Virtual discourse as modern educational environment: pros and cons

Virtual discourse has become widespread due to the popularity of distance communication in politics, economics, culture and education. Virtual space is created artificially and differs significantly from live real communication. Electronic devices are seen in virtual discourse as technical tools, while virtual communicators represent real individuals involved in a relatively new and very specific type of discourse that requires more in-depth theoretical and practical studies. The text immersed in the situation of communication in virtual reality is regarded as virtual discourse. Virtual discourse is characterized by synchronous and asynchronous models that ensure its functionality, flexibility and dynamism and form a special communicative space. This discourse is a type of symbolic reality, its uniqueness is mediated by the properties of the virtual world and thinking. Due to the emergence of virtual educational environment a teacher has to master numerous new functions: to structure virtual environment, to be fluent in technologies of using, transmitting, processing, storing information, to master the sub-language of online communication. A student involved in virtual environment and physically isolated from the educational institution needs to be motivated, disciplined, industrious, as well as possess independent work skills in order to achieve the planned academic results. The purpose of studying virtual discourse in an educational environment is to understand its specificity, to investigate its parameters, which can be classified into advantages and disadvantages, and to analyze speech, actions and thinking of its direct participants. An important aspect of contemporary educational space is the search for balance between virtual and real discourses.