Development of the reading culture in pre-service teachers amid digitalization of education

The article deals with the problem of developing a pre-service teacher’s reading culture as a way to build professional competence in the context of digital education in the Republic of Kazakhstan. The results of the questionnaire demonstrated that more than a half of the study pool of pre-service teachers made a conscious choice of a teaching profession, and the same number indicated difficulties in organizing their independent work with different texts. The results have also shown that around 90% of pre-service teachers do not consider books as a professional tool, and indicated major factors impeding reading: the Internet; difficulties in linear and nonlinear reading; lack of attention; financial struggles. The obtained results of the pedagogical experiment, carried out at the West Kazakhstan State University named after M. Utemisov suggest that using pedagogical experiment, with its collaborative workshops in conjunction with the university library, problem-based tasks, and educational role plays, afford beneficial ways of developing the reading culture among pre-service teachers. The materials of the article can be used in the context of higher education for delivering courses on digital pedagogy, as well as in organizing the teaching practice of students at school, etc