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29PEDAGOGICAL SCIENCES
DIGITAL AND LANGUAGE EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT FOR THE FORMATION OF PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCES DURING THE TRAINING OF PEDAGOGY STUDENTS
Tsenkova A.K.
Prof. Dsc
Trakia University, Faculty of Education, Stara Zagora, Bulgaria
Borisova T.I. Prof. Dsc
Trakia University, Faculty of Education, Stara Zagora, Bulgaria
Brnekova D.I. Assoc. Prof. PhD
Trakia University, Faculty of Education, Stara Zagora, Bulgaria
Otuzbirova-Arnaudova A.L.
Assoc. Prof. PhD
Trakia University, Faculty of Education, Stara Zagora, Bulgaria
Zafirov H.K. Assist. Prof. Msc. Dipl. Eng.
Trakia University, Faculty of Education, Stara Zagora, Bulgaria
Pavlova M.S. Assist. Prof.
Trakia University, Faculty of Education, Stara Zagora, Bulgaria
ABSTRACT
The training of Pedagogy students is directed towards the acquisition of professional competences which teachers need to exercise their profession in recent times. In this article, we have presented a part of our research related to the formation of communicative and digital competence in an adequate educational environment. The article is a result of the work on a university project called "Digital and Language Educational Environment in the Academic Training of Pedagogy Students". The authors have sought to explore the structure of the educational environment, and the possibilities for widening the range of the practical realization of digital technologies as innovative projections for the acquisition of knowledge and the formation of competences.
Keywords: digital language environment, communication, competences, foreign language learning, e-re-sources, self-education
Introduction
Contemporary students of pedagogy will be teaching a generation expected to produce innovations as a basis for improving the quality of life. Future teachers must be trained in such a way so that they could be close to the latest generation of pupils born and raised in a high technology environment. These pupils' perception of the environment and their expectations for the educational process are influenced by digital technologies.
Information and communication technologies together with contemporary educational technologies form a new set of tools for the realization of various educational aims, and of effective means and methods for learning in a digital educational environment, adequate to the natural pace of societal informatization. In the National Strategy for Effective Application of Information and Communication Technologies in Education and Science of the Republic of Bulgaria (2014-2020) the following tendencies for informatization in the field of education and science were drawn:
- Gradual approximation of ICT to users
- Growth of functionality in information processes
- Convergence of technical means
- Development of cloud ICT infrastructures, technologies and services
These tendencies have a direct influence on the structure of the environment in which current and prospective students are being trained and in which they acquire their professional competence.
The outlined aspects of innovative ICT are directly interrelated to language education, since they create conditions in which language is learned in the process of its functioning. The main function of language as a means of communication helps digital technologies to create an environment close to the natural one, in which meaningful utterances are made, opinions are exchanged and arguments and defended. Such conditions stimulate students to communicate in a foreign language. In such an environment skills for processing large databases, concentrated /language/ knowledge
and its use are formed. Thus, in the process of functioning language knowledge, skills and competencies are formed. The following factors are responsible for the efficiency of the presented process:
- Partners - teacher-student/students, studentstudent or student-students
- The roles they have adopted
- The situation or situations in which partners communicate
The outlined factors define the main pillars of communication:
- What we say
- How we say it
- Why we say it
The aim of this article is to summarize and give reason for the application of language knowledge and its communicative projections in digital environment. The relationship of communicative skills with the digital environment in the educational process stands out and is realized as:
- A stimulus for communication due to the modelling of an environment close to the natural one;
- A motive for communication between speakers
- Favorable conditions for a communicative situation.
Essence of the digital educational environment
In the training of students at Master's as well as at Bachelor's level it has largely been affirmed that the preferred form of learning is the one which combines elements of distance and traditional education, a form that blends ICT means and methods with traditional approaches and tools. Distance learning forms help learners become more independent, more active and more responsible for their personal development and also assists the independent organization of learning activities.
