Vol 29, No 5 (2024)

Importance. The main goal of the study is to study the impact of multilingual education of uni versity students on the degree of their involvement in the educational process, as well as to prove the positive impact of involvement on the level of mastery of a second foreign language – Spanish. Although the impact of engagement on student achievement in traditional learning has previously been extensively researched, less is known about how it influences student learning in the context of multilingual learning. The research contributes to the study of student learning engagement in higher education by exploring the less studied context of learning in a multilingual environment.Materials and Methods. The study involves 2 groups of 3rd year undergraduate students (N = 47) of Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University. To identify the degree of student engage ment in the process of learning Spanish, questionnaires, testing and statistical methods are used.Results and Discussion. In the experimental group (N = 23), a multilingual approach is imple mented. In the control group (N = 24), the English Medium Instruction-based approach is used. The Student Engagement Scale is measured using the three most common dimensions identified by researchers (behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement). Paired samples Student’s t-test and Pearson’s correlation test are performed to analyze descriptive statistics.Conclusion. Based on the results of student engagement, it can be concluded that students in the experimental group show a higher level of emotional and cognitive activity.

Importance. Currently, there is an increasing use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools in foreign languages teaching, particularly in writing. Generative AI stands out for its ability to provide users with evaluative feedback, which allows students to correct and improve their written work. Some scholars have argued for the inclusion of extracurricular interaction with generative AI in traditional teaching methods in order to utilize its linguistic and didactic potential for revising drafts. However, the effectiveness of these teaching methods has not always been a focus of scientific research. The purpose of the study is to devise a methodology for instructing students in writing in a foreign language, incorporating their extracurricular engagement with one of the instruments of generative AI, which provides feedback. Additionally, it aims to test the efficacy of this approach during experimental instruction.Materials and Methods. The study involved second-year students of the specialty 45.05.01 “Translation and Translation Studies” of Lipetsk State Technical University. The participants of the control group (N = 25) are trained according to the traditional teaching method of writing in a foreign language, which does not involve the use of generative AI tools. The participants of the experimental group (N = 25) used the author’s methodology, which implies their extracurricular interaction with one of the tools of generative AI (ChatGPT 4.0, Criterion, YandexGPT). The aspects of control in the study are the following writing skills: a) writing a business letter; b) writing an essay of a contrastive and comparative nature; c) writing an essay of an argumentative nature; d) writing a film or book review. The Student’s t-test is used as a method of statistical data processing. Results and Discussion. During the experimental training, it is proved that the innovative author’s method of teaching students writing in a foreign language, including extracurricular interaction of students with generative artificial intelligence tools, is more effective than traditional teaching methods in developing students’ writing skills: writing a business letter (t = 3.19 at p = 0.001), writing essays of a contrastive and comparative nature (t = 3.19 at p = 0.002), writing essays of an argumentative nature (t = 2.28 at p = 0.001), writing a film or book review (t = 2.46 at p = 0.001).Conclusion. The novelty of the research lies in the development of a step-by-step methodology for teaching students writing in a foreign language, including extracurricular interaction of students with one of the generative artificial intelligence tools (ChatGPT 4.0, Criterion, YandexGPT). Based on the feedback they received from the AI, the students finalized draft versions of their work. The proposed methodology can be used in teaching students and students writing in a foreign language in secondary schools and universities.

