Olshanski D. Didactic conditions of comics use in teaching primary school children foreign languages.

In the dissertation the didactic expediency of the use of a comic as an efficient visual aid is founded. The history of a comic as a genre of entertainment and study is traced back and its features as a means of teaching foreign languages are analysed, the form and contents are defined. With the aim of theoretical foundation of the comic use for teaching primary school children the psychological and pedagogical literature on their traits, linguistic development and cognitive interests is scrutinised. The didactic conditions of comics use are determined and theoretically founded. We offer the model of study intended for the development of foreign language skills by means of comics use, conduct the selection of comics plots with regard to specific interests of primary school children, present the tasks based on the comic form and contents. The results of the experiment confirm our assumptions about the efficiency of a comic as a means of forming foreign language skills and mechanisms, including those ofdialogue speech. During the experiment we registered the high rate of involvement due to the use of a comic, which eventually led to the better understanding and more efficient memorising of new material observed in all the children irrespective of the language mastery level.