The real value of words: how target language linguistic modelling of foreign language teaching content shapes students' professional identity.

The paper focuses on the methods of linguistic analysis in the sphere of teaching foreign languages as a form of shaping students' identity. By putting forward the hypothesis that proper language acquisition should be based on fundamental cultural values and their adequate linguistic interpretation, we propose the pragmatic and axiological linguistic modelling as an indispensable FLT tool, develop its methodology and prove its future validity on the material of FLT discourse. The research gives a step-by-step explanation of how to implement this modelling through discourse analysis, pragmatic-communicative analysis, functional and linguoaxiological analysis. This procedure foregrounds dominant axiological spheres through the process of constructing value-charged concepts of the professional FLT discourse. From the standpoint of generating FLT material, the method helps to reflect most important professional processes and purposefully form students' professional competences necessary in the sphere.

Introduction

Bearing in mind both the simplicity and brilliance of Ludwig Wittgenstein (1921: 73) famous maxim “the limits of my language mean the limits of my world”1, it becomes impossibly difficult, first of all, to underestimate the influence that language has on our cognitive system and, therefore, perception of the world (Friederici et al., 2017), and secondly, to doubt the importance of learning foreign languages and cultures.

Having mentioned language learning, it needs to be said that learning in its general understanding is an integral part of teaching, and vice versa (Whitton et al., 2016); thus, these two aspects are interdependent and mutually influence each other. And since a properly organised process of teaching any subject significantly facilitates, stimulates, and, to a certain extent, predetermines the corresponding learning process, it is only logical that the issues and intricacies of teaching be among the most relevant questions in Applied Linguistics.

Being one of humanity's oldest epistemological issues (Ispas, 2016), pedagogy as a field of study incorporates millennia of investigation history and empirical evidence. Each period of historical development put forward a specific teaching method which seemed to suit best the needs of any given society. According to the fact that in the past decades much research has been focussed on different aspects of teaching as a form of shaping students' identity (Huda et al., 2017; Leung, 2001; Meijer and Oosterheert, 2018; Norton and De Costa, 2018; Olitsky, 2007; Smagorinsky et al., 2004, etc.), it stands to reason that we are on the verge of establishing a new teaching method, holistic in nature and intricate in design.

Theoretical analysis of scientific papers dedicated to foreign language teaching and acquisition brings us to the result that even with all the plethora of FLT approaches and techniques, this field of study still lacks the tools to ensure the students' full linguistic and, most importantly, cultural immersion in terms of axiological features of target language. Therefore, even a relatively good command of target language becomes ‘impaired’ to a certain extent as its foundation is purely semantic and formalised and does not reflect any pragmatic relevance or set of values. The situation becomes even more acute if the matter at hand is language for specific (professional) purposes (LSP). This state of affairs primarily affects students' language performance as it impedes proper language acquisition, where the main focus is to be made on fundamental cultural and professional values and their linguistic interpretation rather than a mere structural or even pseudo-communicative approach.

Nevertheless, the method we put forward does not suggest that all the previous ones are insufficient. On the contrary, it is our belief that all the existing methods and approaches can considerably benefit from the language material derived with the use of pragmatic and axiological modelling we propose. The suggested method is going to be rather valuable for the modern FLT methodology in general and LSP teaching in particular, since it is based on the essence of target language culture and teaches every aspect of language use in terms of its axiological and pragmatic relevance. At the same time, the following needs to be mentioned: even though we believe that axiological and pragmatic relevance is also of vital importance for FLT in general, the fact that current research is based on LSP content prevents us from jumping to such conclusions and requires further research to justify or refute this statement.

We believe this way of language material selection is going to significantly stimulate both learning and teaching processes, enhancing the students' levels of competence and motivating them to find in each target language much more than meets the ‘methodologically-formalised’ eye. This is exactly the reason why it is important to come up with a relatively clear procedure of pragmatic and axiological modelling as well as realise how exactly the results of this modelling are to be implemented into the process of language teaching.

In essence, we put forward the hypothesis that pragmatic and axiological modelling of target language (i.e. any given professional discourse space) is crucial in any language teaching approach which aims to provide the students with full linguistic and cultural immersion.