Importance. Existing empirical research in the field of integration of artificial intelligence technology in foreign language teaching is devoted to the use of specific technology in teaching types of speech activity, mainly writing. The authors note the wide methodological potential of artificial intelligence technologies in foreign language teaching and use chatbots, voice assistants, intelligent learning systems, corpus technologies to form the foreign language communicative competence of students. However, the analysis of a number of studies has allowed us to conclude that so far the authors have not attempted to design a unified model of language and methodological preservice teachers’ training based on artificial intelligence technologies. The purpose of this work is to design a model of language and methodological pre-service teachers’ training based on artificial intelligence technologies.Research Methods. The present study is related to the study of the context of the integration of artificial intelligence technologies into language education. To achieve the set research goal, theoretical methods were used: the study and analysis of scientific and methodological works on thedesign of methodological models of teaching a foreign language using modern technologies; empirical methods: survey, observation and description of research results; modeling methods.Definition of Concepts. The main concepts in this work are “the model of language and methodological pre-service teachers’ training” and “the competence of a pre-service foreign language teacher in the field of using artificial intelligence technologies”.Results and Discussion. Structurally, the model of language and methodological pre-service teachers’ training based on artificial intelligence technologies is represented by the following components: prerequisites (determining the relevance of designing a learning model), a goalsetting block (setting goals and objectives for developing teaching methods), a theoretical block (determining the theoretical and methodological basis of research), a technological block (determining strategies and teaching methods, selection of the learning content, identification of organizational and pedagogical learning conditions, the choice of optimal organizational forms of learning, the definition of pedagogical tools), the evaluation and performance block (the development of a criterion-based assessment apparatus and the forecast of expected learning outcomes).Conclusion. At this stage, the proposed model reflects the essence of the development of AI technologies and their applicability in a foreign language teaching. The separation of artificial intelligence from a means of learning into a separate subject of the educational process indicates that there is a paradigm shift in the use of new technologies in learning. AI technologies are able to provide high-quality feedback, create additional conditions for language practice, take on daily routine tasks and automate them, thereby shaping the ability of students to engage in their education and self-education throughout their lives. The obtained research results are recommended to be used in the methodology of teaching a foreign language, as well as in the development of private methods of teaching a foreign language using AI technologies.

Importance. Modern Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies can already significantly transform the traditional foreign language teaching process. Researchers from different countries are considering the linguistic and didactic potential of different artificial intelligence technologies for solving some educational and professional tasks. Character.ai is one of the artificial intelligence tools on the basis of which it is possible to develop foreign language communicative skills of the learner. At the same time, the development of a step-by-step foreign language teaching methodology based on character.ai has not been the subject of separate research. The purpose of the study is to examine the aspect of developing students’ foreign language communicative skills on the basis of character.ai web application and to develop a step-by-step method.Materials and Methods. The research methods are: analysis of pedagogical and methodical literature on the development of students’ foreign language communicative activity skills on the basis of various artificial intelligence tools, as well as the use of neural networks in foreign language teaching. Research and review articles from scientific journals included in the international scientific databases Scopus and Web of Science and the list of HAC RF have been used as materials for the study. An online survey has been conducted to determine students’ attitudes towards the use of character.ai web application in the teaching process. Results and Discussion. The following methodical functions of character.ai are identified: a) the possibility of creating a virtual person from scratch and choosing from ready-made ones; b) the possibility of using voice communication with a virtual person; c) the possibility of creating your own character and d) the possibility of changing the virtual person’s answer. These functions formed the basis for the development of a method of developing foreign language communicative activity skills on the basis of students’ interaction with the character.ai web application, consisting of six stages: 1) introductory; 2) goal setting; 3) technological; 4) interaction with the artificial intelligence; 5) discussion of results; and 6) assessment. A survey has been conducted to determine the learning domains of the learners’ use of the character.ai web application. The results of the survey show that: a) 37.4 % of the respondents used character.ai to practice role-playing; b) 40.2 % – to practice writing interaction; c) 22.4 % – to practice oral interaction.Conclusion. The novelty of this study consists in highlighting the methodical functions of the web application character.ai, which should be taken into consideration when developing methods of teaching a foreign language on its basis. The prospects of the study consist in the development of methods for the development of foreign language communicative skills of higher education students on the basis of the web application character.ai.

Importance. Digital technologies and information and communication technologies have become a part of the modern educational process. Of particular interest to contemporary researchers is the use of artificial intelligence technologies in the process of teaching and learning foreign languages. This research examines the possibility of using chatbots to improve the efficiency of teaching English phrasal verbs in the “Foreign Language” course at a technical university. The purpose of the study is to develop and describe a methodological model for teaching English phrasal verbs using chatbots.Materials and Methods. The creation of the model has been preceded by an analysis of the prerequisites that determine its necessity; in particular, the requirements of the Federal State Educational Standards for the specified area of training, the needs of the government and society in the training of highly qualified professionals with a good command of a foreign language are studied, as well as the existing contradictions between the language teaching potential of phrasal verbs and insufficient attention to their study in the system of language training at the university are identified. The system-based, competence-based, student-centered, communicative-cognitive and content and language integrated learning approaches have been chosen as the methodological basis of the model.Results and Discussion. A methodological model for teaching English phrasal verbs to students of a technical university enrolled in engineering programs is described (using the example of the undergraduate program 09.03.01 “Informatics and Computer Science”). The proposed model is a system consisting of several components that include an objective, theoretical background, a technological component (teaching methods and techniques, learning materials, content, conditions of learning, forms of teaching and a step-by-step teaching algorithm), assessment and learning outcomes. The model is based on the following didactic principles of teaching phrasal verbs using artificial intelligence technologies: individualization and differentiation, digitalization, active learning, motivation, accessibility and feasibility, and methodological principles: communicative teaching, teaching in context, situation-based and theme-based teaching, and interactive teaching.Conclusion. The proposed model for teaching English phrasal verbs using chatbots contributes to more effective mastery of the language and the development of speaking and writing skills in technical university students.