An electronic or a digital learning environment offers an opportunity for developing electronic forms of distance education: the so called e-learning, which depending on the specificity of the concrete technology exists under different forms and names: computer-based learning, internet-based learning web-based learning, online learning, virtual learning, m-learning, u-learning. Nikolov in his work on Global Campus analyzes the phenomenon "electronic learning" in its various transformations on the basis of a multitude of research, development and pilot implementations of ICT from a technological, pedagogical, organizational, managerial, economic, and political perspective. As a result of the analysis, directions for creating a single electronic educational environment for all higher education institutions in the country have been provided [Nikolov 2009, p.21].
Despite obvious disagreement in pedagogical science on the essence of the types of electronic learning, all scholars relate it to the relevant pedagogical environment. In academic literature different names for pedagogical environment are available according to the key concept lying in the centre of research: "educational environment", "environment for learning", "learning environment", "learning engaging environments", "interactive environment", "virtual environ-
ment", "digital educational environment", etc. The variety of the definitions of "environment" is dependent on the perspective of a specific pedagogical system, and most authors emphasize on the relationship between subjects and pedagogical interaction [Branekova 2010, p.42]. Kolarova defines the university pedagogical environment as " a real system of macro and micro conditions, which cumulatively present living, financial, material, organizational, social and personal options for satisfying the needs of pedagogical subjects in the educational reality" [Kolarova 2011, p.73]. Zaharova considers the educational environment as a "group of resources, study materials, equipment, and technologies available to educators and students" [Zaharova 2008, p.13].
A digital educational environment is a complex of information and communication technological tools with technical, methodological, and organizational character. A large part of these means are designed for self-learning and self-help, for work in thematically organized databases, for searching and systematizing of information and are realized thanks to the use of multimedia technologies. Multimedia (from Latin multum-many and media - means) is a combination of hardware and software means, information technologies and creative ideas for presenting information in the form of unitary system, including text, graphics, sound, video and interactivity. It is not related to a programme product, but it has a specific technology giving an opportunity for computer information to be presented through sound, video and animation in addition to traditional media information (text, pictures and graphics). Multimedia allows the combination of the possibilities of television with the power of computer systems. The end result is applications which are:
- Effective - information for reading can be replaced with information which can be heard and seen, such as the one in a video file;
- Direct - information can be presented by using the best environment, for instance applications for native language learning can be used with original recordings in order to demonstrate the dialects and correct language norm;
- Personalized - applications with individualized combination of elements can be developed.
- Interactive - the multimedia system presents a systemic architecture, designed for using various media environments to store and present information
In virtual environments the objects which the user interacts with are presented visually, and thus replace actual existing objects, events, processes, etc. Possibilities for network learning are used. Zhuk and Sirenko define the virtual educational environment as "a network communication space in which the organization of the educational process is provided, together with its methodological and informational maintenance, its documentation and interaction among all its subjects" [Zhuk, Sirenko 2011, p.134]. The same authors outline the following characteristics of the educational environment:
- The educational environment must be instructive, developmental, formative, informative,
ecological, healthy, esthetical, dialogical, and humane;
- The basis for creating an educational environment is the interaction among all subjects in the educational process;
- The educational environment begins where the focused interaction between teacher and students starts, at the point where they start designing the subject and resources of their mutual work;
- The creation of an educational environment is the design of a purposeful environment for the provision of interaction between subjects in the educational process.
Due to the multitude of Internet services the number of universities, colleges, various organizations, freelance teletutors etc. is continuously growing. They offer distance learning in various areas of human knowledge. Examples for realized virtual environments are the so-called "virtual universities", "virtual academies", "virtual work teams", etc. The main problems for the realization of virtual learning environments or their combination with other environments are of technical or infrastructural nature, and they are also related to copyright and intellectual property.
Varbanova-Dencheva makes a review of e-learn-ing in higher education in Bulgaria from which it is apparent that in all Bulgarian universities where pedagogical specialists are trained integrated e-learning systems are used to a greater or lesser extent. According to her Bulgaria "has reached the average level of EU indicators for the development of information society and about 63% of the students are involved in e-learning in one way or another" [Varbanova-Dencheva 2012, p.235].