Thus, the main objective of this study is to describe the theory of pragmatic and axiological linguistic modelling as an indispensable tool within the framework of proper foreign language teaching; develop the methodology of this modelling and verify its validity by testing it on the material of FLT discourse space. The study also seeks explanation as to how exactly the results of this linguistic modelling can be implemented into foreign language teaching practice via changes in curriculum and, more particularly, exercise construction. At this part of the research pragmatic and axiological linguistic modelling mainly functions as a stand-alone method of analysis in applied linguistics; nevertheless, it needs to be mentioned that on a broader picture this type of linguistic modelling is an integral element of a much more intricate method in modern linguistics - conceptual linguistic engineering of professional identity (Bagiyan and Shiryaeva, 2018).

Current research incorporates many fields of study in the sphere of both theoretical and applied linguistics and aims to develop a coherent and practical approach to forming professional identity through pragmatic and axiological modelling. Thus, the foundation of this investigation is based on the main research question: How does pragmatic and axiological linguistic modelling of FLT content shapes students’ professional identity? Yet, in order to find the answer to this question, it is necessary to deal with the following ones:

What are professional identity and professional language personality and how are these phenomena interconnected and interdependent?

What are methodological preliminaries and theoretical background of modelling professional identity?

What is the place of pragmatic and axiological modelling in overall linguistic modelling of professional identity? What is its purpose and how is it connected with theory and practice of modern FLT?

What is the step-by-step methodology behind pragmatic and axiological linguistic modelling and how is it implemented into the analysis of any given professional discourse (in our case - FLT discourse)?

What are the possible ways of putting the results of this modelling to good use in terms of comprising FLT materials and, on a grander scale, FLT curriculum?

We believe that when all these research questions are answered, we will be able to witness a well-structured methodology of the proposed modelling and the ways of implementing it in the sphere of FLT.

Literature review

Identity studies: theoretical overview

Even though a plethora of studies in Humanities can be found on the topic of personal identity, the linguistic and pedagogical aspects of this topic have a surprisingly superficial coverage, mainly dealing with purely theoretical aspects without any practical outcome (Kroger and Marcia, 2011; McAdams and Zapata-Gietl, 2015) That is why it remains unclear how, for instance, the identity is formed and how this formation can be traced and manipulated. By the same token, even though a lot has been written concerning different types of professional identity (Archer, 2008; Cruess et al., 2016; Hammond et al., 2016; Nadelson et al., 2017), as well as various aspects of its deformation (Costello, 2006), from the point of view of its evolution and practice-oriented forms of development (i.e. how exactly any given professional identity is to be formed, what steps are to be taken, and which outcomes are to be anticipated) this research subject does not have enough coverage, either.

In the light of modern breakthroughs in cognitive science, we hold to the view that the holistic understanding of professional personality and identity regarding an individual as a member of certain worldview would be impossible to form without accepting them as a specific language personality (i.e. personality with certain linguistic identity) having distinctive communication behaviour and strategies in each particular professional sphere. It is difficult to argue with Karaulov (2010) claiming that trying to shape a full-fledged personality before the linguistic identity is formed would be as futile as putting the cart before the horse.

Thus, all the above mentioned allows us to put forward the problem of shaping professional identity through language teaching as an important niche which, once being found and established, needs to be scrutinised and exploited. And even though we believe the methodology of shaping professional identity via language teaching to be universal, the focus of our attention is motivated by our area of expertise and deals with the ways of shaping the professional identity of a foreign language teaching (FLT) student.

Axiological dimensions of professional identity formation

It is important to highlight that, within the framework of professional identity formation as an innovative language teaching method, as we see it, the main focus is to be on axiological and pragmatic aspects of any professional space subject to being taught. Such an approach seems most reasonable, as it is supported by extensive anthropological research.

Since our argument is based on anthropological notion of cultural relativism, we are in full agreement with Herskovits that, first of all, “we must recognize that the pluralistic nature of the value systems of the world's cultures … cannot be judged on the basis of any single system” (Herskovits, 1972: 109); and, secondly, that “judgments are based on experience, and experience is interpreted by each individual in terms of his own enculturation” (Herskovits, 1972: 15). Enculturation in this context is defined both as a phenomenon through which each culture, encapsulating a total social world, is being reproduced, and the process by which values, emotional dispositions, and embodied behaviors are transmitted from one generation to the next. These statements correlate with Boas's understanding of values as the essence of what primarily differentiates one culture from another and the instrument that produces self-fulfilled individuals and, subsequently, healthy societies (Boas, 1966).