Relevance. The relevance of the study is determined by the contradictions between the need for foreign language teachers to develop and enhance their professional skills and the conditions of their professional activity, which involve teaching the subject “Foreign Language” according to the ready-made methodological recommendations provided by the authors of educational and methodological complexes. The trend towards unification of educational practices in teaching foreign languages repeatedly actualizes the problem of developing the teacher’s methodological skills.Materials and Methods. The primary material for the study is the analysis results of the educational practice of teaching foreign languages and its theoretical reflection, as well as a generalization of the author’s experience of teaching English in an educational institution of secondary general education. The research methods are traditional, including the analysis of scientific and methodological literature, observations of the process of formation and improvement of the methodological skills of a foreign language teacher, teacher surveys, targeted discussions with colleagues.Results and Discussion. The study proved the interconnection between a foreign language teacher’s methodological mastery and their methodological creativity. The main factors contributing to the decline in methodological creativity among practicing teachers are identified, and the transitioning validity from teaching foreign languages according to pre-prepared methodological recipes to a variable – reflective methodology is substantiated. This transition involves the foreign language competencies formation in students based on the teacher’s individual methodological credo as a creator of the educational process.Conclusion. Methodological mastery of the teacher is the foundation of the effectiveness of their professional activities in developing students’ foreign language competencies. The formation and development of a teacher’s methodological mastery are hindered by both objective and subjective conditions of teaching the subject “Foreign Language”, including the unification of the foreign language learning process and the reliance on the methodological recommendations of textbook authors without considering specific pedagogical situations. The most acceptable way to resolve these contradictions is a systematic transition to a variable – reflective methodology for foreign language teaching.

Importance. The current problem of the Russian language perception by citizens of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea is examined. The familiarity level of Equatorial Guineans with the Russian language and culture, as well as their willingness to study Russian as a foreign language, is ana lyzed. The purpose of the study is to use a questionnaire to analyze the peculiarities of the Russian language perception by residents of Equatorial Guinea, as well as to identify ways to overcome possible difficulties in the study of Russian as a foreign language by Equatorial Guineans at the in itial stage.Materials and Methods. The results of a survey conducted among of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea residents, which made it possible to formulate recommendations for teaching Equatorial Guineans the Russian language and forming a positive image of Russia as a great power in stu dents, are presented. The respondents included 9 men and 17 women aged 19 to 28.Results. The study identified the motives of the Republic of Equatorial Guineacitizens to study Russian. The survey showed a high interest level in learning foreign languages, including Russian, as well as a positive attitude towards the Russian Federation, but at the same time revealed an al most complete absence of associations with Russian culture among the respondents. 100 % of re spondents consider it necessary to study Russian, as it will help in their professional activities. At the same time, 19 % of respondents do not have Russian culture knowledge, which proves the need for its further popularization. Although 69 % of respondents consider Russian difficult to learn, they show a high willingness to learn it.Conclusions. The theoretical value of the obtained results is due to the fact that the study allowed to identify the main perception features of the Russian language by residents of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea who began to study it. Both the questionnaire created by the authors and the recommendations for teaching Russian to Equatoguineans developed on the survey basis is of practical importance.

