ЭМПАТИЯ, КОНФЛИКТНОСТЬ И ЕЕ ПРЕОДОЛЕНИЕ: ЛИНГВО-ПРАГМАТИЧЕСКИЕ АСПЕКТЫ ОБЩЕГО И ОСОБЕННОГО

Introduction

Linguo-pragmatic aspects of general and special link the personological category of the teacher’s language personality (TLP) with empathy, conflict and its overcoming. This connection follows from the specifics of pedagogical communication. One of the leading features of a communicative-competent personality is its empathy. For the TLP this characteristic is leading and important. The primary training of empathy is carried out in the classroom and has pedagogical significance, but later the property of understanding helps a person throughout life. People, thanks to empathy, gain the opportunity to directly look at the experiences and feelings of others. Therefore, empathy is recognized as a specific form of interpersonal relationship. It is believed that if we do not experience empathy, then self-serving considerations are to play an important role in human behavior. In the case of a high degree of empathy, people should be guided by an altruistic motivation and a desire to help, regardless of the profits and costs associated with the situation. So, in accordance with the hypothesis of empathy-altruism (the opinion that empathy experienced through the relation to another person) it inclines us to help, regardless of the consequences of the taken actions.

The relevance of this work is an accumulative sphere of fixation of surrounding reality of the teacher’s language personality, and a cognitive-pragmatic aspect of human consciousness development.

To solve the task – the representation of conflict in the characteristic of the teacher’s language personality – two main aspects are proposed:

1) to present the textual characteristic of conflict;

2) to specify the aspects of theorization.

For these aspects, the motivation of the speech act and its definite connection with the socio-professional characteristics are fundamental.

An interpretive method was used in the material studying.

Theoretical background. Ideas from scientific works on the theory of the language personality of such researchers as Yu N. Karaulov [4], V. I. Karasik [3], O. V. Sergeeva [8], S. N. Semenova and L. G. Aksyutenkova [7], E. N. Borisova and N. V. Letkina [10], G. V.  Elokhova [11] served as the methodological basis of the present study.

Practical value. The results of the research can be used for the preparation of lecture and practical materials of linguistic courses for bachelors and masters.

Positive and negative aspects of empathy

For the TLP it is significant that the feeling of empathy leads, ultimately, to other person helping. Is the help always positive for both a provider and a recipient? The results of the assistance have a positive impact on those who are involved in such activities. It improves a person’s self-esteem, his mood, and society rewards him with fame and recognition. One of the theories that explain behavior in favor of society promotes the view that people provide assistance only when it is in their own interests. So, getting the help is associated with some kind of benefits. In extreme cases, the help means lifesaving. The secular educational institution nowadays is concerned with the formation of abilities for empathy, personal participation and willingness to help others. Age-related aggressions in the modern world give rise to the questions: “How can we ourselves increase the number of benevolent actions we commit? How is this possible in the modern world, where egoism and individualism prevail?” The answers to these questions should certainly be sought in the educational processes. Empathy and openness are considered important determinants of all interpersonal contacts. Accordingly, they are increasingly relevant for the TLP.

In some studies, a lot of attention is devoted to empathy. In many cases, it is interpreted as a universal phenomenon in the life of society, in others – as a specific ability that determines the successful interaction in a certain social situation, for example, in the relationship of client – performer, patient – doctor, child – parents. There is no consensus about the nature of empathy as a psychological phenomenon. Despite such different positions, there is one general trend presented by many authors. It concerns the identification of two types of empathy – emotional and cognitive. In this conceptual system, emotional empathy is understood as an emotional reaction caused by observing the emotions of another person and bringing to the fact that the observer experiences as his own emotions of the person he is watching, sympathizing, transferring other people’s emotions to himself. It is not necessary that these emotions will completely coincide. Cognitive empathy, especially important for the TLP is a process that consists of “having someone’s place”, and, in this regard, an adequate understanding of other people’s feelings, thoughts, desires and a perception of other people’s reactions. There were also no unambiguous results in studies of the relationship of empathy with aggressive behavior. Individuals with high levels of empathy show strong tendencies to both aggressive and help-oriented behavior. It follows that the level of empathy is a weak predictor of the probability of a particular behavior.