In these integrated systems teaching is realized without direct contact between the teacher and learners, or among learners. More often, learning is of mixed nature (blended learning) in the realization of various didactic problems, included in the specific educational strategy. The emphasis is on the development of radically different teaching materials that include structured information, with references and comprehensive branching of knowledge, situations for acquiring new knowledge that require the active participation of learners, as well as problems for self-assessment and the control of knowledge and skills acquisition.
Multimedia as a technology for presenting information mostly influences the teaching methods. This influence pushes the development of teaching methods further towards the individual needs of all participants in the learning process, towards the activation of learning and the propensity to self-education. An interactive (dialogic) environment is created which is directed to all, and in which each - learner or teacher - can learn. Interactive multimedia is every software product in which audio-video technologies, text and animation are combined in a suitable way to motivate students and to attract their attention. In the interactive multimedia environment an opportunity for the student or pupil is provided to control, combine and manipulate different types of media, such as text, sound, video, computer graphics and animation. The role of the learner is transformed from a passive listener to an active participant
who studies according to their potential, tackles problems in a virtual environment which is as close as possible to the real world and explores how a certain situation influences another.
The building of environments assisting e-learning is related to overcoming serious challenges which are not limited to the creation or distribution of learning materials in the form of various electronic resources. What is important is to find the "point of intersection" between a high technology educational environment and the essence of learning and teaching in order to build students' professional competence.
Professional competence of future educators
Competences as a component of students' professional training are related to the definition concerning educational results as outlined in the European Qualifications Framework: "A combination of knowledge, skills and competencies acquired by the individuals, which they are capable of demonstrating after completing their education" [EQF 2009]. Education in pedagogical specialties is directed towards acquiring a professional competence necessary for teachers in order to practice their profession in the contemporary world. Many authors study the origin of the terms "competency" and "competence" and the relationship between them. Often, both terms are used interchangeably, for instance in European educational documents. In order to specify the essence of "communicative competence" and "digital competence" we must analyze the more general terms - "professional competence of the teacher" and "educational competence". V. Velikova defines "educational competence as the result of educational activity" [Velikova 2003, p.3-19]. She comments on the Latin origin of the term "competency", which specifies the term "competence": "competo-" - "coincide with; correlate to; capable of", "competentia" -"proportionality; proportion", "competenter" - "as it should". Analyzing the "logic of these meanings and the use of the term", Velikova defines competency as "a well-structured in our brains capability, determined by high levels of knowledge, values and actions, revealing itself through corresponding skills" [Velikova 2003, p. 15]. Naydenova and Genkova in their research on the structure of professional competence of teachers define competence as "a system of competencies on given questions" [Velikova, Naydenova 2000, p.8]. In the same study the authors make a comparative analysis of the term "competence" and its related terms awareness, experience, literacy, expertise, professionalism, erudition. They define "professional competencies as a component of professional competence and as complex personal formations, due to the acquisition of a certain amount of knowledge, skills, experience and behavior in a given area of labour" [Velikova, Naydenova 2000, p. 11]. Milkova defines the term "competency" as a result of education - preparedness, adaptability, accessibility of goals, and the term "competence" - as a complex integral quality of the personality, revealed as its general ability and readiness for action, built upon knowledge and experience that are acquired in the process of training, education, upbringing and socialization, and which are oriented towards individual and
successful participation in the activity [Milkova 2015, p.46].
As for language education of students, their level of communicative competence is defined as an ability for functional use of the language inventory for perception, understanding and generation of messages (texts) with a specific meaning in order to store and process the relevant information. Communicative competence is defined as a transition from knowledge to action, of transformation of language knowledge to an ability to operate with it and readiness to use it adequately in real communicative situations. I. L. Bim [Bim 1977] indicates that a specific characteristic of communicative competence is the way individuals communicate in a group using language means. She distinguished three different aspects of this ability:
- Material (language and speech means)
- Procedural (speech acts in specific spheres and communicative situations);
- Ideal (subject of speech, topics and problems)
The acquisition of the foreign language as a means
for communication presupposes the formation of a certain level of communicative competence which would include not only knowledge of the language system, but also ability to correctly use language means in relevant communicative situations. As units of communicative competence the following are discussed:
- Communicative spheres and situations
- Topics and programme for their deployment
- Communication tactics
- Social roles of the participants in communication
- Different types of competences (linguistic, socio-cultural, strategic, etc.)[Koleva 2010, p.19-20].
