The training of future language and literature teachers in the modern pedagogical paradigm requires interdisciplinary and integrated approaches to the development of communicative competence. Interdisciplinarity is the integration of various scientific fields and disciplines, experience and knowledge, methods and techniques for a deeper and broader understanding of the essence of the phenomena under consideration. Phonоstylistics is especially important for the development of oral competence. The phonetic properties of speech determine its emotional content, brightness and accessibility. In modern linguodidactics, insufficient attention has been paid to the role and functional features of phonostylistics in the process of forming communicative competence of teachers of Ukrainian language and literature.¹ Mastery of communicative influence techniques is an important professional quality of a teacher. Sound speech, devoid of expressive intonation, is not able to properly convey information to students, arouse interest and desire to study the subject. The qualitative side of a teacher’s oral speech is the most important component of his/her professional repertoire, which includes such types of communication in the educational process as transferring and explaining new knowledge, commenting on work and mistakes, as well as interactive communication with students, which is based on the phatic component. A critical analysis of the scientific literature has shown that researchers note the need to adapt innovative teaching methods in the field of communicative competence development.^2,3 Phonetic and stylistic features of speech affect the perception of information and the establishment of contact between the speaker-teacher and the recipients-students.^4,5 Scientists also emphasize the importance of adapting digital learning tools for mastering the phonological features of the language.⁶ This article attempts to examine professional pedagogical discourse through the prism of sound realization, from the standpoint of phonostylistics, to argue the importance of studying phonostylistic parameters at two levels, linear and non-linear, and to highlight the tools of phonetic means.

The purpose of this article is to examine professional pedagogical discourse from the perspective of phonostylistics and its impact on the formation of communicative competence of future teachers in the field of language and literature.

In the context of realization of the goal, several specific objectives were set: To make a critical review of modern research in the field of phonostylistics, as well as its linguodidactic potential; to characterize the influence of phonostylistic means on the effectiveness of speech and the impact on the recipients of information; to determine the determinism between communicative competence and the use of phonostylistic techniques in pedagogical activity; to formulate methodological recommendations for the use of phonostylistics in the process of forming the communicative competence of a teacher of language and literature.

Type of Research – Survey Description.

The criteria for assessing the quality of sources were the relevance and objectivity of the publication, the completeness of the topic coverage, and the authoritativeness.

The method of linguodidactic analysis was used to study modern approaches to teaching phonostylistics in higher education in philological specialties. The method of phonetic analysis was used to demonstrate the phonetic features of speech. This method allowed to analyze the sound characteristics of speech and their influence on its expressiveness and emotionality. The method of generalization was used to formulate the conclusions of the study, as well as to summarize theoretical approaches to teaching phonostylistics in the process of professional training of a teacher of languages.

A control group (31 respondents) and an experimental group (33 respondents) were formed. The sample was formed on the basis of voluntary participation. The article represents a conceptual review and implements an interdisciplinary approach to the study of linguodidactic possibilities of phonostylistics in the educational process of higher education for pedagogical specialties. The essence of this approach is to combine the scientific tools of linguistic, pedagogical, and information and communication branches of knowledge. The core research tool is narrative review. The search for literature sources to be included in the sample for analysis was carried out in scientometric databases Wiley, ScienceDirect, JSTOR, MDPI. The sampling period was 2019–2025. The criteria for including and excluding publications were spatial and temporal indicators and the reliability of the information. Inclusion criteria were the year 2015 and later, number of pages no less than 3, and English language. In order to reduce the impact of bias and obtain more objective and reliable results, bias minimization methods were applied, including: strengthening transparency (providing complete information about the research methodology and data analysis process with the possibility of replicating the results); limiting the influence of cognitive biases; adherence to ethical considerations; use of automated data analysis tools to reduce the influence of researcher subjectivity on the analysis process.

The sample consisted of trainee teachers between the ages of 21 and 24 years whose level of English proficiency is intermediate (B1, B2). The experimental design presupposed a pre-test and a post-test, both of which comprised phonetic reading and stylistic speech production tasks, and were measured with the help of a set of four criteria; accuracy of articulation, regularity of intonation, stylistic adequacy, and communicative clarity in general. Two independent raters did the scoring and inter-rater reliability was established (Cohen 0.86). To ensure methodological transparency, a detailed rubric was developed for the four criteria (accuracy of articulation, regularity of intonation, stylistic adequacy, and communicative clarity). Each criterion was assessed on a 5-point scale with explicit descriptors, and sample tasks included phonetic reading passages, stylistic retelling, and short impromptu monologues. Inter-rater reliability was calculated using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC), and per-criterion reliability indices ranged from 0.82 to 0.89, indicating high consistency.

