Re: [ru] Educational systems: "success in learning Russian"

Greetings to all!

I am editing an article written in English by a Russian native speaker, 
titled "Cognitive predictors of success in learning Russian in native 
speakers of high school age in different educational systems." The 
systems are those in Russia, Moldova, and Kyrgzstan. I have no Russian 
text, but an article by some of the same authors is titled "Когнитивные 
основы успешности обучения русскому языку: кросскультурное исследование."

This idea of "success in learning Russian" is giving me headaches, since 
native speakers already know how to speak their own language. I have 
tentatively changed it to "improved Russian-language proficiency," 
adding "improved" since it cannot be just a matter of “proficiency” 
(some children will be more proficient than others even in first grade, 
but we want to measure their /learning/ in high school). I think the 
idea must address how much their proficiency improves as a result of 
their education. The measurements used are just their 11th grade Unified 
State Exam results and the grade given by their "teacher in Russian."

So here's my question: does an 11th grader in these countries take a 
class and get a grade in "Russian"? In the anglophone systems I'm 
familiar with, the student gets a grade in "English," but we would not 
say they were successful or unsuccessful at "learning English." The 
English class in 11th or 12th grade would be about reading literature 
and writing essays. Grammar would be taught at a much lower level. Is it 
any different in Russia?

Thanks,

Susan