The development of 21st century new skills according to Europe 2020 Strategy, the programme for modernization of higher education systems and the European framework for key skills for lifelong learning is based on a competence approach. This is justified by the assumption that this method allows individuals to flexibly and adaptively use their knowledge and skills, to pursue their personal goals while knowing their limits and choosing an environment in which they can act competently and feel efficient. Furthermore, such an approach secures the achievement of a higher degree of relatedness between one's individual experience of knowledge and skills and his/her social aims in society. As for the specification of the content and relations between the terms "competencies" and "competence" the following conclusions can be drawn:
- The etymology of both terms is common, but different authors and schools imply differences in the meanings of these two terms
- The majority of authors defend the opinion that competence is the more general term and is related to personal qualities, while competency has a more objective character and has an expressively more specific meaning.
- In the European educational space "competence" and "competencies" are used interchangeably; in the European reference framework and the National strategy for lifelong learning the terms "professional competences" and "key competences"
are used.
- In the sense of curricula preparation in different educational degrees the relationship between "competency " and "competence " is analogous to goal and achieved result, whereas in the broader sense competence is viewed as a result of accumulated competencies [Branekova 2015, p.456]
In this article we have assumed that competency is a combination of interrelated knowledge, skills, habits and methods for activities in regard to definite subjects and processes which are needed for performing quality productive activity. Competence is the acquisition or possession of the relevant competency including one's personal attitude towards it and the activity; competence is a multitude of innate and acquired personal qualities, relations, knowledge and skills leading to high quality work.
Digital competence of student teachers
Education in a digital educational environment for building students' theoretical and practical professional competence requires, regardless of the academic discipline, a good level of knowledge and skills related to various aspects of informatics and information technologies.
According to the European recommendations on key competencies, as defined in 2006, digital competences are recognized as one of the eight key lifelong learning competences. They are defined as a "combination of knowledge, skills, attitudes (including abilities, strategies, values and awareness), that are needed for using ICT and digital media for the performance of various tasks: tackling problems; communication; information management; cooperation; creation and sharing of content; as well as knowledge building in an effective, efficient and suitable way: critically, creatively, autonomously, flexibly, ethically, about work, leisure, participation, learning, communication, consumption and empowerment". Digital competences are universal key competencies which as such give us an opportunity to acquire other key competences (such as language, mathematics, learning skills, cultural awareness).
In 2013 the DigComp Framework for Digital Competencies of European Citizens was published. Due to the dynamic development in the area of education and IT in June 2016 DigComp 2.0 -Phase 1 was published to upgrade the conceptual model and review the descriptors and used lexis. DigComp identified key components of digital technologies in five areas and 21 competencies. Each competence was presented in the same format, including the title and the description. Phase 2 of the actualization which included eight levels of the results of training and examples of knowledge, skills and attitudes related to each competence. It becomes evident from the list below that the digital competence is related not only to the skillful use of ICT tools, but includes various additional components:
1. Information and data literacy
- Surfing, locating and retrieving data, information and digital content
- Judging the relevance of the source and its content
- Management and organization of data, information and digital content
2. Communication and collaboration
- Interaction through digital technologies
- Communication through digital technologies
- Participatory citizenship through digital technologies
- Collaboration by the means of digital technologies and netiquette
- Management of one's digital identity
3. Digital content creation
- Creation of digital content
- Integration and improvement of development of digital content
- Copyright and licensing
4. Safety
- Device protection
- Personal data protection and privacy
- Health and well-being safety
- Environmental impact
5. Problem solving
- Resolving conceptual problems in digital environments
- Innovative processes and digital technologies
- Keeping up-to-date with digital evolution
Didactic opportunities of the digital educational environment for the formation of competences in training students from pedagogical specialties
The "digital educational environment" - "digital competence" is a two-way relationship: education in such an environment requires the presence of digital competence, while the competence formation is possible only in an adequate environment.
