THE DIDACTIC POTENTIAL OF DIGITAL LIBRARY PLATFORMS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF STUDENTS’ LANGUAGE AND SPEECH COMPETENCES IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING

Abstract

The article considers the didactic potential of digital library platforms as a means of developing students’ language and speech competences in foreign language teaching. The relevance of the study is determined by the need to expand authentic reading practices in a digital educational environment and to strengthen students’ independent work with foreign-language texts. The research is based on theoretical analysis of scientific literature, content analysis of open digital libraries, comparative analysis of their functional characteristics and a case study of using an online story in a foreign-language classroom. The article substantiates the choice of Project Gutenberg, ManyBooks and StoryWeaver and presents this justification in a table. The results show that digital library platforms provide access to authentic and adapted texts, support differentiated reading, contribute to vocabulary enrichment, grammatical observation, discussion, retelling, written reflection and project work. Special attention is paid to methodological conditions that allow these platforms to be included in classroom, blended and independent learning. The scientific novelty of the article lies in presenting digital library platforms not as auxiliary repositories of texts, but as methodically structured resources for integrated development of receptive and productive speech skills.