The intermediate plateau remains a persistent challenge in second language acquisition, particularly for ESP learners who lack sustained exposure beyond the classroom. This study investigated whether self-directed learning mediated by AI tools could support Ukrainian IT students in overcoming this plateau. Using a 12-week mixed-methods design, 66 participants engaged in structured autonomous learning cycles integrating ChatGPT, NotebookLM, and ELSA Speak for vocabulary development, linguistic analysis, domain-specific comprehension, pronunciation practice, and reflective production. Quantitative data from Cambridge proficiency assessment, an IT-specific language test, IELTS-aligned speaking evaluation, and weekly pronunciation analytics revealed statistically significant improvement across all measures (p < .001). The largest gains were observed in pronunciation accuracy and fluency, followed by domain-specific language competence and oral communicative performance. Thematic analysis of interviews and learner logs revealed three central findings: (1) AI interaction increased learner agency, motivation, and emotional safety; (2) adaptive, judgment-free feedback strengthened persistence and confidence; and (3) initial guidance in goal setting and strategy use was essential for sustained self-regulation. While participants encountered AI hallucinations, they developed improved digital resilience and critical verification practices. The findings demonstrate that structured AI-supported autonomy can mitigate linguistic stagnation while fostering metacognitive awareness, self-efficacy, and sustained engagement. The study advances understanding of AI-enhanced self-directed learning as a scalable model for ESP instruction and underscores the need for critical AI literacy in autonomous learning ecosystems.
The ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine has created unprecedented psychological and educational challenges for students in Ukrainian universities. Understanding how war-related stress affects learning is essential for developing effective pedagogical strategies that support students' academic success under crisis conditions. This case study investigated the relationship between perceived stress and learning-related cognitive performance among 36 biochemistry students at Vasyl Stefanyk Carpathian National University (Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine) during February 2026. Perceived stress was assessed using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), while attention, concentration, and processing efficiency were evaluated using the Bourdon-Anfimov correction test. The PSS-10 indicated that 92% of students experienced moderate to high stress, with only 8% reporting low stress. Students with low stress levels maintained stable productivity and high accuracy, whereas students with moderate and high stress demonstrated a tendency toward reduced cognitive performance accompanied by considerable individual variability. Highly stressed students showed greater variability and a tendency toward decreased accuracy. The scientific novelty of the study lies in integrating psychological stress assessment with objective indicators of cognitive performance to examine learning-related functioning of university students during wartime in a region remote from active combat. From a pedagogical perspective, the findings highlight the importance of systematic monitoring of students' psychological well-being and cognitive readiness for learning and support the implementation of educational interventions aimed at improving academic resilience, attention, and learning effectiveness under prolonged crisis conditions.
The article aims to theoretically substantiate and empirically diagnose the conditions for developing Ukrainian-language communicative competence of learners in a digitally transformed educational environment and to design an evidence-based model integrating linguistic, discourse-pragmatic, digital-multimodal, media-critical, and mediation-reflective dimensions. The study employs secondary quantitative analysis combined with theoretical synthesis. The empirical base includes the Ukrainian national monitoring of Grade 6 and Grade 8 learning outcomes in the Ukrainian language conducted in 2023–2025, the 2024/2025 monitoring of the functioning of the state language in general secondary education, data from the 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment, and evidence from the United Nations Children’s Fund concerning distance learning and learning losses. The results reveal uneven dynamics. The mean Ukrainian-language test score of Grade 6 students increased from 32.25 in 2023 to 34.86 in 2025, an absolute gain of 2.61 points and a relative increase of approximately 8.1%. By contrast, the Grade 8 mean remained almost unchanged: 50.09 points in 2023 and 50.19 in 2025. At the same time, Ukrainian-language self-identification became stronger, whereas the proportion of students consuming Ukrainian-language internet content decreased from 71% in 2022/2023 to 54% in 2024/2025. This discrepancy is interpreted as a digital-language continuity gap between an institutionally supported Ukrainian-language educational environment and learners’ everyday digital practices. The scientific novelty lies in the proposed continuity model, which treats the digital environment not merely as a technical channel for instruction but as a distinct space of language socialisation, online interaction, mediation, multimodal meaning-making, and critical engagement with information. The model includes five interrelated components and a pedagogical cycle consisting of diagnosis, communicative task design, independent production, interaction and mediation, formative feedback and revision, and reflection through an e-portfolio. The practical significance of the study is associated with the possibility of using the model to design Ukrainian-language lessons and courses, authentic digital communication tasks, multimodal projects, assessment rubrics, and responsible scenarios for generative artificial intelligence. It is concluded that the effectiveness of digital transformation in language education should be assessed not by the number of technological tools introduced but by the expansion of meaningful Ukrainian-language interaction, the quality and independence of learner-generated language products, and learners’ ability to act critically, ethically, and appropriately in a multimodal information environment.