The aim of empathic abilities developing is to foster responsible, joyful, and creative people who treat others with respect despite the differences in their ages. A high level of empathy affects the formation of positive attitudes, assessments, and emotions. In addition, empathy prevents aggressive behavior, since there is identification with the victim and the anticipation of negative emotional states. A person who is empathically developed is pleasant, kind and tolerant. He respects himself and accepts himself as he is. Self-acceptance and self-respect are conditions of respect for others. Empathy takes an essential place in the education of the mutual understanding between people. Empathic ability, educational institutions (kindergartens, schools, institutes, universities) should work together with the family of each pupil (student). The development of empathy, carried out on lessons in music, drawing, storytelling, performing roles in children’s acting, affects the behavior aimed at achieving the public kindness. Empathy should be considered as a natural form of personality’s development, which manifests itself very early in the family environment and is further continued in preschool, school, and university education. The ability to establish an empathic relationship between people is indicative in a person’s mental health and maturity. The holistic perception of the phenomenon of empathy emphasizes that the optimal program for the development of empathy should take into account the emotional, cognitive and motivational aspects of this phenomenon.

An interpretive approach to conflict and its overcoming

In a complex unity with empathy, we define the aspect of conflict, which can be characterized as the reverse side of empathy. This aspect is also important for the representation of the TLP in the correlation between statics and dynamics [8, P. 158]. How exactly does this aspect attract attention?

To solve this problem, we analyze in the present research two articles: “Kill the teacher” [9] and “Fight the first, Vasya” [2]. When analyzing the teacher’s language personality represented in these materials, we consider the choice of language tools that he / she made up in a particular situation due to his / her skills, individual psychological characteristics, education and cultural level, social status, and the prevailing circumstances of a personal and social nature. At the same time, we do not limit ourselves to analyzing only the teacher’s language personality and reveal, if necessary, the teenagers’ and their parents’ language personalities. In the materials under consideration, the influencing aims are defined on several main interrelated planes, which in different ways include the element of conflict.

The first article “Kill the teacher” [9], which describes an attempt to kill a strict teacher by an eleventh-grader, and the support of some of her colleagues. In this context, the influencing facts are determined by the following interrelated planes:

1) the teacher’s impact on the eleventh-grader;

2) the pupil’s impact on the teacher;

3) the impact of the journalist describing the situation on readers.

All three planes include an element of conflict, but in different ways.

For the language personality of the elderly teacher, Larisa Fisenko, negative assessments of the pupil, Yevgeny, are indicative: his behavior “was considered outrageous...”.

For the language personality of Yevgeny, a conflict attitude is also strong, accompanied by the lies:

“She promised him a ‘satisfactory mark’”.

The most significant extralinguistic factors are: family, school, society, mass media, literature [1], [3], [6], [12], [13], [14, P. 220]. The conflict nature of the TLP is not limited to an elementary, direct representation. It is also indirectly represented by the linguistic personality of the journalist.

 The next context, which also reflects a high degree of conflict, is the article “Fight the first, Vasya” [2]. It describes school fights in which, according to the results of the survey, every second young man and every seventh girl participate. In the article, the influencing parameters are also considered on three interrelated planes. The main one is the influence of the teacher on the pupils. Two others are interconnected with this plane: the impact of the aggressor (ninth-grader Irina) on the victim (ninth-grader Tanya), the impact of the victim (sixth-grader Kolya) on the aggressor (sixth-grader Andrey).

The language personality of the first aggressor – Irina – is characterized by ‘selective swearing’, aimed not only at classmates, but also at adults. She is the leader in the group of classmates, leads them and considers it possible to severely beating her classmate, Tanya. Irina’s language personality is not formed. She does not know how to use the existing literary language means to solve the conflict, even without thinking about it. The reason for this conflict in communication with both classmates and teachers should be found in her family. Her mother is a very short-tempered person and is mainly occupied with her own personal problems. Irina has always been a pedagogically neglected child. She studied poorly. This is reported by the social teacher of the school. It also speaks about the insufficient influence of the teacher’s language personality on the formation of this pupil’s language personality.

