Communicative invariants of edutainment: linguostylistics of lifehack genre

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Communicative invariants of edutainment: linguostylistics of lifehack genre

Dmytro V. Dergach

Abstract

The article argues a thesis about the state, potential, nature of functions and resources of the mass media space, that dynamizes the style and genre paradigm of communication in this area. The crossing of cultural fields, marked by individual linguostylistic, semantic dominants, which, combining in a new context, actualizes the appearance of new phenomena, genres or their communicative invariants. It is such extralinguistic realities that motivate the syncretic nature of edutainment in the permanent dynamics of social verbal interaction.

The author's attention is .focused on the analysis of edutainment, that increases the genre representation of its tasks, which are based on a system of strategies and tactics of entertainment with the ultimate educational goal. So, the genres of lifehack, intellectual, educational, language, culinary, travel, etc. shows, specialized didactic media projects for the study of various educational disciplines, etc. are updated today. The linguistic and stylistics _ features confirm their syncretic, functional nature, commensurate with the resource potential of mass media and scientific styles.

The communicative dynamics of edutainment is argued in the context of the modern educational process' nature, which takes place in conditions of a rapid increase in the amount of new information. Technical progress motivates the attraction of the mass audience to new forms of obtaining such information. And therefore digitalization and personalization of it is becoming more important. Obviously, it actualizes the emergence of "entertaining" learning technology, synchronized with the, functional nature of edutainment.

This, in turn, actualizes the cognitive paradigm of the mass media, developing their communicative potential in the discursive context of the syncretism of the functional and stylistic resource. Contextual material allows to illustrate the optimization of the entertainment media segment, which increasingly functions as an effective component of the information paradigm. And as a result - as a didactic resource for learning the world in a media _ format. In the context of its dynamics, this tendency is represented in the actualization of the lifehack. Linguostylistics of this genre is characterized by a contrasting combination of educational and entertainment functions of the language, which is synchronized with the communicative requests of the modern mass audience.

Keywords: media, media education, edutainment, lifehack, media genre, language function, entertainment function, didactic function.

Анотація

Дергач Д.В.

КОМУНІКАТИВНІ ІНВАРІАНТИ ЕДЬЮТЕЙНМЕНТУ: ЛІНГВОСТИЛІСТИКА ЖАНРУ ЛАЙФХАК

У статті аргументується теза щодо стану, потенціалу, природи функцій і ресурсу масмедійного простору, що динамізує стилістику й жанрову парадигму комунікації в цій сфері. Перетинання полів культури, позначених індивідуальними лінгвостилістичними, смисловими домінантами, які, поєднуючись в новому контексті, актуалізують появу нових явищ, жанрів або їх комунікативних інваріантів. Саме такі екстралінгвістичні реалії мотивують синкретичну природу едьютейнменту в перманентній динаміці суспільної вербальної інтеракції.

Авторська увага зосереджується на аналізі едьютейнменту, що збільшує жанрову репрезентацію своїх завдань, які спираються на систему стратегій і тактик розваги з кінцевою освітньою метою. Так, у зв'язку з цим сьогодні актуалізуються жанри лайфхаку, інтелектуальних, освітніх, мовних, кулінарних, тревел та ін. шоу, спеціалізовані дидактичні медіапроєкти з вивчення різних навчальних дисциплін тощо, лінгвостилістика яких підтверджує їх синкретичну функціональну природу, співмірну з ресурсним потенціалом масмедійного та наукового стилів.

Комунікативна динаміка едьютейнменту аргументується в контексті природи сучасного навчального процесу, який відбувається в умовах стрімкого збільшення кількості нової інформації. Технічний прогрес мотивує тяжіння масової аудиторії до нових форм отримання такої інформації. А тому цифровізація та персоналізація освіти стає все більш важливою. Очевидно, це актуалізує появу "розважальної" технології навчання, синхронізованої з функціональною природою едьютейнменту.

Це, у свою чергу, актуалізує когнітивну парадигму масмедіа, розвиваючи 'їх комунікативний потенціал дискурсивним контекстом синкретизму функціонально-стилістичного ресурсу. Контекстний матеріал дозволяє проілюструвати у статті оптимізацію розважального медійного сегменту, що все частіше функціонує як ефективний компонент інформаційної парадигми. Й у результаті - як дидактичний ресурс пізнання світу в медійному форматі. В контексті його динаміки така тенденція репрезентується в актуалізації лайфхаку. Лінгвостилістика цього жанру характеризується контрастним поєднанням навчальної та розважальної функцій мови, що синхронізується з комунікативними запитами сучасної масової аудиторії.

