The dissertation proposes a methodical system of studying belles-lettres works with mythological structures of the explicit type, which is theoretically substantiated and tested experimentally, at the lessons of Ukrainian literature in grades 9–11. This solution involves substantiating, developing, and experimentally testing the proposed methodological system (educational technology).
The relevance of the research topic is determined by the necessity to develop specific approaches to studying artistic works that reveal the peculiarities of mythological thinking as an element of Ukrainian national culture. In this context, the need to teach students to analyze Ukrainian literary works with explicit mythological structures, as outlined in the educational programs for grades 9–11, becomes particularly important.
Analysis of the problem in related humanities and the intensity of modern scientific research allowed us to conclude that knowledge of mythology is necessary for students as a theoretical basis for the effective study of program literary works with mythological structures of the explicit type.
In the process of scientific justification, the contribution of Ukrainian scholar-methodologists (H. Biichuk, Yu. Bondarenka, A. Hurduza, N. Lohvinenko, N. Nezhyvoi, L. Udovychenko, V. Ulishchenko, etc.) to solving the problem of studying literary works with mythological structures of the explicit type has been highlighted. Various aspects requiring further scientific exploration have also been identified.
The research has established methodological principles and described practical experience in addressing the problem of studying literary works with explicit mythological structures in school settings.
Explicit mythological structures can manifest on the narrative, compositional, spatiotemporal, linguistic, imaginative, thematic, and philosophical levels of the work, depending on the specificity of the writer's modeling of the overall concept of artistic reality.
The main elements of explicitly expressed mythological components are mythologeme, image, plot, motive of mythical origin.
Theoretical developments in the field of teaching methods of Ukrainian literature and practical experience of studying this category of works became the basis for the development of experimental methodological system, which is a logically structured unity of interconnected components: specially selected texts, theoretical concepts, specially developed principles of teaching, ways of analysis (conceptual-mythological, verbal-mythological, plot-mythological, figurative-mythological and combined), types and forms of lessons, united by a common didactic goal – to provide students with knowledge about explicit mythologism in literature and teach them to analyze literary works with specific artistic features. The leading purpose of the methodical system, procedural lines of its realization have been outlined, educational situations have been described, methods, techniques and kinds of educational activity at the lessons of Ukrainian literature have been defined.
The experimental work was conducted in the following stages: the diagnostic stage, the formative stage and the summarizing stage.
The scientific novelty of the obtained results is that for the first time there was developed a methodical model of studying literary works with mythological structures of the explicit type at the lessons of Ukrainian literature in grades 9–11, theoretically substantiated and experimentally tested, in particular: the concept of “mythological structures of the explicit type” has been clarified, its semantic content has been specified, the functional role in the belles text has been defined; the functioning of mythological structures of the explicit type in literary works introduced into the school curriculum has been outlined; a system of knowledge and skills that need to be formed in students has been developed; criteria and levels of formation of students’ ability to analyze literary works taking into account its mythological imagery (high, sufficient, average and initial) have been determined; mythological-conceptual, mythological-genetic and mythological-functional principles of studying literature have been proposed for the first time; a conceptual-mythological way of a literary work analysis has been developed for the first time and four variants have been proposed: verbal-mythological, plot-mythological, figurative-mythological and combined as a unity of genre-mythological and mythological-stylistic; the system of lessons subspecies for problem-thematic analysis by application of conceptual-mythological processing of the literary text has been expanded.
