Game technologies (including computer-based ones) applied for teaching English have long occupied an important and permanent place in the structure of the lesson. They are very helpful in developing intercultural communicative competences as well as increasing motivation and self-organization. The purpose of this study is to objectively show how game methods of work and gamification techniques are actually implemented by modern teachers in English classes in both full-time and distance education. The theoretical significance of the study lies in the analysis of empirical psychological and pedagogical research on the problems of teaching English by both domestic and foreign scientists, on the basis of which the authors have compiled a questionnaire to summarize the experience of English teachers, classify electronic games and gamification techniques in the classroom. The study sample consisted of 48 English teachers with teaching experience from 1 to 13 years, the age range of their students being from 3 to 60 years old. The teachers used the questionnaire to analyze their experience in using gamification techniques and game technologies both in face-to-face and online lessons. All the teachers used game methods of work and gamification techniques in their classes regardless of the students’ age. The games that the teachers included in their lessons could be conveniently classified into didactic games (used by two-thirds of the teachers), multiplayer cooperation games (included by every fifth teacher) and hidden object games with a non-linear plot (used in class by a quarter of the teachers in the sample). Most of the teachers who used the gamification techniques noted a steady increase in students’ motivation in the classroom. The practical significance of the research results lies in the possibility of building an individual trajectory of self-education and professional development of English language teachers both in basic and in supplementary education. The generalized practical experience of the teachers who participated in the study can be used as the basis for methodological and pedagogical recommendations for improving informational and communicational competences and pedagogical skills of English language teachers.

Motivation is the basis for managing the development of teachers' competencies in the modern education system. The motivational component in the study is considered as a set of internal and external motives of the teacher to use modern digital technologies, accompanied by the processes of forming an internal desire to achieve success and a sincere and personally significant desire to improve themselves in this area. The purpose of the study is to study the possibility of managing the development of teachers' digital competencies with different motivations. The article examines the features of teachers' motivation in mastering digital competence, revealed the nature of teachers' awareness of the possibilities of using information and communication tools in teaching schoolchildren, and identified the main problems that teachers with different motivations have that prevent the formation and deepening of their digital competencies. Features of motivation were studied using A.A. Rean's methodology "Motivation for success and fear of failure" and a questionnaire about teachers' ideas about the use of information and communications technologies in teaching their subject. About 30% of teachers from the experimental sample focus on achieving success in the development of digital competencies, although the proportion of teachers without a pronounced motivational orientation and focus on avoiding failure is approximately the same. This indicates an insufficiently effective methodological and psychological support for teachers who cannot independently cope with the urgent task of modern educationthe formation of digital competence. This happens for various reasonsfear of mastering new technologies, age composition, inability to take advanced training courses, etc. Thus, the strategy and tactics of developing digital competencies of teachers who avoid failure and are motivated to achieve success have fundamental differences. Methodological and psychological-pedagogical support for specialists with low and high levels of motivation is built within the framework of an individual trajectory of their professional development and self-improvement. The results of the study can be used both in the design of higher education programs and programs for professional training and retraining of teaching staff.