Ключові слова: медіа, медіаосвіта, едьютейнмент, лайфхак, медійний жанр, функція мови, розважальна функція, дидактична функція.

Modern communication, taking into account the dynamics of its functional nature, is characterized by dialogicity not only in form - acording to the the number of participants, but also in content. It, first of all, motivates the crossing of cultural fields, marked by individual linguistic and stylistic, semantic dominants, that in a new context actualize the appearance of new phenomena, genres or their communicative invariants. So, such extralinguistic realities motivate the syncretic, precedent communicative nature of edutainment (as infotainment - by analogy in the permanent dynamics of social verbal interaction).

The etymology of the composite "edutainment" is based on the combination of the two words "education" and "entertainment", the meanings of which in the traditional field of culture are quite distant, because the methods of education and entertainment do not completely overlap. But the renewal of the functional paradigm of social communication, primarily in the second half of the 20th century, made possible the actualization of interstylistic formations representing the evolution of literary language.

In the authoritative academic context, edutainment is defined quite ambiguously, that motivates variants of its professional interpretation:

the process of entertaining people at the same time as you are teaching them something, and the products, such as television programmes or software, that do this [3]; entertaining learning edutainment communicative

products such as books, television programmes and especially computer software that both educate and entertain [2];

things such as computer games which are designed to be entertaining and educational at the same time; television programs, movies, books, etc., that are both educational and entertaining, esp. those intended primarily for children in the elementary grades [4];

entertainment (as by games, films, or shows) that is designed to be educational [5].

The proposed definitions of the communicative phenomenon of edutainment outline the tradition formed in science of its understanding as a special form primarily associated with the media - in television, film and game contexts. The current state and potential of the mass media space expands the functional resource of communication in this area. In particular, edutainment is increasing the genre representation of its tasks, that are based on a system of strategies and tactics of entertainment with the ultimate educational goal. So, in connection with this, the genres of lifehack, intellectual, educational, linguistic, culinary, travel, etc. shows, specialized didactic media projects for the study of various educational disciplines, etc. are updated today. Their linguistic stylistics confirm the syncretic functional nature, commensurate with the resource potential of mass media and scientific styles.

The communicative dynamics of edutainment is based on the nature of the modern educational process, which takes place in conditions of a rapid increase in the amount of new information. For obvious reasons, it very quickly loses its relevance - as the knowledge and skills of people. Technical progress motivates the mass audience's attraction to new forms of obtaining information. And therefore digitalization and personalization of education is becoming more and more important. Obviously, it actualizes the emergence of "entertaining" learning technology [15].

Such a reorientation from traditional teacher-dominated education to a more interactive one that takes into account the pupil's personality actualized in the United States. In turn, D. Dewey and other theorists of the cognitive psychology of education point out the importance of the child's initiative in the learning process and emphasize that learning is a lifelong activity that is fundamental to human existence. Problem-solving skills and the need to develop creativity are also important, because education should not be boring, but use experimental, exciting learning methods [14]. This is undoubtedly related to taking into account the extralinguistic factors of dynamization of the language consciousness of the participants of the educational process (teachers / students, authors of specialized media texts / recipients), which are based on various, already developed theories of the psychology of education and media:

Theory of persuasion. Psychological characteristics influence a person's reaction to a message. Also indicates the source's message and factors that influence a person's response, such as source credibility, attractiveness, and experience.

Theory of balanced actions. Social sphere influences behavior, including beliefs and perceived social norms.

Theory of social learning. People learn by observing others and the consequences of their behavior. If a person decides to do so, then he imitates the behavior by rehearsing the action, performing the action, comparing his experience with others, and then adopting the new behavior.

Theory of diffusion. Behavior spreads through a community or group during a period of time. Television can impose an idea, but social networks reinforce it and promote its development [8, p. 45-54].

The updating of educational content in the entertainment context of the media is based on the effectiveness of the positive influence of the reproduced information on the cognitively oriented dynamics of the mass audience's language consciousness. In turn, the interstyle nature has become relevant directly for modern didactics. Education in the form of games facilitates the perception of the material, allowing teachers, authors of such content to use the possibilities of media communication in the classroom. It ensures the availability and interest of scientific knowledge, promotes the development of special abilities and skills, which, as a result, increases the motivation to study (and what is the most important - at any age). This functional duality explains the precedent of entry and consolidation of edutainment in the public space with the expansion of its communicative capabilities. After all, its purpose is to balance the emotions of the recipient through the TV screen, gadget (interactive component), full of bright graphics and design, finally convincing that learning is an exciting and fun process [16, p. 255-264].

