THE HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AS A MEANS OF FORMING INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE OF STUDENTS MAJORING IN ENGLISH PHILOLOGY: INTERNATIONAL COMPARATIVE EXPERIENCE

Abstract

The article examines the role of the academic discipline “The History of the English Language” (HEL) as an effective pedagogical tool for developing intercultural competence (IC) of students majoring in English philology. The relevance of the study is determined by the growing demands of the European educational space and Ukraine’s European integration, which require philological education to move beyond purely linguistic training towards the cultivation of culturally aware, critically reflective, and interculturally adaptive professionals. Drawing on international comparative experience from Ukrainian, Spanish, Polish, British, and global research contexts, the study reveals significant cross-national similarities and differences in how historical linguistic knowledge is conceptualised and operationalised for intercultural education.

The study is based on the theoretical frameworks proposed by Byram, Kramsch, Liddicoat, and Hammer and synthesises data from recent empirical studies. The study defines the HEL course as a multi-layered platform that simultaneously develops linguacultural awareness, socio-historical empathy, and cross-cultural communicative competence through the study of etymological strata, language contact phenomena, and the social history of the English language. It is argued that each major period of English history – from the Old English assimilation of Germanic, Scandinavian, and Latin influences, through the profound intercultural encounter of the Norman Conquest and its lasting sociolinguistic consequences, to the globalisation of Modern English and the emergence of World Englishes – constitutes a rich pedagogical resource for IC formation.

A comparative analysis of international pedagogical models, including IC development in English philology programs in Spain, the staged intercultural pedagogy model in Ukraine, and globally-inclusive English language instruction informed by Crystal and Jenkins, reveals that integration of the diachronic perspective of language history into IC-oriented instruction significantly enhances students’ ability for intercultural dialogue and identity negotiation. The article proposes a structured four-stage pedagogical framework for implementing the HEL course as an intercultural learning environment in Ukrainian philological education. The findings carry concrete implications for curriculum design, materials development, and teacher professional training.