factors (attendance, external stressors) affecting learners of Ukrainian. ^{2, 4, 1, 5}

References

• Difficulties in Learning Ukrainian as Foreign Language by the Korean Students on the Intermediate Level

• Role of Emotional Factors in Learning Ukrainian as a Foreign Language at Higher School

• The problem of motivational support in teaching the Ukrainian language

• MANAGING STUDENTS’ ANXIETY WHILE LEARNING FOREIGN LANGUAGES IN THE CONDITIONS OF WAR IN UKRAINE

• Creating communities of practice for fostering second language learning in people in crisis

• The switching of youth to Ukrainian: reasons, difficulties, purpose

• The Ukrainian language communicative competence formation of foreign students based on the student-centered approach (in the process of teaching Ukrainian as a foreign language)

• Sustained English lingua-cultural education: a solution for Ukraine

• Development of multilingual education in Ukraine

• Maintaining the Standard Ukrainian Language: A Challenge for Teachers in Australia

• A linguistic and didactic resource in the formation of mathematical competence of secondary school students when studying the syntax of the Ukrainian language (on the material of syntactic derivatives)

• LANGUAGE OF A BARRIER-FREE SOCIETY: THE EXPERIENCE OF UKRAINE

• Text in modeling the language consciousness of foreign students

• DEVELOPMENT OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ LINGUOCULTURAL COMPETENCE UNDER CONDITIONS OF CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC: UKRAINIAN DIMENSION

• Challenges faced by Ukrainian students learning mathematics in UK schools

• Challenges facing distance learning during martial law: results of a survey of Ukrainian students

• On the question of the language behavior of Kyivans in sociolinguistic dimensions