Therefore, modern media rely on a system of methods and forms of personality development, which is determined by such characteristics as perception, analysis, structuring and categorization, evaluation, assimilation of media content, critical thinking, decisionmaking, choice of response methods, etc. And therefore, the media, in particular through edutainment, control the emotions and predictive behavior of the recipients, simulating life situations according to the experience of the content authors.

In turn, such effect of the fact has already been realized in the context of the analysis of the cognitive impact of information on the mass language consciousness of the recipients. Scientists singled out five of its main conclusions:

recipients consider more important news about those events that interested them earlier;

they know about many events from previous reports;

recipients can understand only a small amount of communication information (negative information is better remembered);

they introduce new information into the context of previously communicated information;

previous news creates a context for understanding new information.

In this way, cognition is an important characteristic of intellectual activity, which reflects the specifics of a special organization of the cognitive sphere. In general terms, this is a way of working with information [6], which must be accordingly designed, using linguistic and stylistic tools to achieve a communicative goal, which is more complicated with regard to the effects of new media. The cognitive context of the media focuses on their ability not only to reflect real events, but also to explain them in more simple way (it is the functional basis of edutainment).

Therefore, we can generalize that edutainment as a media format is based on the following communicative principles and criteria:

Scientific knowledge. Edutainment conveys useful scientific knowledge to the audience in an interesting and understandable form.

Research. Edutainment videos are often based on scientific research and statistics.

Experts. Expert evaluations and comments from leading experts in the respective fields are used.

Facts. Documentary materials and facts are used to support the claims made in the video.

Scientific accuracy. Edutainment strives to be scientifically accurate and relevant to help audiences understand complex scientific concepts and phenomena.

Education. The goal of edutainment is not just to entertain, but also to teach the audience, making this process interesting and exciting [1].

Nowadays one of the most frequent genre representations of edutainment in the media is a lifehack. The professional interpretation of this communicative phenomenon is based on its dominant characteristics:

a strategy or technique that you use in order to manage your time and daily activities in a more efficient way [11];

any procedure or action that solves a problem, simplifies a task, reduces frustration, etc, in one's everyday life [9];

a usually simple and clever tip or technique for accomplishing some familiar task more easily and efficiently [12];

a clear and uncomplicated solution to a problem which helps you save time [10].

It is known that the term "lifehack" was coined by tech journalist Danny O'Brien on October 23rd, 2003 on his blog, describing his research for an upcoming talk on the subject, which took place during February 2004's Emerging Technology Conference in San Diego, California. He directed people to a message board seeking suggestions about their personal shortcuts, as well as the names of people he could interview about these hacks. One of the first people mentioned in the conversation was the late Aaron Swartz, who kept a detailed log of his online activity [13].

The linguostylistic features of the lifehack is functionally correlated with the extra- and intralingual dominants of an advice. It argues the communicative basis of the genre through the verbalization of the speaker's experience, aimed at developing the language consciousness of the text's recipient. Considering the resources and possibilities of modern social communication, advice in mass media discourse evolves into a life hack based on the mandatory creolization of the meaning conveyed in the text. It allows to dynamize it by visualizing explanations aimed at a simpler solution to various actual issues of daily life (household, work, education, etc.).

M. Koziol mentioned that "life hacks", as they are known, are all about eliminating life's manifold frustrations in simple and deliciously clever ways. The best involve tricks that are free, efficient and stunningly obvious in retrospect, deploying household items (like the humble toilet roll) for purposes beyond their wildest aspirations" [7].

The functional and stylistic resource of the lifehack mostly relies on communicative markers of the lexical and syntactic levels of the literary language. In the texts of this genre, commonly used vocabulary systematically functions as a reasoned extended comment on a certain process or concept (often terminological). Conceptualized lexemes expressed by nouns or verbs to indicate help, relief, advice, attention to details, etc. are also frequent. For example:

1. The first and most important rule: you need to prepare . for the external examination in English at least a year before the exam date. This means that for the entire last year of schooling, you need systematically to study grammar, lexis and replenish your vocabulary.

The first thing you have to do is to determine your current level of English. You need clearly to know the point from which you start training, to understand your weaknesses and strengths.

Online tests will help to determine the level of English. Choose any. Even free tests of 40 questions will be quite enough for this task.

For certainty, you can pass several such tests. Usually, they are designed, for 30-40 minutes of time, so you can even do them in a row.

Immediately after that, we advise you to define your vocabulary. Special tests will also help with this. They take even less time (on average, 10 minutes) and have the form of a board in which you need to put a checkmark next to words whose meaning you know, for sure.

Be careful, both tests must be passed honestly, without hints. The main thing here is not the obtained score, but actual information about knowledge.

