What does a language and literature teacher need to know about the psychological traits of the Generation Z

Abstract

This article describes a psychological portrait of the digital generation and characterizes the modern students’ typical traits that relate to their cognitive and personal development, communication patterns, and new cultural practices. The author employs the methods of theoretical analysis and generalizing the results of relevant academic sources, as well as the method of extrapolation — the transfer of their conclusions about the Generation Z onto teaching the Russian language. Special attention is paid to the mental processes and phenomena that have been most affected by the spread of digital technology: cognition, memory, semantic reading and understanding, as well as speech. The author discusses the following phenomena: clip thinking, transactive memory, and transformations of speech development. The results show how the new opportunities and risks of digitalization create new problems in teaching the Russian language, in particular. In addition, the author provides the exemplary assignments aimed at the development of systemic thinking, memory, and speech.