Brown goes even further and postulates cultural relativism 2.0, where among other statements there is one which deserves our particular attention: value is found in a number of cultural relativism's central tenets, such as its “concern with processes of socialization and enculturation, its sensitivity to context and meaning, its emphasis on tolerance and empathy, and its opposition to an evolutionary ranking of societies” (Brown et al., 2008: 378). Therefore, all the diversity of any given culture is encapsulated in the set of values this culture practises. So, in order to be able to understand a different culture one is to incorporate its values. And, since language is the only safe to use window into human nature (Jackendoff, 2007a, Jackendoff, 2007b), it is only logical to use language teaching as one of the best ways to incorporate a different culture and form a solid set of values needed to understand it properly.

Pragmatic dimensions of professional identity formation

Now that the axiological aspect of the matter at hand is justified, let us turn to the pragmatic one. Given that we have already agreed on the fact that language teaching is to be value-oriented and based on the principles of axiology and enculturation, the question is how this teaching should be handled and which linguistic units should be used to form educational materials. Whereas the former question lies in the domain of foreign language teaching methodology, it is closely interconnected with the latter one, the answer to which can be found in pragmatics. The reasons for such a statement result form the general understanding of pragmatics as a science.

Even though it is true that “studies which employ a methodology [of pragmatics] are those which are empirical in nature, that is, those which look at language in use” (O'Keeffe et al., 2019: 20), theoretically speaking, pragmatics is so much more than simply language in use. According to Deirdre Wilson (2005), there are at least three approaches to understanding this phenomenon. From the philosophical standpoint, pragmatics aims at answering certain questions about meaning, specifically the relation between the meaning of the sentence and the addresser's intention. Linguistics-wise, it can be seen as an extension of grammar studies when it comes to dealing with sentence ‘meaning -- context’ interaction and codification. Alternatively, pragmatics can be viewed as a part of cognitive science, in which case it investigates a psychologically realistic account of human communication. Each of the approaches clearly suggests that this field of study is indispensable when it comes to any manipulation with language. And since language usage in real-life situations includes the whole spectrum of presuppositions, conventional implicatures and illocutionary forces which shape each and every context differently, it is obvious that the linguistic embodiment of specific (e.g. professional) values cannot be fully decoded without pragmatics.

Summarising the arguments illustrated above, it is safe to say that, in essence, pragmatic and axiological modelling of language (i.e. any given professional discourse space) is crucial in any language teaching approach which aims to provide the students with full immersion, both linguistically and culturally speaking. Having established that, another question arises: How exactly are we supposed to select, analyse, arrange and transform the elements of language in order to achieve this pragmatic and axiological modelling?

Materials and methods

The methodology constructed within the framework of this research is predetermined by the lack of attention to the pragmatic and axiological aspects of linguistic modelling and its importance for the FLT field. Taking into account the fact that the process of forming professional identity is in the focus of our research interests, and the methodology of conceptual linguistic engineering of professional identity includes pragmatic and axiological modelling as its integral part, it seems fit to use this particular set of methods to achieve the research aim.

Materials

Before proceeding to the methodology behind the research, it is important to state the materials used. Given the fact that the field of study under analysis is FLT, all the content used to shape the corpora for further analysis was taken from FLT discourse space, i.e. most famous books and articles dedicated to foreigh language teaching methodology: “Learning teaching” by Jim Scrivener, “How to Teach” series by Jeremy Harmer, “Teach English as a Foreign Language” by David Riddell, “Multisensory Teaching of Basic Language Skills” by Judith R. Birsh & Suzanne Carreker, “Creativity in the English Language Classroom” by Alan Maley & Nik Peachey, “Teaching Online. Tools and techniques, options and opportunities” by Nicky Hockly & Lindsay Clandfield, as well as journal articles of Ruth Gairns, Michael Swan, Michael McCarthy, and Scott Thornbury to name but a few. Out of convenience, the references of the corpus materials will include only the sources used to demonstrate the examples in this paper.

The reason why the choice turned next to FLT content is simple - even though our primary research question is that of developing the methodology of conceptual linguistic engineering of professional identity which could be easily applied to any kind of discourse space, one of our principal objectives is to add a new dimension to educating and training future foreign language teachers by fine-tuning and significantly improving the overall curriculum of the discipline “Foreign Language Teaching Methodology: Theory & Practice”.

