LITERARY TEXT AS A RESOURCE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMMUNICATIVE AND CULTURAL COMPETENCE OF TERTIARY-LEVEL LAERNERS

Abstract

The article offers a thorough analysis of the literary text as a universal and multifaceted resource for developing students’ speech and cultural competence in the process of foreign language and literature learning. It substantiates the idea that a literary text serves not only as a source of authentic language material but also as a full-fledged bearer of cultural meanings, models of social behaviour, and concepts inherent in national mentality. Its integration into the educational process ensures deep immersion into the cultural and linguistic environment of the target language, promotes the development of intercultural competence, and broadens students’ worldview. The literary text is characterized as a complex polyphonic phenomenon functioning on several interconnected levels: aesthetic, semantic, and ideological-emotional. It is interpreted as a product of individual authorial creativity, simultaneously rooted in collective linguistic and cultural traditions, which makes it a particularly valuable tool for fostering the competences necessary for effective foreign language communication. Special attention is given to the concept of competence as an integrative personal characteristic encompassing a set of knowledge, skills, abilities, motivational and value orientations, and reflective capacity required for successful intercultural communication. The study highlights the underuse of the literary text’s potential within the current system of language education, where it often plays only a supplementary, illustrative role. The article argues for the need for the systematic and methodical integration of literary texts into the educational process. It emphasizes that, when accompanied by appropriate didactic support, the literary text becomes a powerful means of developing students’ communicative, cultural, and interpretive competence, fostering in them a deep understanding of foreign-language culture, critical thinking, and empathetic perception of the Other.