DIGITAL SUPPORT OF DEVELOPING NARRATIVE COMPETENCE AMONG CHILDREN FROM EXCLUDED RURAL COMMUNITIES IN SLOVAKIA

Abstract

Children from excluded rural communities in Slovakia are at permanent risk of low school achievement, which is often related to social, language and digital exclusion. A closed circle of social exclusion and childhood poverty usually leads to school attrition, adult exclusion, and unemployment. One way how to break this circle is helping these children to succeed at school from pre-primary and primary education. As far as the language of instruction (Slovak language) is often not their first language, these children fail to fulfill school requirements very early. To develop their narrative competence in the Slovak language we adopted a set of materials for the teaching of Slovak as a second language (Hocus & Lotus narrative format programme, Taeschner, 2005). We prepared for teachers and children printed books and handouts as well as digital materials like audiobooks, videos, web-based colour books and handouts usable with an interactive board. These materials were available via the project website and can help children to develop both language and digital competences which may bridge the school achievement gap in later education. An experimental project was designed to verify the programme in 10 classes of children from 6 to 10 years of age (N = 104). The teachers were asked to evaluate the outcomes of using the digital materials in narrative format education and the further needs were analyzed. Based on these results further recommendations for socially disadvantaged children are discussed. This study is a part of the project KEGA 060UK-4/2017 Supporting narrative competence in the Slovak language for children from marginalized language environment - a set of teaching materials and of the project VEGA 1/0409/17 Teachers' personality and professional vision related to the dealing with challenging situations in the classroom during the transition into service.