EMPATHIC COMMUNICATION IN TEACHING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE AS A FACTOR OF EFFECTIVE EDUCATIONAL PROCESS UNDER DIGITALIZATION CONDITIONS

Abstract

The article deals with the issue of emphatic communication in the process of teaching English as a factor of effective educational process under digitalization conditions. Influenced by digitalization, communication between the participants of the academic process has become technologically mediated. The transformations in the interactions between a teacher and a student determined the relevance of this research.The aim of this research is to define the role of empathy in teaching foreign languages under digitalization conditions, to study and generalize the results of the scientific explorations of Ukrainian and foreign researchers and practices of creation of empathic educational environment and identify the effective strategies for creating the conditions for foreign language communication. It was emphasized that the lack of personal communication during online education can prove to be an obstacle to establishing the rapport between a teacher and a student. Empathy helps to reduce the emotional tension of students and contributes to creating a beneficial atmosphere. The article considers the concept of empathy in the context of foreign language teaching. The effective strategies of emphatic communication, such as personalization, feedback, empathic assessment, creation of the inclusive environment, active listening and adaptation to various learning styles have been analyzed. The role of feedback with the use of screencast software has been emphasized. The relations between emphatic communication and students’ emotional state and an increase in their motivation have been traced. The peer feedback practices based on the Moodle platform has been offered. Using the international project Erasmus+ “Modernization of university programs for foreign languages based on the integration with information technologies” (DigiFLEd) as an example, the possibilities of the international cooperation in upgrading university syllabi through the integration of the multi-media content have been demonstrated.