Improving Prospective Preschool Teachers' Methodological Competence in Developing Children's Speech Through Digital Educational Tools
Year: 2026
Type: article
Study design: Clinical Trial
Abstract: Digital tools offer new possibilities for supporting young children's speech, but research shows that their value depends on how adults use them: passive screen exposure can reduce opportunities for conversation, whereas well-chosen materials used together with an adult can enrich it. Teachers therefore need not only technical skills but the ability to subordinate a digital tool to a speech-development goal. Drawing on the TPACK framework, this study conceptualises methodological competence as the integration of linguistic-methodological, technological, integrative-design and reflective-evaluative components. A four-stage model – critical evaluation of digital tools, design of speech activities, trial in practice and reflection – was implemented in preschool teacher retraining courses at a regional center of pedagogical skills in Uzbekistan and compared with a conventional course in which digital technologies and speech methodology were taught in separate modules. Data were collected through questionnaires, a knowledge test, tool-evaluation tasks, activity plans, observation during placements and reflective journals. At the outset, trainees' technological knowledge was relatively good, but they seldom linked digital tools to speech-development aims. By the end of the course, trainees in the experimental group selected tools on the basis of the activity's speech goal, limited screen time to a few minutes and used the material as a starting point for conversation, retelling and play. Digital storytelling, in which children's own drawings and recorded narratives were assembled into e-books, proved particularly effective in increasing children's willingness to speak. The model requires no additional teaching hours and can be adapted for in-service training.
Language: English
Subfield: Speech and Hearing
Field: Health Professions
Domain: Health Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7225011493