STUDENTS' READING SKILLS IN THE DIGITAL INFORMATION ENVIRONMENT

Abstract

The beginning of the information age, also known as the digital age, was marked by a series of social changes that were caused by the expansive currents of the digital and information revolution. The new social context is filled with numerous digital resources, devices, tools and platforms for processing, accessing and exchanging information. Information resources in printed form began to be replaced by hypermedia displays, web pages, animated and/or interactive books, multimedia content, etc. in which the linear reading approach is replaced by interactive hypermedia consumption of information.
The surge of digital innovations imposed the need for changes in the perception of reading competencies observed through the prism of the educational system whose main goal, among other things, is to develop functional literacy among students. Namely, the expanded and redefined information space constantly changes the methodical modeling of teaching in the direction of finding and using information of different types and in a different information environment, in order to solve real life problems. Practice shows that for students in the process of learning and searching for information, digital sources are increasingly becoming the primary source compared to printed media, which are gradually fading away. Digitization has also caused significant changes in teaching and learning methods, leading to teaching reforms around the world. Here, above all, we mean the changed forms of personalized learning, the application of ICT tools for interactive learning, the emergence of a combined form of teaching and learning (Blended learning), new forms of cooperation and communication, changes in the evaluation methodology, etc.
In the paper, we will present the results of a scientific research conducted under the title: Reading in the digital environment, in which we will present relevant data on the types, forms and availability of digital reading resources in R. S. Macedonia, as well as methodological approaches and the treatment of digital resources in the teaching of the Macedonian language in primary education. In the process of collecting, analyzing and interpreting the results, an analysis of the existing resource supply, of the normative acts affecting the teaching of language literacy, as well as of the school documentation, was applied. The data from the qualitative research was accompanied by empirical data from a survey conducted with 70 fifth grade students and from an unstructured interview with grade school teachers.
The results of the research showed that the digital-resource and didactic-methodical context in primary education in R. S. Macedonia does not provide the necessary conditions for the development of reading comprehension competencies in a digital environment.