A mixed-design ANOVA was conducted with Group (experimental vs. control) as the between-subjects factor and Time (pre-test vs. post-test) as the within-subjects factor. Assumption checks for normality (Shapiro–Wilk), homogeneity of variance (Levene’s test), and sphericity (Mauchly’s test) confirmed that statistical assumptions were not violated. To account for potential baseline differences, additional ANCOVA analyses were run with pre-test scores as covariates, yielding consistent results.

Table X presents descriptive statistics (means, standard deviations, and 95% confidence intervals) for each group and time point. In addition, an effect-size table (Cohen’s d and partial η²) was prepared separately for each criterion and the composite score. Power analysis conducted in G*Power (α = 0.05, power = 0.80) indicated sensitivity to medium effects (f = 0.25), confirming that the sample size was adequate.

The effect sizes were estimated (Cohen d = 0.72) and statistically significant differences were found (p < 0.05), which supports the question that focused phonetic and stylistic training can have more communicative benefits. Specifically, post-test scores improved by 18 percent in the experimental group as compared to 8 percent in the control group. The descriptive statistics showed that the experimental group improved from M = 2.87, SD = 0.41 (pre-test) to M = 3.74, SD = 0.39 (post-test), whereas the control group improved from M = 2.83, SD = 0.44 to M = 3.05, SD = 0.42. Mixed ANOVA revealed a significant Group × Time interaction, F(1,62) = 15.46, p < .001, η² = .20, with follow-up tests confirming stronger gains in the experimental group. Criterion-level analyses indicated the largest effect on stylistic adequacy (η² = .24), followed by intonation regularity (η² = .18), with smaller but significant effects on articulation accuracy and communicative clarity (η² = .12 and η² = .14, respectively).

The survey results were summarized using quantitative analysis methods. A comparative analysis method was used to interpret and compare the results.

The research was conducted in the context of a real internship process. The criteria for selecting respondents were: representativeness of participants and the ability to regularly attend experimental classes to ensure the reliability and completeness of the ­experiment.

The duration of the study was three months, as a necessary condition for the success of the experimental study is its connection with practice. The participants provided informed consent. The confidentiality of the research results was also ensured.

Phonostylistics is a separate branch of linguistic science that studies the pronunciation variants of linguistic units and the patterns of their functioning in different communication situations.²⁷ As an independent field in language theory and linguistics, phonostylistics aims to analyze and systematize the relationship of the following concepts: sound; meaning; the principle of combining sound and meaning in human speech practice. That is, it considers the sound organization of speech as the realization of meaning.

Phonostylistics studies the realization of the potential functional and stylistic possibilities of language at the phonetic level, depending on the goals and objectives of communication, the nature of the content, the type of thinking and various situational possibilities of communication in a particular social sphere. Its main provisions are aimed at analyzing the phonetic, prosodic and stylistic means used by native speakers for specific communication purposes, at their situational and stylistic stratification.

Such linguistic means that allow for successful oral communication in various situations of foreign language communication at the domestic and professional level include phonetic, intonational, and phonostylistic means. The use of phonostylistic means indicates a deep knowledge of the laws of functioning of the phonetic aspect of language in various forms and types of oral communication and, as a result, their implementation in the professional sphere.

Traditional characteristics of the qualitative side of speech, such as accuracy, clarity, appropriateness, adaptability, expressiveness, correctness, logic, and informativeness, contain an important component without which their practical oral implementation is impossible. At the verbal level, this component is sound production, namely the production of segmental units and linear syllable sequences consisting of them, a phonetic word, a syntagm, which, in turn, form units of the suprasegmental level.²⁸

In combination with intonational means (emphasis, tempo, melody, timbre, texture, pause), without which linear units cannot exist on their own, they acquire a real communicative embodiment and are one of the markers of pedagogical discourse. Proceeding from the fact that the minimum unit of linguistic pragmatics is a speech act (interpreted in modern science as an elementary unit of communication, which is characterized by the purposefulness of the speaker in relation to the addressee, conventionality, regulated by linguistic and individual factors), it would be logical to assert that from the phonostylistic point of view it is a sequence of segmental units united into phonetic words and endowed with a set of supra-segmental means.

Objectively, each of the speech acts within the framework set by the language professional pedagogical discourse involves solving specific professional tasks, the success of which directly depends on the inventory of selected phonetic means of linear and non-linear levels. A detailed study of this issue allows us to identify a set of phonetic means, the combination of which is determined by the pragmatic goals and objectives of the speech act (educational and upbringing moment, the required level of pedagogical influence, the age of the students).

