Аннотация
The article examines ethnocultural components of academic discourse as a resource for activating cognitive processes and constructing personal meaning in the course of working with instructional texts. The aim of the study is to identify the discursive mechanisms through which ethnoculturally marked materials stimulate students’ reflective and evaluative activity. The empirical corpus includes texts and tasks from a Grade 11 Russian language textbook used in Kazakhstani schools, as well as written responses produced by 24 students (Secondary School No. 18, Astana). Although the sample size is limited, the data provide insight into the mechanisms of cognitive activation. The methodology combines content analysis of instructional materials with qualitative thematic analysis of students’ written reflections within a cognitive-discursive framework. The findings demonstrate the activation of three interrelated types of cognitive processes: associative, reflective, and evaluative. These processes are manifested through references to personal experience, intercultural comparisons, and value-based judgments. It is concluded that the ethnocultural component functions not merely as a representational element of instructional texts but also as a discursive trigger for the construction of personally meaningful understanding.