DEVELOPING LITERARY SKILLS AND ENHANCING CREATIVE POTENTIAL IN THIRD-GRADE SCHOOLCHILDREN UNDER THE CONDITIONS OF DISTANCE LEARNING VIA A VIRTUAL SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT

Abstract

The current article presents the available options for the development of literary skills and the enhancement of creative potential of third-grade schoolchildren in a virtual school environment which combines asynchronous and synchronous modes of teaching and learning. It presents a short theoretical research on the specific features of online learning platforms and the main aspects of literary skill development at primary school age. With a view to the analysis of the research question a survey was conducted during the second term of 2019/2020 school year among 26 third-graders, taking part in an extracurricular reading club that functioned in a distance learning mode via Google Classroom. The main research conclusions show that the combination of a synchronous and an asynchronous virtual learning environment has the capacity to improve third-grade schoolchildren’s literary skills, to enhance their independent learning and creative potential as well as to boost their digital competences.