Methods and procedure

The research methods used in this paper have been chosen in accordance with the research questions. In order to reach the aims of the study, it was necessary to employ methods and ideas of several approaches, namely, linguistic and linguodidactic ones:

theoretical analysis of professional language personality and professional identity necessary to discover possible intersection points as well as ways in which these two notions are related;

descriptive method needed to explain the main aspects of conceptual linguistic engineering of professional identity and explain the role pragmatic and axiological modelling plays in this linguistic engineering as well as the potential it is supposed to have if implemented in FLT sphere;

method of pragmatic and axiological modelling which is used to translate theory into practice and demonstrate how exactly this type of linguistic analysis extracts elements of discourse denoting value and arranges them into a corpus for further use in constructing FTL materials; for the purpose of convenience, the process of corpus' compiling is managed with Microsoft Excel and structured in accordance with the hierarchy of axiological concepts, their verbal representation, contextual usage, and pragmatic functioning;

linguodidactic analysis of the collected corpus to find out how the elements of language are to be organised and formed into exercises in order to shape students' professional identity.

As we have already mentioned, the methods described correspond with the research questions of the paper and, therefore, represent the procedure of this study.

Results and discussion

Professional language personality and professional identity: intersection points

The method of forming professional identity via language teaching & learning is based on the principle of shaping professional language personality. This is primarily due to the fact that professional identity itself is formed via developing and upgrading one's professional language personality. Professional identity is a complex and dynamic system which consists in each individual's self-identification and awareness of being a member of a certain profession (professional community) according to a set of necessary and sufficient descriptors of the profession in question (Jackson, 2016).

Professional identity is formed during professional training of future specialists, which inseparably includes the development of required professional competences. Inasmuch as any professional knowledge is represented by texts forming professional picture of the world, as well as norms and models of conduct (Springbett, 2018), and the texts themselves contain a system of value settings of the future profession as well as national-cultural specificity of knowledge, language proves to be one of the key elements in forming the future specialist's language personality and their professional identity.

The fact that professional discourse as a set of professional texts and corresponding contexts objectively reflects the worldview of this profession which is, in itself, a central core of ‘professional language personality <-> professional reality’ interrelation, also substantially supports the point of view above. Thus, it is professional discourse (together with all the lexical, syntactic, pragmatic and suprasegmental language units used in it) that forms professional language personality and, consequently, professional identity.

Professional language personality includes the following levels: verbal-semantic (lexicon; level of communication competence), thesaurus (linguocognitive; level of professional consciousness) and motivational (level of motivation and pragmatics). In our opinion, a step-by-step development of each of the presented levels through the study of professional thesaurus and discursive-communicative standards adopted in a certain professional community contributes to forming foundations of professional consciousness and evolving future specialists’ professional identity.

The role of pragmatic and axiological modelling in overall linguistic modelling of professional identity

At the core of the described methodology of professional identity formation is the following principle of shaping professional language personality: "professional thesaurus → professional discourse → professional communication → professional activity". Within the framework of the language learning educational process, the methodology is as follows: based on the analysis of texts presenting professional discourse, the use of language material is studied, the identified complex of language units is activated within the framework of (simulated) professional communication, and then the whole complex of skills is tested in direct professional interaction with language specialists (or foreign specialists using a certain foreign language as intermediary).

Nevertheless, as easy and straightforward as this procedure may seem, there is much more to it when it comes to data segmentation and proper linguistic analysis. At present, only a comprehensive multi-factor analysis of the linguistic component of an individual's professional identity - be it a specialist or an amateur - can claim theoretical and practical research potential, validity, and verifiability of results. In order to meet these criteria, the analysis is to include the methods of each area of linguistics listed above. On the one hand, the proposed methodology of professional identity linguistic engineering, in general, and pragmatic and axiological modelling, in particular, is intended to fill a number of theoretical and practical white spots in several corresponding fields, and on the other hand, it can ensure effective professional cross-cultural interaction in a wide variety of professional spheres between Russian and foreign scientists.