Drawing on extensive research on second language (L2) learning and motivation and based on a longitudinal study of displaced Ukrainian children’s perspective on Swiss primary schools and learning German as a second language, the author explores socio-contextual factors that play a significant role in shaping displaced children’s motivation to learn German in the initial stages of their placement in Swiss schools. The exploratory study, which was carried out within the framework of a qualitative methodology, revealed multiple factors that influence displaced children's motivation for L2 learning in the context of German-Swiss diglossia in schools in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. Based on the ‘person-in-context’ relational view of motivation, the author focuses on how individual learners perceive their learning context, their L2 learning experiences, and how their perceptions and interactions with the L2 learning environment affect their L2 motivation and learning behavior in the initial stages of placement in the host country schools. The data obtained by semi-structured interviews with displaced children and their parents are contextualized by classroom observations of the participants in different learning settings, which allows the author to focus on the learner-in-classroom context and contextually situated motivation while longitudinally collected data enable the author to address motivational developments in individual learners over time. Multiple motivational influences inductively derived from the data are grouped into four main categories: L2 learning setting, L2 learning methods, relationships with peers, and parental involvement. Qualitative content analysis of the data reveals that the effects of the L2 learning setting and peer groups are the strongest compared to other learner-external factors and vary within the research period. The study also confirms the importance of successful adjustment of displaced learners to a diglossic school environment for the development of L2 motivation.
The article presents the results of a study on the use of ICT, specifically online services, in the professional activities of primary school teachers. The research was conducted from 2018 to 2024. Taking into account the preferences of primary school teachers, which were identified through a longitudinal study (2019-2022), an open set of online services for organizing face-to-face, distance (in synchronous and asynchronous modes), and blended learning was developed. The set includes: Group I – services for creating interactive educational content (A. Services for creating interactive exercises; B. Services for creating interactive videos; C. Services for creating virtual whiteboards; D. Interactive simulation services); Group II – services for organizing and conducting online lessons; Group III – services for creating a virtual classroom and managing electronic gradebook. Considering the content of the teacher’s professional activity and the implementation of labor function A (according to the professional standard for teachers), the developed set includes services that allow the teacher to either use ready-made or create their own ICT-based learning tools. Since this set is open and components of each group may change, the article provides a system of criteria for selecting online services. The set was implemented in the training of future primary school teachers during a pedagogical experiment conducted at the South Ukrainian National Pedagogical University named after K.D. Ushynsky, Izmail State University of Humanities, and Bohdan Khmelnytsky National University of Cherkasy. The results of the pedagogical experiment demonstrate the effectiveness of the developed set of online services, which prepares future primary school teachers to use ICT in teaching integrated courses to young learners. The novelty of the study lies in developing a flexible, criteria-based approach to selecting online services that can be adapted to changes in the digital educational environment. The findings have practical implications for teacher education institutions and professional development programmes, as they provide methodological guidance on integrating ICT into primary education and may serve as a basis for further research aimed at enhancing teachers’ digital competence.
