DEVELOPING COGNITIVE SKILLS IN PRIMARY SCHOOL PUPILS THROUGH READING AND COMPREHENDING LITERARY TEXTS: A METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH

This article presents a classroom-oriented methodology for strengthening the cognitive abilities of children in grades 1–4 by means of systematic work with literary texts. Drawing on developmental psychology, transactional reading theory, and research on comprehension instruction, the author describes a three-phase lesson model (before, during, and after reading), a set of instructional techniques matched to particular thinking skills, and simple tools for observing pupils' progress. The proposed approach treats a story or poem not as material for oral drill but as a space in which young readers practise predicting, inferring, comparing, judging, and imagining.