At the linear level, these include: clarity, thoroughness and vigor of pronunciation; absence of vowel blending and assimilation; timbral purity throughout the entire sound production; stability in maintaining the clarity of the disjunction of final consonants in rhythmic groups and consonants on pause, stability in the use of liaisons in imperative, explanatory and exclamatory constructions.

At the nonlinear level: tonal variability (lowering, raising the tone, sudden tonal rises and falls) in accordance with the semantic, emphatic and situational load, multilevel pronunciation of peripheral and central parts of the text to enhance the perception of emotional and evaluative and subject-logical information; alternation of loud and quiet speech; temporal variability (slow, normal accelerated pace); grammatical pauses, ungrammatical pauses (psychological, “speaker’s”) that give stylistic and emotional coloring, a system of rhythmic accents (phrasal, logical, syntagmatic, rhythmic, additional); a system of separating accents (intellectual and affective); melodic models that perform signifying and expressive functions.²⁹

Melodious speech, including timbre, tone of voice, pitch and rhythm, is inextricably linked to the auditory sensations it uses, the feelings it evokes, and the image it forms. It becomes very important for a teacher to realize that through his or her vocal behavior, tone, and rhythmic organization of speech, affective relations are established in the institutional pair “teacher-student” that do not depend on the country of residence, native language, culture, age, gender, and other factors.

Phonostylistic means form the expressiveness of the text, its emotionality and give it structural integrity. The main phonetic techniques include alliteration, assonance, epiphora, anaphora, periphrasis, gradation, ellipsis, etc.⁴ Alliteration is based on the repetition of the same or similar consonant sounds in one or more words, thus adding emotional color to the statement, creating a certain musical effect.²⁰ Assonance is based on the repetition of vowel sounds, which creates a harmonious sound and euphonic effect.

The technique of phonostylistic gradation involves a gradual increase or decrease in the intensity of speech caused by rhythmic intonation. This technique is often used in public speaking.² Intonational expressiveness and accentuation are extremely important in teacher’s speeches, helping to establish emotional contact with listeners, increase the meaningfulness of statements,³⁰ improving the aesthetics of speech, and the rate of speech, intonation, emphasis, pauses and melody affect the attention of listeners and the quality of information assimilation.⁵

The main components of phonostylistics include:

These components are important for the effective transmission and interpretation of spoken messages because they provide clues to the speaker’s intentions and help create coherence in communication.³¹

Additionally, the student needs to actively participate in their own education and become a part of the learning process. The course material, which emphasizes teaching suprasegmentals, connecting, intonation, with listening comprehension, and allowing for meaningful pronunciation practice, should be incorporated into the communication class. The teacher must serve as a “speech coach”³¹ rather than just a pronunciation checker. He ought to support learning by keeping an eye on and adjusting speech creation, speech performance, and English at two levels.

The study of the content of all components of communicative competence gives us the right to state that phonetic, prosodic and functional-stylistic components that make up phonostylistic competence are constituent elements of almost all subcompetencies of communicative competence, which is partly implicit and partly explicit (Table 1).

In our opinion, the phonostylistic competence of a teacher of foreign languages is that as an integrating link in the structure of communicative competence, it combines the whole range of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values, the formation of which indicates a high professional level of teachers. Phonostylistic competence is a cross-cutting component of all sub-competencies that make up communicative competence, as illustrated in Figure 1.

The proposed conceptual model differs significantly from existing competency frameworks. In particular, Canale & Swain’s framework includes linguistic competence (knowledge of lexical, grammatical, phonetic, and other aspects of language), sociolinguistic competence (knowledge of the specifics of language use in different social contexts), discourse competence (the ability to construct coherent speech taking into account the context and structure of discourse), and strategic competence (the ability to use verbal and nonverbal strategies). Comparing the structure of Canale & Swain with the proposed concept, it is worth noting the latter’s emphasis on communicative competence in all its variability.

At the same time, when comparing it with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, which is based on the principle of equality, it is worth noting the blurred boundaries between the individual levels of competence mastery in the proposed concept, in favor of a comprehensive approach to the development of teachers’ communicative skills.

To avoid redundancy, the discussion integrates previous research only in relation to interpreting our findings. This ensures a coherent link between experimental results and the wider literature on phonostylistics. The pedagogical observation shows the effectiveness of phonostylistic means such as alliteration, assonance, gradation and anaphora in improving the quality of future teachers’ professional speech. The results of the analysis indicate the need to use digital technologies for the development of phonostylistic skills and the introduction of multimedia methods to improve the effectiveness of educational communication. This approach is suggested by Gambhir et al.,²² who emphasize the role of multimedia methods in teaching communication.