Importance. In the modern world, there is a continuous search for new approaches to teaching students the Russian language. This problem is especially relevant when it comes to foreign stu dents of technical universities who must not only get a profession in Russian but also successfully adapt to Russian society. The purpose of the study is to develop an authorial (erratological) model of teaching the Russian language to non-philological foreigners. Its structural and meaningful de scription is proposed.Materials and methods. The base for the experimental research is the Military Institute (engineer ing and technical) of the Military Academy of Logistics and Technical Support named after. Army General A.V. Khruleva. The research material is based on a corpus of errors identified in the proc ess of analysing the non-philology students’ speech. The key research method is the error analysis method.Results and Discussion. The research result is the development of an erratological teaching model based on a nine-stage error analysis system, which includes recognition of erroneous activity – re cording the fact of deviation – identification of errors – formulation of grammatical rules instructions – correction (elimination) of errors – control and correction activities (training) – for mation self-control skills – fixation of error-free (correct) speech activity – reflection of acquired knowledge.Conclusion. The results obtained suggest that the use of the author’s conceptual model of peda gogical influence in classes for a foreign audience will not only develop Russian-speaking profes sional competence but also ensure the undoubted foreign student’s interest in learning a new lan guage and will also contribute to the intensification of the educational process, enriching it with new technologies, teaching methods, and a new system of tasks.

Importance. The development of audiovisual communication channels in the field of higher education pedagogy makes the issue of forming an effective on-screen image of a teacher and scientist relevant. Building a communicative personality according to screen canons becomes especially significant in the field of distance teaching activities. This study aims to identify the most significant parameters of a teacher’s on-screen communicative personality.Materials and Methods. Based on the analysis of the “Open Education” project of Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov, the constant components of a communicative personality transmitted by higher education teachers and ensuring the effectiveness of communication with course students are specified. The research material is audiovisual content of 1540 project programs. The study’s chronological scope is 2023-2024. To achieve the research goals, comparative typological and textological methods, as well as the method of content analysis, are used.Results and Discussion. It is established that the on-screen communicative personality of a higher school teacher’s constant parameters include qualities that develop the status of an expert, namely: the use of dress code standards for a university teacher, exact correspondence of the content of the speech to the stated topic, dominance of the scientific style, pronounced pausing, rich intonation, moderate facial expressions and gestures. Variable attractive parameters include qualities that correlate with the characteristics of network communication: intimate communication, personification, personalisation, game implementation, and a philosophical sense of humour. The qualities that distinguish the communicative personality of a higher school teacher on the screen from the same personality in the audience include a reduction in the frequency of manifestations of the mentoring tone and the absence of edifying elements.Conclusion. The study establishes that effective modelling of an on-screen communicative personality is based on both constant and variable parameters. The former allow the teacher to develop a sense of expertise and compliance with the status of a university teacher, while the latter individualise the learning process.

Importance. The scale of implementation of educational projects in the Russian Federation is growing. Various federal projects, roadmaps for the development of education, strategies and policies for shaping the future of education, etc. are being developed. The results of our own research on risk management of educational projects are compared with the essential features characterising the current state of risk management of educational projects. The aim of the research is to substantiate the essential features identified and formulated in the course of this study, reflecting the meanings and values of the process of risk management of educational projects Materials and Methods. Texts of scientific articles, documents of applications for the status of the republican innovation site, documents summarising the work experience of the contestants in the field of educational projects in the republican contest “Teacher of the Year of the UR”, documents regulating educational projects within the framework of the National Project “Education”, documents aimed at the development of pedagogical education and training of pedagogical staff, texts of educational programmes of higher education–bachelor’s, master’s, and postgraduate courses. The research has been carried out using the methods of content analysis, critical discourse, reflexive problematisation, comparison and synthesis.  Results and Discussion. The semantic units of the construct “risk management of educational projects” are highlighted and classified, and the results of our own research on each semantic unit are collated with the actual state of risk management processes. The study demonstrates that the risk management of educational projects is changing, the expert community is including risk management as an integral element in its activities, while the institutionalisation of risk management of educational projects is in the stage of methodological development.Conclusion. The activity of the subject of the educational project already includes risk management, while the process is built on the conscious use of an interdisciplinary approach, requiring special training, including the subject's awareness of the norms, rules, and regularities of risk management. 

