Information on the thesis

Thesis  for  a  candidate  degree  in  philology:  speciality  10.02.04  –  Germanic
Languages. – The Ivan Franko National University of L’viv, L’viv, 2015.
The  thesis  focuses  on  main  communicative  strategies  and  tactics  of  present-day
English  scientific  didactic  discourse  from  the  perspective  of  their  influence  on  the
addressee. The analysis framed by the communicative-pragmatic approach has allowed us
to  specify  the  place  of  the  English  scientific  didactic  discourse  in  the  field  of  ecology
within pedagogical discourse as institutional, to determine its main constitutive parameters
and genre structure and to reveal and conceptualize the main strategies and tactics of the
addresser. The dissertation suggests theoretical and practical perspectives and directions
for future research.
Since scientific didactic discourse in the field of ecology comprises the features of
scientific,  didactic  and  ecological  discourses,  its  communicative  purpose  is  twofold:  to
provide professional knowledge to the addressees and to shape their eco-friendly attitudes
towards environment. The participants of the analysed discourse are scientists or lecturers
(addressers)  and  university  students  majoring  in  ecology  (addressees).  The  relationship
between the addressers and addressees is considered within institutional mode, where the
value of appropriate context, including the rules and conventions (linguistic, professional
and  social)  that  govern  the  use  of  language  in  institutional  settings,  is  taken  into
consideration.
The scientific didactic discourse is represented by a wide range of genres, which can
be roughly classified into three groups: oral, written and electronic. The research is based
on the analysis of English textbooks on ecology, which are generally recognized as a well-
established  genre  serving  its  communicative  purpose  of  a  repository  of  disciplinary
knowledge  and  characterized  by  the  clear  structure  which  logically  combines  main,
explanatory and additional texts and non-textual elements.  The  key  issues  of  the  research  are  strategic  choices  made  by  the  addressers  of
English scientific didactic discourse  in  the  field  of  ecology  in  order  to  implement  their
communicative  intentions.  The  analysis  resulted  in  singling  out  two  communicative
strategies  employed  in  this  type  of  discourse,  namely,  the  strategy  of  intellectual
orientation which appeals to the recipient’s intellect, and the strategy of emotional tuning
which  appeals  to  the  recipient’s  emotions.  The  strategies  are  implemented  through  a
number of tactics represented by various verbal and visual elements. The combination of
the analysed strategies and tactics of English scientific didactic discourse in the field of
ecology is its main differential characteristics which represents a unique strategic program
of the addressee’s professional socialization and acculturation based on the combination of
communicative orientation of scientific didactic discourse and ideological component of
ecological discourse.
Key  words:  discourse,  institutional  discourse,  scientific  didactic  discourse,
ecological  discourse,  genre,  communicative  strategy,  communicative  tactics,  addresser,
addressee.