Most higher education institutions today have created a digital environment for learning and learners' support as well as other services for students. This is true for both types of educational institutions - those which offer traditional education and the ones providing online education. Any educational institution can use a combination of different technical solutions or integrate a multitude of functions to help e-learning. Sometimes these environments are called "virtual learning environments", "education management systems", "learning systems for content management", "virtual classrooms", etc.
These environments are realized through various software products - Blackboard, Moodle, De-sire2Learn, N@tschool, Teletop, Sharepoint, IT's Learning, Merlot, etc. Nevertheless, more and more institutions are using software which integrates separate ICT components in support of learning (e.g. Skype, email, document sharing, cloud services, YouTube channels, Facebook, etc.)
Currently, various ICTs facilitate the personalization of the learning environment (the most important perspective for learning in the future), and some even realize a connection with informal learning. That is why many educational institutions support learning in social communities and different educational networks.
Since the creation of a single national electronic educational environment which was set out in the national strategy for ICTs is a question of time, at the moment every educational institution is using a platform
to organize e-learning, at the basis of which lies the possibility for developing electronic learning courses (ELC). Most often universities, schools and other educational institutions in Bulgaria use Moodle (Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment), a system for e-learning which provides means for developing internet-based educational courses and web sites. The main learning concept set out in Moodle is social constructivism - learning through sharing and accumulation of new knowledge on the basis of old and past experience.
University courses comprise a number of learning modules. Each module includes topics, in which apart from the learning content, specific learning activities are described - lectures, seminars, project work, etc. Educational e-resources are amongst the most important components of the digital educational environment, because they incorporate the content of the learning process. The importance of e-resources in the learning process is significantly higher than that of traditional resources, because they must compensate for the lack of direct contact between learners and teacher [Totkov, et al. 2010, p.34].
In the process of developing an electronic academic course the author must structure and prepare the learning materials in the form of files, in which to include the learning content - systematic theory in the form of a structured text, texts in the form of additional materials; demonstrative materials - multimedia presentations, videos and films; practical tasks - creative or example-based with given instructions and directions; tests, checklists for self-assessment, etc. Furthermore, the author of the course must organize the individual work of the particular group of students taking the course. Learning materials are organized in separate blocks, most often according to the included study activities.
Trakia University, Stara Zagora has created and put into practice an e-learning platform, based on Moo-dle as part of the project "Development of a Centre for E-forms of Distance Learning" within the "Human Resources Development" programme. The platform has the following features:
- Pre-learning orientation, registration and enrollment, syllabus
- Creation and provision of learning materials
- Provision of additional materials and practical video examples
- Visualization of difficult terminology through modelling and visualization software
- Additional practical learning
- Clarification of concepts through interactive videos, simulation and games
- Improving the comprehension of terminology
- Receiving feedback from teachers and students
- Discussion groups, chat, group work and discussing different tasks
- Project-based learning
- Monitoring learning activities, portfolio
- Receiving help and support from students, institutions, and at times learning and work on virtual projects and in a virtual business environment
- Assessment, testing and exams
These functions of the e-platform are realized as learning content and as an organization of student learning through e-courses and multimedia textbooks.
The design of each topic includes the following sections:
Learning materials - text, audio, video, designed for independent student work for the acquisition of the necessary information;
Summary, self-assessment, control - this section contains a summary, an abstract of the theoretical material, key words, practical tasks for applying new concepts and a test for self-assessment on the topic;
Additional materials - this section contains slides for illustrating different concepts, resources for tackling practical assignments, related internet sources, etc.
