The Influence Of Technology-enhanced Environment On Preschoolers Progress And Participation In ESL Learning Activities In Ukraine

As modern technologies have already become a part of our everyday life,it is very important to clearly realize their impact on the educational process from the very first stages.The children are using such hand-held devices like smartphones and Pads from the first years,and even months,of their lives.However,there are still a lot of questions remaining to be answered towards the effects of digital devices on children.Previous researches have proved that ubiquitous learning environment supports communication and language learning.However,the attention is mainly paid to the habits and peculiarities of adult learners,while the influence of the modern technologies on the preschoolers' development of language skills still is a solid gap.That is why the current thesis are focused on the preschool learning and teaching.The main goal of the research is to compare the progress in English as a second language learning among preschoolers in Ukraine who used technology-enhanced learning environment to those who were taught using traditional classroom methods.However,it is impossible to evaluate the technology usage and ac-ceptance among the children without focusing on their parents and teachers.The young learners' awareness about modern technologies and access to them is provided and regulated by the adults who take a key role in their education from the first days of their lives.The facts and research gap stated above define the main research ques-tions of the current thesis,namely:1.What is parents' and tutors' attitude towards language learning applications and Web 2.0 tools?2.Can the implementation of new technologies make English learn-ing process more effective and productive?3.What is the impact of web 2.0 and learning applications on pre-schoolers' attention and participation in learning activities?The research process is organized in three main stages:pre-course survey,learning process itself,and the post-course survey.During the first stage,on the basis of academic test conducted by teachers the 68 participating pre-schoolers are divided into two types of groups:control and experimental.The English language proficiency of the children in all groups is practically the same.The 33 parents of those students who are studying in the experimental groups and the 5 teachers are asked to participate in the pre-course question-naires and interviews.All the participants are affiliated with the private kin-dergarten in Chernihiv,Ukraine.During the second stage,the learning process is held in two main directions:the control groups do not change their learning methods,while the experimental groups use technology-enhanced learning environment.The learning goals are the same for both types of the groups,but the methods and tools are different.Moreover,in order to answer the third research question,namely:if there is any impact of web 2.0 tools and learning applications on preschoolers' attention and participation in learning activities,-the data is collected by the means of observations,and based on the report sheets.During the third stage,the data concerning the preschoolers' learning outcomes is collected and analyzed.Moreover,the post-course questionnaires among parents and interviews among teachers gather the information about the change(if any)in their acceptance and awareness of the modern technol-ogies.The data retrieved during the interviews,questionnaires and observations is analyzed by the means of SPSS.Major findings are presented as follows:1.There is a significant positive correlation between the preschool-ers' interaction with modern technologies and their parents' and teachers'awareness and acceptance of them.2.Comparing to the traditional classroom methods,the implemen-tation of modern technologies can speed the general English language learning up to 3.8 times.3.Comparing to the traditional teaching methods,the usage of mod-ern technologies proves to better sustain preschoolers' attention and engage them to participate more in the learning activities.In addition,some pedagogical suggestions are proposed for the practical implementation of modern technologies based on the major findings.The lim-itations and future research directions of this study are also stated in the last chapter of the thesis.