Artistic text as a tool for the formation of emotive and pragmatic competence

Abstract

In modern methods of teaching foreign languages, there is an acute problem of the gap between the normative language of textbooks and the lively, emotionally intense speech that students encounter in an authentic environment. The present study aims to solve this problem by analyzing the literary text as a key tool for the formation of emotive and pragmatic competence. The article examines the lexical and semantic means of expressing negative emotions, such as anger, irritation and disgust, based on the material of modern English literature, which allows students to better understand the stylistic and pragmatic nuances of a living language. The methodological basis of the work was a comparative and quantitative analysis of two contrasting novels in style: «With Love, Rose!» by Cecilia Ahern and «Women» by Charles Bukowski. All lexical units that verbalize negative emotions were identified and classified into six semantic groups. The results showed that, despite the dominance of direct emotional vocabulary in both authors, there are significant stylistic differences. In particular, in Charles Bukowski's novel, vulgarisms are used much more often to express aggression and rage (21,9% of all emotives), while in S. Ahern this figure is 12,6%, which demonstrates different authorial strategies. The study proves the high pedagogical value of such an analysis. The contrasting material provides the teacher with a ready-made tool for discussing stylistic registers, idiosyncrasies, and the pragmatic function of expressive vocabulary, including taboo units. The data obtained can be directly used to develop practical tasks aimed at overcoming the «emotional deafness» of students. This contributes to the formation of not only a grammatically literate, but also an emotionally competent personality capable of adequately perceiving and interpreting the entire palette of foreign language communication.