The emphasis in all learning materials is on presenting theoretical knowledge on the current topic, related to its practical implementation. In this sense an overall understanding of the text and its capacity to realize the purpose of the learning materials is required. While selecting and presenting the tasks, the instructions, the possible answers and the use of language means, the attention is focused on the functioning of the language in the text. In order to understand the instructions, or the purpose of the assignment correctly, the student must be able to find the needed information in the text materials.
The most important elements of the text in a content-related, communicative and evaluative aspect direct the attention to the interrelations between its components. In the process of decoding the relevant relationships the key meanings that make the text comprehensible are to be found. In this way the strong elements of the text are outlined: the title, the beginning and the end of the text.
The title reveals the topic of the text (task) and leads to its logical development. In a way the title contains a problem whose solution can be understood by the reader if he/she reads the text until the end. In this way the title stimulates the reading process and the wish to understand the content.
The beginning and the opening paragraphs introduce the reader to the text and guide them to the structure of the meaningful components. This element of the text serves as a focal point focusing function regarding consecutive actions. It organizes the compositional and structural unity of the text as a communicative process.
The end of the text is its strong conclusive element. It represents the wholeness of the text (instructions), closes the conceptual idea and inspires further thinking over the problem stated earlier [Koleva 2010, p.141].
Seen in this way, comprehension is a component of thinking, which exists in revealing and broadening the hidden questions in problematic situations on the basis of using old knowledge and applying special approaches. When we read a text (or an instruction), we do not always intend to memorize it. Usually it is enough to understand it. In psychological research it has been proven that if we try to understand the text better, we, not randomly, but efficiently manage to
memorize it. This means that in the process of understanding the text students need to become aware of these approaches which can help them solve specific problems in the text or tackle problematic situations.
In order for the goals of the course to be completed teacher support and guidance are needed. They are provided through instructions, references, links and the possibilities available in Moodle for communication (chat) and sharing comments in forums. The rest is willingness and motivation for learning.
Multimedia textbooks are educational products specially designed for the purposes of online learning. They provide interactive maintenance of sound and video, i.e. they can unite the four types of information: text, static images, sound and dynamic images.
Multimedia textbooks on the university e-platform comprise of interrelated and logically complete topics, including learning content, a learning strategy according to the individual needs of students, as well as means of control and self-control of students' achievements.
Digital environment in foreign language learning
The use of digital technologies in the field of foreign language learning in particular reveals new opportunities related to the access to information, teaching methods, the autonomy of learners, means of communication, etc.
At the same time, it needs to be noted that the effect of the application of web-based technologies for the design of activities in foreign language learning has not been studied in detail [Kremenska 2011, p.9]. According to Yotovska most of the current learning models for the design of a university e-learning course are variations of the ADDIE model, including the main stages of analysis, design, development, implementation and evaluation. Other methods are also applied, but a unified pedagogical framework for the design of a university e-course is still missing [Yotovska 2016, p.76].
According to Shipchanov the development of digital learning materials for the needs of foreign language education falls into four main stages - a preliminary preparation, a didactic and pedagogical preparation, a practical realization of the programme and a postproduction [Shipchanov 2014, p.679]. These stages suggest a good theoretical and pedagogical argumentation, attention to the targeted goals of the product, knowledge of the psychological and pedagogical characteristics of the target group, choice of interface, solving of technological problems, application and assessment, etc.
Among the strongest aspects of using language educational content online are the authenticity of texts, their great diversity, the interest which they provoke among learners due to the different way of presenting the information, as well as the possibility for downloading them from specific locations on the web, in order to be available offline. A good example is the inclusion of online tests in the educational process as an alternative to traditional methods for enriching foreign language learning. The tests found online are a powerful and useful tool for teaching and learning a foreign language because they provide learners with additional language
content in a given educational field. As e results they have become the most popular information source both for students who wish to improve their language skills, and for teachers who are willing to add more varied and motivating tasks to the educational process.
There is an abundance of tests online which have been written by English teachers from around the world. The exercises are created in such a way that they would help those who study online and those who are interested in additional supportive self-learning. Usually, exercises are grouped in categories according to their content and level of difficulty in order to facilitate their selection by the teacher or learner.