Authors agree with Halian et al.³⁴ that pedagogical professional discourse is a multicomponent concept and includes professional proficiency in language, rhetoric, basics of oratory, culture of language communication, professional ethics, stylistics, and mastery of strategies of language behavior depending on the communicative situation. For a teacher of language and literature, mastery of professional pedagogical discourse turns into a multilingual phenomenon that requires special attention in professional training.² It is these facts that confirm the need to develop the phonostylistic competence of a teacher of language.³⁵

Authors offer the following methodological recommendations for the formation of phonostylistic competence of future language teachers:

The focus of pronunciation should be adjusted away from achieving ‘perfect’ pronunciation and toward more realistic goals such as functional intelligibility, communicability, enhanced self-confidence, speech monitoring abilities, and speech modification tools for use outside the classroom.

Burgess and Spencer³⁶, researching phonetics and pronunciation in integrated language teaching and teacher education, substantiate strong links between the fields of pronunciation teaching and language teacher education and training. The researchers argue for the importance of developing awareness and control skills, and that methods and goals for teaching pronunciation should include “engaging the whole personality of the learner.”

This can be done by offering three dimensions: physical, emotional, and intellectual engagement of the learner.

Thus, it is expedient to include formation of the following skills into training of language teachers: providing meaningful materials (the teacher must be particularly careful when choosing or creating materials that include brief dialogues, pair words, or other contextual exercises in addition to a sufficient focus of the sound to be rehearsed); utilizing tongue twisters, games, and songs (since motivation is a key component of pronunciation, including games, songs, and tongue twisters can boost students’ motivation in a pronunciation lesson; the more driven the student is to get better at speaking, the more fulfilling the instruction will be; the first thing to keep in mind while selecting songs is that they should be easy enough for the kids to practice individual sounds, rhythm, and stress); agile assessing students’ progress (in order for students to understand what they have done and what they still need to do, the teacher should periodically give them information on their performance; when a student’s performance reaches a specific point, a teacher should engage them in a speaking exercise (a role-play, discussion, communication game, storytelling exercise, or speech competition) to make the learning process more engaging; the goal is to teach the kids how to pronounce words correctly when they talk on their own).

Although the results are encouraging, a number of limitations are to be noted. To begin with, internal validity could have been affected by the effect of maturation during the three months period, the effects of repetition in testing and the Hawthorne effect because of the fact that the participants were aware that they were being observed. Second, the research took place in one institution with trainee teachers of intermediate level of English knowledge (B1-B2) that can restrict the extrapolation of the findings to other settings, other levels of proficiency, or prolonged trainings. The follow-up study ought, therefore, to repeat the intervention in various institutions and to lengthen the observation and to involve learners with a more varied proficiency rank.

Phonostylistics in the training of future language teachers has an impact on improving the quality of future teachers’ speech, giving it emotional expressiveness and structural clarity, thereby improving communicative effectiveness and impact on the audience. In the training of language teachers, special attention should be paid to language tools that ensure a high professional level of teaching, since a teacher of language and literature is a kind of benchmark in comprehending linguistic fundamentals, and his or her speech (articulation, diction, intonation, pace, appropriate lexical and grammatical baggage, etc.) is a tool for clear and precise expression of thought, accessible to all categories of students. The importance of this aspect is confirmed by the fact that most of the information a person receives verbally, by hearing.

The phonostylistic competence of a language teacher is a multicomponent system of knowledge, skills, abilities, as well as attitudes, qualities and values that provides an adequate verbal aspect for each age category of students and for intercultural communication, based on a high level of mastery of phonostylistic variation, namely, phonemic, prosodic and functional-stylistic aspects of language.

The formation of phonostylistic competence as a multicomponent system of knowledge and skills in mastering the phonetic tools of the language for didactic purposes should be carried out in the senior courses of training future teachers of the Ukrainian language and literature within the discipline “Phonostylistics”. The formation of such a competence should be characterized by a high level of phonostylistic variation, i.e. mastery of phonetic, prosodic and functional and stylistic aspects of the language. This will help to improve the pronunciation culture of language teachers and the effectiveness of the educational process, as well as harmonize institutional relations.

Prospects for further research in this area include a multidimensional analysis of speech acts of didactic discourse, as well as a description and analysis of their phonostylistic and phonopragmatic characteristics. The methodological foundations of forming phonostylistic skills in different educational environments also require further study.