 The ratio of the aggressor and the victim is determined ambiguously in the next case, described in the article. At the very beginning, 12-year-old Kolya is the victim, who recently moved to a new school. The role of the victim was determined by his classmate Andrey, who bullied the newcomer, verbally insulted him. For the linguistic personality of the aggressor Andrey, the conflict attitude is fundamental and accompanied only by the consciousness of his rightness:

“Everyone treats you like this, ask anyone in the class!”

He feels the support of the whole class in beating Kolya. Again, the influence of the teacher’s language personality on the formation of the teenager’s language personality, its socio-psychological aspect, is obvious. Andrey’s conflicting attitude provoked Kolya’s aggressive actions (he broke the offender’s nose). However, for Kolya’s language personality, the conflict attitude is not typical and is only a defense:

“I’m sorry, but you drove me!”

Nevertheless, he knows how to find the means of language to convince the aggressor to admit his mistakes and wrongness.

In the complex unity with the above-mentioned conflict of schoolchildren, this media material systematically presents the teachers’ language personalities. In the first case (with Irina and Tanya), for the social teacher’s language personality, negative assessments of the 15-year-old Irina are indicative:

“She gathered a flock of the same brisk and capable of everything around herself: fights, hooliganism, and theft. If the girls don’t come to their senses, the colony is open for them.”

The teacher adequately chooses the means of expression to characterize the teenager and the situation as a whole.

In the second case (with Kolya and Andrey), the “negotiator” from the School Reconciliation Service skillfully uses language tools in his statements, which characterizes him as a competent language personality.

So, the unity of the general and the special was shown within the framework of the integrity. Linguo-personological analysis of conflict confirms that the concept of “personality” denotes the integrity of a person in the unity of his individual abilities to perform social functions (roles). We emphasize that this attitude should not be absolutized, but to ignore it is to abandon knowledge and multiply situations and problems as described above.

It is important to develop the logical structure of “language personality” concept. One of the founders of the theory of the language personality, Yu. N. Karaulov, emphasized that the language personality is “any native speaker of a particular language… reflecting his vision of the surrounding reality and achieving certain aims in the world” [5, p. 184].

Today the question of the language personality is actively studied by such relatively young sciences as sociolinguistics and psycholinguistics. These disciplines emphasize the special importance of the perception and understanding of speech in the teacher’s language personality, namely in the aspect of conflict.

The conflict aspect in the characterization of the teacher’s language personality indicates that the teacher has difficulties in choosing adequate language means in various situations. The understanding itself is psychologically characterized by different depth and quality.

Research findings

The data found in the studied material (the newspaper “Izvestia” articles [2, 9]) provide the basis for the following:

1. The obtained results clarify the orientation in the entire state of knowledge about pedagogical communication

2. The linguo-pragmatic essence of pedagogical communication is given. Communicative relations in education, taking into account statics and dynamics, contribute to the formation of a communicative-competent personality. Theories, norms, principles, or types of communication are particularly important for group consolidation.

3. The material confirmed the influence of the language images created by the teacher on the formation of the personality of the younger generation, its positive or negative mental state. It is also in various media materials that reflect the extremely acute degree of the conflict.

Conclusion

To sum all up we came to the conclusion that the analysis of the teacher’s language personality in the aspect of statics and dynamics allowed to justify the system of basic generalizations. These generalizations, described in two articles of the “Izvestia” newspaper materials, helped us to proceed the analysis of general and special conditions that determine the types of relations “static-dynamics”. At the same time, empathy is specifically characterized, as well as conflict and its overcoming in the TLP speech realization.

The next stage of the authors’ further research perspectives of certain aspects of the language personality will be presented and described in articles that will be of interest and importance for the theory and practice of discourse analysis.