Integration of Combat Stories and Military Motivational Speeches into Ukrainian Language Teaching of Future Officers

Abstract

This article is devoted to the justification and empirical verification of the methodology for integrating combat stories and military motivational speeches into the teaching of the Ukrainian language to future officers in higher military educational institutions. The theoretical basis of the study is formed by modern approaches to the analysis of military discourse, leadership rhetoric, and authentic texts in professionally oriented language teaching. Based on critical discourse analysis, pragmatics, and narrative approaches, a system of criteria for selecting authentic military texts (authenticity, genre relevance, rhetorical structure, value content, didactic suitability) was developed and operationalized in the form of an evaluation matrix. A corpus of combat narratives and motivational speeches selected using the proposed methodology was included in the experimental training. The empirical part covers a pedagogical experiment involving a control group (n = 154) and an experimental group (n = 156). To evaluate the effectiveness of the methodology, pre- and post-testing, content analysis of written and oral works, expert assessment of rhetorical and leadership skills, as well as standardized questionnaires of emotional and volitional stability were used. The results of the study showed statistically significant improvements in the experimental group in terms of rhetorical skills, analytical competence, stylistic compliance with military discourse, and emotional stability (p < 0.001), while the changes in the control group remained minimal. The proposed methodology confirmed its pedagogical relevance and applied value for military professional language education.