Importance. The new educational paradigm is aimed not only at improving educational practices, but also at promoting sociocultural practices that influence students’ life orientations. The relation ship between the social institution of education and leading modern trends and attitudes is obvious, which in turn initiated the presented research. The purpose of the research is to examine the risks of the values and manifestos of mass culture influence on the formation of modes of modern youth behavior and to determine the directions of social and pedagogical activities aimed at counteract ing the deviantogenic influence of agents of mass culture.Materials and Methods. The dialectical, historical-retrospective and axiological research meth ods, as well as the method of reconstructing social reality are used.Results and Discussion. It is revealed that a set of new formations of life orientations plays a sig nificant role in the formation of an individual’s behavior and determines its development, which confirms the significance of studying personal values and orientations in order to understand hu man behavior and personality development in general.Conclusion. The complex modern social situation creates uncertainty in matters of personality formation and determining the vector of development of the younger generation in the conditions of an educational organization. To overcome this circumstance, it is necessary to develop a com prehensive pedagogical understanding of the polysystemic organization of a person (adolescent), where the main guideline will be his movement towards himself, towards self-realization and self actualization.

Importance. Current conditions of society’s development initiate the introduction of new educa tional tasks at school; supposedly, education must include both knowledge development and the development of creative activity experience. Consequently, it is recommended to enrich the proc ess of education by the implementation of innovative educational technologies. Thus, a new think ing and creative approach to problem-solving among students would be formed. The purpose of the study is to develop students’ creative abilities through the implementation of innovative educa tional technologies in the educational process.Materials and Methods. The choice of research methods is determined by the peculiarities of studying the historical and pedagogical process. This specificity has identified the following meth ods as fundamental: analysis of psychological, pedagogical and methodological literature, synthe sis, comparison, included observation, generalization of the data obtained.Results and Discussion. Innovative technologies implementation creates plenty of possibilities for both teachers and students. Teachers can solve different educational tasks, and students can solve problems on their own through trial and error and reach their goals, which prerequisites the forma tion of creative qualities of personality. The use of such methods has a positive influence on stu dents because it develops their creative abilities, independence, activity, logical thinking, builds their self-confidence, and helps to get rid of stereotypes and barriers. Innovative technologies im plementation adds necessary emotions and creates an atmosphere for productive work.Conclusion. The application of innovative technologies in educational process contributes to the expansion of students’ general cultural outlook; the development of their intellectual and creative abilities, research and organizational skills, business and communicative qualities; the formation of value orientations, civic mindedness and skills of life in society.

Importance. The issue of the Orthodox clergy involvement in elections to the State Duma of the Russian Empire continues to be one of the most challenging and under-researched. The purpose of the study is to examine the response of secular periodicals to the Orthodox clerics involvement in the elections for the Second State Duma.Materials and Methods. The subject of the study is the perception of representatives from various socio-political backgrounds regarding the Orthodox clergy involvement in elections to the State Duma as presented in Soviet periodicals. The research has been conducted using methods of con tent analysis, comparative analysis, and typology, based on materials from leading periodicals published in the Russian Empire, both party-affiliated and non-partisan.Results and Discussions. It is revealed how representatives of various public figures treated the Orthodox clergy participation in the elections to the State Duma. The following key points are highlighted, which are discussed in the periodical press: the clergy role in the political process, the clergy participation in the parties’ activities, the attitude of priest G.S. Petrov, the Orthodox clergy and the results of the elections to the State Duma.Conclusions. The Orthodox clergy is seen as a significant factor in the election campaign. For right-wing publications, the priests acted as their allies, with the help of which it is planned to bring as many monarchists as possible to the Duma. At the same time, some representatives of the right-wing press are against the participation of priests in the elections. For the Cadets, the Social Democrats and the periodicals close to them, the priests acted as agents of the political will of the bureaucracy, which sought to increase the number of conservative-minded deputies in the Duma.

