The language environment as a means of developing foreign language communicative competence in middle preschool children

The article is devoted to revealing the content of the concept of the language environment as a means of forming foreign language communicative competence in middle preschool children. Existing interpretations of the term "environment" in scientific literature are provided. The terms used by specialists in relation to the environment as a means of forming communicative competence are defined, including: "language environment," "speech environment," and "communication environment." The semantic content of these terms is analyzed, and it is concluded that each corresponds to the thematic direction of the research within which it is proposed. It is substantiated that in the context of mastering a foreign language, the term "language environment" should be used concerning the environment as a means of forming foreign language communicative competence, as such an environment does not always imply communication or interaction. It is determined that the environment as a means of forming foreign language communicative competence is a set of conditions representing the features of real reality under which the formation of foreign language communicative competence occurs and which serve as a means of such formation. The set of conditions that constitute the language environment is grouped as follows: spatial conditions (micro- and macro-space, individual space), subjective conditions (the number and characteristics of individuals who are transmitters of the foreign language), conditions of the material world (features of the physical environment), speech-communicative conditions (features of input, output, and feedback), and motivational conditions (a set of external and internal factors that motivate the acquisition of foreign language communicative competence). The author proposes a definition of the language environment as a means of forming foreign language communicative competence in middle preschool children as a set of spatial, subjective, speech-communicative, motivational, and material world conditions, under which the formation of foreign language communicative competence occurs and which, in their totality and interaction, ensure and determine such formation.