Minsk State Linguistic University

The influence of heating rate and sintering temperature on the mechanical characteristics of composite materials from iron–silicon carbide–sodium tetraborate and iron–silicon carbide–copper-phosphorous alloy systems synthesized using a high-frequency electromagnetic field is examined. It has been shown that the use of an induction heater allows for widely regulating the heating rate and the conditions of heat exchange between components of furnace charge and, thus, allows for controlling the properties of the resulting materials at the sintering stage. It has been established that subsequent annealing of the compacts for 5 and 10 min at a temperature equal to the sintering temperature increase the mechanical characteristics of the resulting materials.

The article deals with the communicative representation of the socio-cultural phenomenon “new sincerity”, which is viewed as a communicative technology that ensures qualitative transformations of the modern communicative organization of television and radio. The communicative technology “new sincerity” is a set of techniques (discursive scenarios and strategies) offering the media audience communicative “bare souls” in public, or “public undressing” of the addresser. The study reveals that the issues that were previously taboo, hidden or hushed up, not customary to talk about, and meant to be hidden, confiding only to the closest people (for example, details of a painful divorce, sexual and psychological violence, physiological features of life, etc.) are spilled out into the public space (both in terms of content and in terms of linguistic design). The article establishes that the construction of communication with the participation of media addressee narratives determines new facets of the substantive and functional capabilities of media with a focus on the private-personal, affective, emotional-sensory, sentimental aspect; explicit/demonstrative designation of one’s own identity; and socializing tools of communicative interaction. The study shows several types of new communicative practices, based on expositional private-personal and private-personal discursive scenarios, as well as a range of strategies manifesting them.

Aim. To analyse communicative reactions to changes in distance in English communication.Methodology. The selected material was studied using discourse analysis, contextual analysis, interpretive analysis, and introspection.Results. The main components of the communicative situation in which a change in communicative distance occurs were identified. The main types of reactions to changes in communicative distance were distinguished: 1) on the emotional level, positive and negative reactions can be distinguished; 2) according to the criterion of speech use – verbal and nonverbal. Positive reactions indicate the willingness of the communicator to move the relationship to a new level, while negative reactions express the communicant’s disagreement with the attempts to change the established distance. Negative reactions to changes in communicative distance are predominant (displeasure, discomfort, concern, irritation, etc.). Nonverbal reactions are expressed through nonverbal means: movements, gestures, gaze, blushing, intonation, pauses. Verbal reactions are speech acts: demanding an explanation for one’s behaviour, threatening, attempting to interrupt the interlocutor, clarifying the source of information, evading the answer, and refusing. Lexical means of expressing reactions include interrogative words, interjections, nouns, adjectives, verbs describing speech behaviour, and idioms.Research implications. The theoretical significance lies in clarifying the concept of “communicative distance”, expanding knowledge of communicative processes and factors influencing them. The practical significance of the study lies in the possibility of using its results in courses on discourse analysis, pragmalinguistics, sociolinguistics, and communication theory

In the originally published version of the chapter 13 the affiliation of the author Anna Dolgova was indicated incorrectly. The affiliation of Anna Dolgova has been corrected as "Belarusian State University".

Crisis ideologization as one of the tools to carry out political manipulations plays a leading role in the construction of reality, has the powerful potential for influencing the mass consciousness. It makes the manipulation of the public opinion possible, impacts the behaviour and political decisions of the recipient to get rid of political dividends in favour of the actor. The actors exercise control over the value balance in the society both within their own country and abroad using a set of tactics – special tools, which allow influencing political decision-making and public opinion to ideologize mass consciousness. The mechanism of ideologizing a crisis is wide-spread in modern international relations. The author offers a typology of manipulative tools relying on the study of crisis situations by the method of critical discourse analysis, and singles out the tactics of legitimization of the political actors’ actions, censure and condemnation, coercion and punishment, accusations, threats of war, misinformation, seduction, insults, and distraction. The aim of the article is to describe the mechanisms of political manipulations by means of crisis ideologization. The study is based on mass media publications representing various crises emerged in the post-Soviet space since 2020.

Along with traditional issues, educationalists nowadays raise many new ones, among them is the correlation of the universal and the national education patterns relating to the ratio of teaching and learning, instruction and upbringing. The emphasis of on learning and instruction is more characteristic of modern education theories of English-speaking countries while in Russian speaking countries they still pay particular attention at educational establishments to teaching and upbringing alongside with guided and independent learning. It is revealed in the article how the content of the major national trends in the education discourse on these topics is influenced not only by historical and cultural environment but also by the language factors, particularly by etymology of the correlative basic educational terms related to education, teaching, and learning in English and Russian and their position in the lexical subsystems. Some concerns about speech communication skills in education of the 21-st century are expressed.

The mixing of English with national languages in business communication is a consequence of global processes: the development of transnational corporations, modern technologies, the intensification of communication flows and the dominance of English in intercultural communication. Mixing and switching of language codes is quite often observed in the corporate media discourse of IT companies. For organizations in this sphere, English is the main language of business communication, but its use goes beyond professional slang and terminology, creating characteristic forms of language codes mixing. The purpose of the research presented in the article is to identify and analyze situations of mixing English and Russian in the corporate media discourse of IT companies. The research material was corporate media texts in Russian and English posted on the pages of official websites, corporate blogs and in the social networks Twitter and Facebook. In the analyzed texts in Russian, English inclusions (phrases, individual words and their parts) are often observed to denote work programs and tools, corporate events. As part of the professional slang of IT professionals, English words are transmitted using the Cyrillic alphabet and in accordance with the rules of Russian grammar. The influence of English on Russian media discourse in the IT field is also observed in the expansion of the meanings of some words. In Russian media texts, there are also phrases that are not typical for the Russian language, but represent a literal translation of English phrases. English-language sentences are used in Russian texts as mottos or slogans of the company, as congratulations or advice. As a result of the content analysis of the selected media texts, it was also found that along with the English language, the values typical for the discourse of American corporations are being borrowed. It was found that the value dominants of the corporate discourse of IT companies are change and progress, success, equality, partnership.

Practical mastering of a foreign language by university students in the distance learning environment is associated with the search for ways and means of adequate teaching and learning interaction patterns. The present study concentrates on the problem of teaching foreign languages using information and communication technologies. The focus is made on the possibilities of using various e-learning resources and services to develop students’ communicative competence. Based on the survey conducted among teachers and students, the authors explore how to organize effective online interactions of foreign language learners and outline the following components of those interactions: lingvo-cognitive, information, communicative, perceptual, and intercultural ones. The potential of e-learning resources is evaluated to promote the cognitive and social involvement of foreign language learners in meaningful oral and written online interactions. The paper presents the extended and diversified range of distance learning tools that have proven effective for online classes.