Learners and teachers can work with the tests offline and this is so because most often they are in an HTML format which enables their downloading thanks to their small size, while the exercises with the answer key can be opened from the browser itself without the need for connection to another computer. Another advantage is the fact that they can be changed by the teacher according to the learning needs. What is more, learners are able to select the exercises which they consider appropriate, useful and interesting. Thus, they are more independent and can comprehend the specific language material with greater understanding.
The multimedia product "English for Humane Environmental Education", developed for the needs of teaching students from the Faculty of Education at Trakia University, is an educational product which integrates English learning and environmental educational content. Its realization follows the main stages of the ADDIE model (analysis-design-development-implementation-evaluation).
The multimedia textbook has an arborescent structure, in contrast to the linear structure used in the test assessment of knowledge. Learners can select the thematic units, the directions in which to develop their language knowledge and skills as well as the specific tasks to work on depending on their needs and interests. The use of the multimedia course book reflects the learning needs. This suggests two approaches for learners to choose from - working on different units (thematic) or working to improve their language skills (listening, reading, speaking and writing). Learning content is divided into five thematic units according to the interest and preferences of students, stated in a preliminary survey. The main topics are: Ecology and the Environment; Climate Changes and Global Warming; Environmental Pollution and Renewable Energy Resources; Biodiversity and Conservation; People and Animals. Each environmental topic from the learning content is divided into five main components: a lexical and grammatical component (Language Use), a listening comprehension component (Listening/ videos), a reading comprehension component (Reading), a component for developing oral communication skills through participation in discussions and small group work (Speaking and Discussion) and a component for project work and writing (Writing and Project Work). Concurrently, the textbook has a certain degree of autonomy. It is not related to the lexis and grammar of a specific language course book, but is rather developed to add extra practice on grammar progress, presented in the main course
book - Straightforward, as well as to introduce learners to basic environmental lexical items in the context of the environmental issues humanity faces today and to develop basic language skills. In addition, the textbook includes materials for environmental education in English for children in early school age (Some Ideas for Children Education), as well as additional sources for independent work (Useful Resources).
The multimedia textbook is designed on the basis of learning tasks which are its main building elements. The tasks reflect particular didactic principles of foreign language teaching and correspond to the language level of learners (B1-B2). The multimedia textbook creates opportunities both for independent work and the use of additional materials if needed (electronic glossary of new words), as well as for active involvement in the learning process and for team work during the performance of a specific task. Interaction between learners is encouraged together with the communication in the foreign language when participating in discussions, looking for solutions, argumentation of statements, helping others and self-reflection on learning and acquisition of new knowledge and skills. The development of communicative language competence seen as a combination of linguistic, socio-linguistic, strategic and discourse competence is encouraged [Shopov 2013, p.278].
The results indicate that at the end of the course the integration of digital and language educational environment leads to an increase in interest by 95% for students with a higher language level and respectively 89.74% for learners with a lower language level. In neither of the groups has interest declined. In addition, the analysis of the results shows an increase in language knowledge and skills of students and in particular an improvement of the communicative and professional competence of learners with better language skills [Ar-naudova 2016, p.26-27].
The outcomes prove the effectiveness of the education based on the integration of English language learning and environmental educational content with application of digital technologies.
Conclusion
The implementation of the main methodological principles of contemporary education, including foreign language learning, is in agreement with the universal character of information and communication technologies. These technologies provide an opportunity for presenting language knowledge in a synthesized way and including more support in language acquisition. Through digital technologies lifelike situations are modelled, which compensates for the lack of a foreign language environment. In this way ICTs become a mediator between students and the teacher who "directs" the presentation and the search for possible solutions. Digital technologies facilitate the use of structural models in a speech situation from a distance and the inclusion of as many senses and stimuli as possible for language acquisition. Thus, in broadening the range of practical realization of ICTs, innovative projections for acquiring knowledge (including linguistic knowledge) are rooted in its deeper structure.
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