USING POETIC TEXTS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE AT SECONDARY SCHOOLS OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC: THE RESULTS OF PILOT STUDY

Abstract

The development of learners’communicative competence is the main goal in foreign language teaching. Numerous domestic and foreign researchers have noted that using poetic texts in foreign language teaching contributes to the development of four language skills: listening, reading, writing, and speaking. Our dissertation research focuses on the use of poetic texts in the Russian language teaching at secondary schools of the Czech Republic. This paper presents the results of a pilot study conducted in April - October 2021. The purpose of the study was to test the appropriateness of the data collection tools. The pilot study consisted of a semi-structured interview with a secondary school teacher who used poetic texts in his teaching practice, and a structured observation of his lessons. It was discovered that the chosen data collection tools were selected appropriately, as they lead to answering the main research question: how poetic texts are used to develop communicative competence in the Russian language teaching at Czech secondary schools. The interview with the chosen for the pilot study teacher and the observation of his lessons led to the conclusion that using poetic texts in Russian lessons helps to develop monologic and dialogic speaking skills, it also helps to develop listening and reading skills. It also helps to enlarge the learners’ vocabulary. The use of poetic texts gives an opportunity to work with various grammatical and phonetic phenomena in a creative way; it is also one of the ways to introduce the learners to the culture of Russia. The frequency of the inclusion of poetic texts in the lessons is influenced by the school curriculum, the chosen textbook, the characteristics of the class and motivation of the learners.