We have already agreed that the axiological aspect is the cornerstone of any culture. In turn, any cultural background significantly predetermines an individual's cognitive base and influences the way they transfer and perceive knowledge. And since language is arguably one of the best possible ways to express, describe and perceive the world around us, it stands to reason that values (aka axiological components) are the driving force behind the whole language process.

Even though in theory the situation is more or less straightforward, the question is how to apply this knowledge in practice, i.e. distinguish and correctly arrange the elements of discourse in such a way that they convey the set of values of this particular sociological group speaking this particular language. For this very reason exists pragmatic and axiological linguistic modelling. In general terms, this research method is used to trace the reverse process of language acquisition and usage from the point of view of cognitive science: while analysing the language (to be more specific - professional discourse) as the final outcome in the cognitive process of speech production, this method helps go all the way up to the basic elements of individual's cognitive base and, thus, pinpoint the correlation between certain professional values and discourse elements that encapsulate them.

The importance of this method in terms of its ability to directly connect a set of values with the elements of language which describe it proves to be interesting and productive for the sphere of FLT, as it provides teachers with a culturally-charged material and helps their students not only understand the mechanics of a certain language but dig deeper and acquire axiology and culture of any particular nation through their language.

If the language learning material is organised in such a way and with the usage of such discourse elements that ensure the students’ deeper understanding of cognitive, philosophical and axiological rationale standing behind the language patterns, this whole process ensures a much deeper immersion into the cultural/professional identification and mentality behind the language.

Pragmatic and axiological linguistic modelling: a “theory-to-practice” algorithm

This type of linguistic modelling consists of the following methodological steps:

discourse analysis

This qualitative method of analysis (Brown and Yule, 1983) is primarily designed to identify overarching themes and situated meanings reflected in the discourse space under investigation (Deroo and Ponzio, 2019). In the case of our research, another reason this step is used is to single out the elements of FLT discourse which bear certain axiological charges. The importance of this type of analysis is also determined by the fact that at this stage the general corpus is structured and filled in for further types of analysis.

pragmatic-communicative analysis

When all the necessary attested data is gathered, the second step is to perform the analysis in terms of the pragmatic and professional value of the collected discourse elements. Apart from being an extremely useful tool for structuring the axiological sphere of FLT discourse, this stage also proves to be helpful with understanding how sociopragmatic and pragmalinguistic types of knowledge are related during various acquisitional stages (Bardovi-Harlig et al., 2019).

functional analysis

Within the framework of this research, functional analysis is considered as a part of pragmatic analysis and its aim is to shape the functional range of the language elements used in a particular discourse, as well as to find the correlation between these elements (Bagiyan et al., 2019). Apart from that, this type of analysis helps to pinpoint the peculiarities of using language in its linguistically creative actualisation.

linguoaxiological analysis

This final step is needed to summarize the previous findings in order to accentuate dominant spheres from the axiological standpoint. This is achieved through constructing value-charged concepts of the professional discourse in question (cf.: Shiryaeva et al., 2019).

Let us now perform each step of this method on the material of professional FLT discourse.

By the moment all the stages of the described method are fulfilled, we end up with the main elements of the axiological sphere of FLT discourse. As a result, pragmatic and axiological linguistic modelling allowed us to single out 5 basic concepts which form the foundation of the axiological sphere of FLT discourse: EDUCATION, LANGUAGE, MULTICULTURALISM, CULTURE, KNOWLEDGE. It is worth mentioning that, since the main objective of the research is not to show all the results of the linguistic method described, but to demonstrate this method's capacity with reference to how its results can (and should) be applied in FLT settings, there is no need to uncover all the linguistic findings. That is why, in order to give you an idea of how we see each element of the axiological sphere, let us demonstrate the formation of the axiological concept EDUCATION (see Figure 1).

Figure 1

Axiological concept EDUCATION.

Here, it is necessary to describe the way the concept is formed. “Education” being the name of the concept and, at the same time, its dominant lexeme, has 12 elements which form its close periphery: TEACHING, LEARNING, PROCESS, INSTRUCTION, INSTITUTION, THEORY & PRACTICE, KNOWLEDGE, EXPERIENCE, INFORMATION, SUBJECT, POLICY, and SYSTEM. Each of them is further ramified to form a more precise picture of the axiological sphere. The connection between certain elements shows interdependence of the respective close-periphery components. These connections are important to single out as they will help us in making an axiologically-charged FLT content.

