THE PROBLEM OF DEVELOPMENT OF METAPHORICAL IMAGERY IN THE ARTWORKS AND CREATIVE WRITINGS OF ADOLESCENTS

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to study the phenomenon of fading creativity in adolescents aged 11 to 17 by monitoring their artsy products. The analysis of drawings and associated response essays show a decrease in artistic creativity among participants of public exhibitions. As it becomes apparent with an age, there is a sharp decrease in the number or the complete disappearance of metaphors, which serve as semantic elements of creative artistic expression. Along with the theoretical, and psychological and pedagogical approach, the main method of research was represented by the content analysis of materials submitted by adolescents of different age groups to the children's creativity contest. It was found while evaluating the creativity of the authors of 652 drawings and response essays that 22 artworks of 17-year-old schoolchildren lacked metaphors completely, which denotes the extinction of creativity. The conducted research also employed diagnostic methods evaluating the ability of preservice teachers to identify creative manifestations. The study recorded a gradual decline in creativity in adolescents aged 11 to 17. The main reasons are considered imperfections of the education system, which does not ensure the creative and artistic development of students in high schools. The research also revealed the possibilities and conditions for changing this trend based on the pedagogical model developed and tested in the course of the study. Building and introducing a training system to enrich creative thinking for a school or institution for supplementary education involved the development by adolescents of the metaphorical figurativeness of art. It is established that this system has a developing potential. The emotionally cheerful aesthetic creative environment created by teachers supports a higher artistic level of the productive activity of adolescents.