FUTURE PRESCHOOL TEACHERS’ DIGITAL SKILLS DEVELOPMENT WITHIN DISCIPLINE “MODERN TECHNOLOGIES OF TEACHING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE TO PRESCHOOL CHILDREN”

Abstract

The article is devoted to an overview of the development of the digital skills of future preschool teachers within mastering the discipline “Modern technologies of teaching a foreign language to preschool children” in terms of their professional training. The educational potential of utilising various digital tools in foreign language teaching is presented. The influence of their use on future preschool teachers, in general, and their development of digital skills, specifically, is identified. The article employs theoretical research methods, including synthesis, generalisation, and literature review, to address the issue and distinguish between the terms of digital literacy, digital competency and digital skills. Additionally, the author's own experience was utilised to describe digital tools and their applications in teaching foreign languages to preschool children. Categorised into numerous groups based on their purpose, the author reveals the didactic value of digital tools in language learning used to reinforce vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, speaking and listening skills, provide immediate feedback, prompts for speaking, comprehension, pronunciation training, warm-up, motivational element, context-setting activity, introduce new vocabulary or communicative situations, multisensory and experiential learning, promote children’s engagement through play-based learning, and foster children’s imagination and linguistic interaction. Among the analysed tools are those aimed at generating word clouds, creating multifunctional digital learning spaces, videos with digital puppets, flashcards, interactive educational games, videos or video lessons, cartoons, comic strips, and story scenes, digital stories, AR experiences that bridge the physical and digital worlds, and programming interactive digital stories and games. The results of implementing the aforementioned digital tools demonstrate their effectiveness in developing the digital skills of future preschool teachers.