For instance, a close connection between TEACHING[method] and THEORY & PRACTICE show one of the main values of modern FLT discourse: present-day teaching methods, even though rooted in solid theoretical research, need to be practically-oriented and easily applied in contemporary classrooms. A similar idea stands behind the connection TEACHING[broad-mindedness] <-> LEARNING[open-mindedness]: in order to establish rapport necessary for the congenial atmosphere in terms of both knowledge and language proper acquisition, teachers should be broad-minded themselves and inspire students to do the same. Some of the connections are obvious (TEACHING[curriculum] <-> SUBJECT; LEARNING <-> TEACHING, KNOWLEDGE <-> LEARNING, etc.) and serve as an empirical justification of valid results.

On the basis of the collected data about each axiological concept, the next step aims to group all the found discourse elements into certain pragmatic categories in accordance with their axiological charge and pragmatic-communicative direction.

For convenience reasons, we demonstrate only that fragment of the collected corpus which deals with the axiological concept EDUCATION mentioned above. It also needs to be said that each lexeme has several examples with different pragmatic functions and overall axiological charge; nonetheless, only one example is shown here since the idea is to show you the way our research method works and how exactly it should be implemented by professionals in Applied Linguistics and FLT Methodology.

The analysis of how each lexeme functions in FLT professional discourse gives a clear picture of the axiological charge it bears. For instance, let us have a look at how the lexeme “method” is imbedded in FLT discourse from the standpoint of pragmatic and axiological modelling:

(1) “Assessments come in various forms. Standardized assessment involves the use of reliable and valid tests, which are created painstakingly over long periods, with much study and by using established” (Birsh and Carreker, 2011: 325).

To begin with, the chosen discourse element deals with the assessment methods in FLT, which in itself already brings evaluation in the FLT setting. Secondly, the context is filled with evaluative lexical units, which shape the overall positive axiological charge: the adjective ‘standardized’ gives certain insurance to the word ‘assessment’, making it sound safer and more definitive; ‘reliable’ and ‘valid’ are the descriptors for the notion in question (the same ‘assessment’, even though described through the lexeme ‘test’), which undoubtedly add to the general idea of the described method to be trustworthy and almost infallible; the word ‘established’, used to characterise the method, means “having existed or done something for a long time and therefore recognized and generally accepted” (Oxford English Dictionary, 2021) is also used intentionally as, according to its definition, it appeals to the uniqueness and credibility of the method throughout a long history of its successful extensive and widely appreciated usage. Finally, the author emphasises the importance of the assessment tests and their almost historical value by saying that they ‘are created painstakingly over long periods’. Thus, the lexeme ‘method’, having purely argumentative pragmatic function, encapsulates quite a potential from the point of view of axiological linguistics, since the context provides this notion with such characteristics as being trustworthy, dependable, systematised, time-proven, reasonable, widely acceptable and, therefore, completely secure (see Figure 2).

Figure 2

The corpus of axiologically charged FLT discourse elements (axiological concept EDUCATION).

Another example of the pragmatic function of argumentation sheds even more light on how axiologically charged discourse elements perform in the discourse space of FLT:

(2) “Awareness means assessing what students have said and responding appropriately. According to the writer Michael Lewis, a colleague of his, Peter Wilberg, put this perfectly when he said that ‘the teacher's primary responsibility is response-ability’! This means being able to perceive the success or failure of what is taking place in the classroom, and being flexible enough <...> to respond to what is going on. We need to be as conscious as possible of what is going on in the students' heads” (Harmer, 2010: 35).

Unlike with the first example, where axiological elements were obvious and the overall ‘tonality’ of values was palpable, the second example shows a more subtle and implicit way to do it. For instance, the very first sentence, being as matter-of-fact as possible from the point of view of syntax and denotations of the lexemes used, conveys much more than meets the eye. Firstly, it reflects one of the basic methodological dogmas - a teacher should hear a student out before reacting, without any unnecessary corrections or interruptions, and ‘respond appropriately’, e.i. in the student's best interests. Furthermore, the author provides a reference to some of the leading experts in the field (Michael Lewis and Peter Wilberg), thus, implicitly increasing the credibility level of this discourse element; this, in turn, significantly elevates the value of the passage for the addressee. Along with that, not only does the author provide the quotation from a famous FLT resource, but they also resort to the explanation of this phrase. There are several reasons for applying this particular pragmatic move: as soon the level of authoritativeness is raised, the level of the axiological charge follows immediately; in addition to that, the implicit beginning of the discourse element is followed by quite an explicit explanation, which makes the charge even stronger and triggers such pragmatic functions of language as the phatic one, simplification and popularisation.

