The aim of the research was to solve a problem of sustaining and developing foreign language skills and abilities by young learners during long-lasting summer holidays. The analysis of the current situation in Ukrainian education sector showed that reading a book continues to be one of the few tools for English revision in summer. There has been little research targeting on studying the impact of summer reading on young learners’ foreign language acquisition, so the experiment in which 240 young learners (aged 8-9) took part was conducted. Both the experimental (n=120) and control (n=120) groups were pre-tested and post-tested in May and September 2019 respectively, and the children’s skills and abilities in reading comprehension, vocabulary, speaking, writing and creativity were checked. The data obtained before the experiment showed almost the similar level of language acquisition in both groups. The results of the experiment indicated significant progress of the participants of the experimental group in every aspect of English. The main factors which played the crucial role in young learners’ enhancements were access to English readers, comprehensibility of the reading materials which were elaborated specially for the children’s language needs, interesting topics, reading for pleasure and enjoyment without tasks, tests or marks, and parental support. These results proved the reasonability of integrating summer reading in teaching foreign languages in primary school and induced the creation of English readers for all grades of elementary education.
Nowadays the name of Pyotr Bezsonov, the acknowledged in pre-revolutionary Russia scholar, is known to but a narrow circle of researchers as some myths and stereotypes about him have proved difficult to overwhelm. Yet, he traced in the history of Slavic studies as an assiduous collector of ancient Russian and Slavic literature works and explorer of Bulgarian, Belarusian and Serbian folklore, folk songs in particular, a scrutinizer of the Slavic languages and dialects, a talented pedagogue and editor. Based on the genuine sources, such as letters, documents and memoirs, as well as nineteenth century publications, which have become the bibliographic rarities, this article aims to present the revised biography of the scholar through revealing the hitherto unknown or underestimated facts of his life and research activity; also, to highlight his achievements in the field of Slavic history, literatures and linguistics; finally, to determine the place deserved by Bezsonov in Russian and European culture as a whole. The special attention is given to the Kharkiv period, related to the years of his professorship at Kharkiv University.
Received: 17 February 2021 / Accepted: 9 April 2021 / Published: 10 May 2021
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