Importance. The demographic portrait of peasantry in the first half of the 1920s is examined. The relevance of the study is due to the need for a comprehensive study of the Russian peasantry of the “revolutionary turning point” generation (born at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries). The pur pose of the research is to provide a detailed demographic description of the specified age cohort of rural society during a period of large-scale socio-political upheavals.Materials and Methods. The authors focus on the main demographic indicators: birth rate, mor tality, marriage rate, and natural population growth. In order to determine the factors that influ enced the model of demographic behaviour of peasants, statistical collections for the Voronezh, Oryol, Kursk, and Tambov provinces are analysed. These sources are characterised by the pres ence of objective data on the population with minimal ideological distortions. The paper uses a wide range of materials based on censuses, surveys, special studies, and observations. The works of prominent ethnographers of the 1920s are also considered.Results and Discussion. The authors have analysed the demographic behaviour of the “revolu tionary turning point” generation during the new economic policy period. The influence of wars and revolutions on the family behaviour of peasants is studied. The features of marriage and di vorce are considered. The specifics of compensatory birth rate after a series of wars are examined. The main causes of mortality among peasants of the “revolutionary turning point” generation are established. The factors increasing life expectancy and decreasing the mortality rate of the rural population have also been determined.Conclusion. Based on a wide range of sources, the conclusion is made about the contradictory model of demographic behaviour of peasants of this generation, which combined elements of tra ditionalism and modernist features.

Importance. The key issue in Russia’s history has always been the agrarian question, which took the form of the collectivization of peasant agriculture in the 1930s. Late in the 20th and the first quarter of the 21st centuries, when a lot of new archive sources were involved in open circulation, the issue of transforming agrarian relations became the core of public and scholarly discourse. The purpose of the study is to analyse and systematise modern research approaches to the study of the collectivization process in the Soviet Union in the late 1920s–1930s in the context of modernization processes.Materials and Methods. An interdisciplinary methodological approach is used in the research: the works of historians, sociologists, and cultural scientists on the problems of collectivization and modernization are analyzed. Methods of comparative and structural analysis are used in the study of historiography.Results and Discussion. The publications of historians from the late 1980s to the 2020s devoted to “the great break” in the life of the Russian village are studied. Based on a comprehensive approach to the problem of collectivization, the versatility and interrelationships of various scientific views are highlighted; the research demonstrates that collectivization is not merely a local historical phenomenon but is a part of a broader, global process of modernization of Russia.Conclusion. The agrarian issue of Russian history and historiography is a multifaceted topic essential for understanding the economic, social, and cultural processes of Russia. In the postPerestroika period, “the great break” has been re-evaluated. At first, it was heavily criticised, but later the objective reasons for the creation of the collective farm system were recognised. In modern historiography, collectivization is considered in the context of modernization of Russia, emphasizing the continuity of the pre-revolutionary and post-revolutionary periods.

Importance. Studying the Chinese province of Liaoning’s economic and demographic development history allows us to trace the origin of current problems related to the migration of the Chinese population to the eastern and south-eastern provinces and the decline in the birth rate throughout China. The economic and demographic development of Liaoning Province after the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 until the start of the “reform and opening up” policy in 1978, was characterized by the processes of economic development and the formation of industrial infrastructure. The research aims to examine the history of the economic and demographic development of Liaoning Province in the context of the formation and functioning of northeast China's industrial base from 1954 to 1978.Materials and Methods. The study uses materials from the population censuses of the People’s Republic of China for 1953, 1964; five-year plans (1953–1957, 1958–1962, 1966–1970, 1971–1975, 1976–1980); statistical collection on the industrial development of Chinese provinces from 1949 to 1989; statistical collections of Liaoning Province. The main research methods in preparing the study were historical-genetic and statistical.Results and Discussion. In the process of reviewing the history of economic and demographic development of Liaoning Province from 1954 to 1978. several stages are identified: 1. 1953–1957 – economic and demographic development of Liaoning province during the implementation of the first five-year plan; 2. 1958–1966 – development in difficult conditions of industrial transformations; 3. 1966–1978 – development during the years of the “Cultural Revolution” and the transition to the policy of “reform and opening up”.Conclusion. The formation of Liaoning as an important industrial base of China from 1953 to 1957. had an impact on strengthening the economic potential of the province and the growth of its population due to the migration influx of young qualified personnel from all over China to Liaoning. The unprecedented growth of steel enterprises, as well as three years of natural disasters (1959, 1960, 1961) were reflected in a decline in the birth rate and a decrease in the natural increase in the population of Liaoning Province in 1958–1966. During the Cultural Revolution, the development of Liaoning was accompanied by a decrease in the share of the metallurgical industry and an increase in mechanical engineering. The pace of technological industrial renewal slows down, and the number of skilled workers arriving in Liaoning declined. These processes and the introduction of family planning policies in China were reflected in a decrease in the birth rate and natural population growth in the province.