In the long run, the analysis procedure demonstrated above investigates each axiologically relevant language unit along with the discourse space where it functions, and all the results are then uploaded into the corpus of axiologically charged FLT discourse elements. According to how we want the method to be used, as soon as all the steps of pragmatic and axiological modelling are complete, the information and data the corpus contains should be used by foreign language teachers (professionals) to compile a range of exercises and materials for FLT students. The logic here is straightforward: each corpus category develops students’ better understanding and deeper immersion into that aspect of the axiological sphere which is directly connected to the discourse elements used in the exercise/task.

Conclusion

The conducted research allows us to come to the following conclusions. Firstly, FLT discourse proves to be a highly axiologically-charged space of professional communication with quite a scope of both linguistic and extralinguistic features, and, thus, potentially represents a wide field of research from the pragmatic-axiological standpoint. Secondly, pragmatic and axiological linguistic modelling is theoretically valid and should be used as one of the principle methods in a more constructive and targeted process of shaping professional identity of foreign language students. Furthermore, the suggested method of FLT material generation and design, based on the principles of pragmatic and axiological modelling also seems to be theoretically viable and providing valid results. Nevertheless, even with a lot of theoretical and, partially, empirical data, this method is still to be tested and fine-tuned in practice.

Even though we have tried to correlate our research results with previous findings and studies earlier in the paper, it seems fit to underline the importance of our own findings regarding research questions mentioned in the Introduction:

Professional identity is predetermined by special mentality actualised through particular linguistic forms;

The methodology used to conduct current research reflects the process of forming professional identity and is based on the methodology of conceptual linguistic engineering of professional identity; since pragmatic and axiological modelling forms its integral part, this particular research methods are used to achieve the research objective;

Since axiology is the foundation of pragmatics which, in its turn predetermines individual's language personality, it is essential to establish a certain set of values at the very beginning of the FLT educational process in order to successfully shape students' professional identity;

The mechanism of forming professional identity through the pragmatic and axiological linguistic modelling is meticulously described and put into practice;

Nowadays we propose a way of designing an axiologically-charged FLT curriculum on the basis of the proposed methodology. Taking into account the limitations of current research, we intend to address this particular issue in our further investigations.

Conceptually, the use of the methodology consists both in the conduct of practical classes using the pilot manuals which are being developed by our laboratory research group, as well as in the activation of the creative component of students’ foreign language abilities through the implementation of project activities. The current stage of the research focuses on writing English and Spanish pilot manuals in accordance with all the theoretical background described in this paper.

The limitations of study can be narrowed down to the fact that the research is carried out on the material of only one language and the empirical verification could include additional types of psycholinguistic analysis such as questionnaires, DCT and the like. Nonetheless, we are sure to cover these aspects of analysing the object of current research in the upcoming papers on the topic within the framework of our mainstream linguistic and linguodidactic investigations.

The overall analysis of the paper gives high hopes for the implementation of the proposed research method of pragmatic and axiological modelling in both Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, and becomes an important step in the process of designing a new axiologically-based methodology of teaching foreign languages and cultures with one sole purpose - to properly shape students’ professional identity and naturally enhance their language capacity to that of native speakers. In our humble opinion, there are not many research objectives as worth pursuing as this one in the area of modern FLT.

Declarations

Author contribution statement

Alexander Y. Bagiyan: Performed the experiments; Wrote paper.

Tatyana A. Shiryaeva: Analyzed and interpreted data; Wrote paper.

Elena V. Tikhonova: Conceived and designed the experiments; Wrote paper.

Nataliya M. Mekeko: Analyzed and interpreted the data.

Funding statement

This paper has been supported by the RUDN University Strategic Academic Leadership Program.

Data availability statement

Data associated with this study has been deposited at https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1mQOwoQCsisq98iQqvYY2sbAZl5wEdFPd?usp=sharing.

Declaration of interests statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

No additional information is available for this paper.