ABSTRACT
The chapter discusses practical applications of the author's ongoing research on modality expressions in Russian. It focuses on theories, methodology, and practical insights utilized by applied linguistics – an area that explores the relations between theory and practice in language, with particular reference to issues of language use. The specific objective is to develop and test a system of classroom activities focused on communicative significance of Russian epistemic modality that “can be described as being concerned with the speaker’s assumptions, or assessment of possibilities, and, in most cases, it indicates the speaker’s confidence or lack of confidence in the truth of the proposition expressed”. The theoretical and practical concerns discussed later imposed certain limitations on the range of Russian epistemic modality expressions intended to be taught in the Russian language classroom. Modality expressions belong to the family of expressive means of natural language.