Reading lifehacks

Reading tasks require attention and concentration. After all, there are usually the most hidden surprises there. Here are some tips:

Do not pay attention to individual words in the text and answers. All tasks are structured in such a way that vocabulary from the text is included in all answers. Concentrate on understanding the text. Often the correct answer is hidden behind a synonym.

Computer games with lots of dialogues are the best preparation for reading. After all, this is how you learn to perceive the text as a whole, and not in individual words or phrases. This is exactly what is required for the English language test.

Read. Everything you want. To learn to understand an English- language text without translating it about yourself, you need to study hundreds of texts. It can be books in your, favorite genre, articles from fashion magazines, popular science publications, articles in online blogs and mass media - anything.

The most important thing is to pass the tests of previous years. It is they who will show what you need to know on the English language test, as well as reveal your strengths and weaknesses.

When you get used to the specifics of the tasks and understand how to complete each of them as quickly as possible. And then the question of how to pass the final exam in English will disappear altogether16;

2. Practice: a big secret. The great secret is that no one can write. But first you put letters into words, words into sentences, and then sentences into a social media post, job posting, candidate message, team message, company article, and so on. Just another step.

A sharp mind and wit: the keys to the hearts of readers. Whatever you write, respect your audience. The people who read you are first-class and educated specialists with a broad outlook. You can and should speak the same language with them, share exclusive data and non-standard opinions.

Show your . face. The days of impersonal materials are in the past. Introduce yourself, show your talented team, tell about interesting colleagues. Remember that people work with people. Join a team of cool dudes - yes. Becoming a part of a noname team - no.

Give to receive. Share your experience, no one will steal it. Show the results of your work, achievements, research. In numbers, facts, words. Tell us what cool things you have already done and what you want in the . future.

Less is better. A modern person can easily spend 2 minutes reading the material. Try to fit in this time, which in sign equivalent means 3-4 thousand signs11;

3. Pour this magical water over the flowers: they will surprise you with their beauty.

As it turned out, beetroot water has an incredible effect on indoor plants.

Many housewives have no idea that water after boiling beets has an incredible property for plants. However, not everyone knows the benefits of beetroot water and how properly to prepare it. So gardeners have revealed all the secrets, thanks to which you will be delighted with your plants.

First of all, you need to clean the beetroot and cut it into pieces. Pour it with water and bring to a boil. After boiling, reduce the heat and leave it on the stove until it is completely ready. Then let the water cool down and remove the vegetable from it. Important: beetroot water should only be stored in the refrigerator.

If you do not know what to do with the water in which the beets were boiled, then everything is so simple. Dilute it with running water in a ratio of 1:1 and add a little sweetener. After that, you can safely water the flowers.

At the same time, experienced gardeners recommend doing this not more than once a week, and certainly not during the flowering period. Be careful when watering, because the beet water should not get on the flowers and fruits.

As you can see, everything ingenious is simple. Make such a solution from beets, and you will immediately see how your plants will become even more beautiful and healthy .

Syntactically, a lifehack is usually based on a compound sentence of the reason in the format "If you..., then..." It allows to develop the architectonics of the text into a detailed explanation based on the life experience of its author. For example:

1. If your tooth hurts and you are afraid to go to the dentist, we have a solution for you. To begin, take baking soda and pour 1 teaspoon into a cup. Next, pour water at about 36 degrees and stir. Start rinsing the affected area. You need to rinse for 1015 minutes'19.

If you are a very diligent pupil and constantly write a lot, but, unfortunately, your hands are constantly smeared with pen paste because of this writing, and ordinary washing does not help you, then use our lifehack. Take any detergent and soap your hands. Lather your hands for a few minutes. I also recommend using a cleaning sponge - for a better effect. Now all that remains is to wash the detergent off your hands. And voila: you have clean hands

Do you know that if you take a piece of bread and burn it on the pan, take a plate, put this bread on a plate, then put it in the refrigerator, then after 2-3 hours there will be no bad smell in the refrigerator?3'

If you need a cleanser . for everything, then use my lifehack. Pour a glass offlour, a glass of soda into a bowl, pour a glass of hot water, half a glass of any liquid soap, 2 tablespoons of vinegar. Thoroughly mix everything to a homogeneous mass. Apply to any surface, leave for 5-10 minutes. Wash off with clean wate.

Such a detail allows to distinguish a lifehack, for example, from a culinary recipe. In the recipe, the information, mostly linear in its nature, is reduced to a list of ingredients and a description of ways how to prepare them. The lifehack, in turn, must explain HOW to cook / make easier, tastier, faster, etc. That is, the semantic context of a lifehack involves a kind of communicative contrast to already known patterns of behavior, which is based on an interest in a certain actions. And this, after all, is the main task of edutainment.

Thus, edutainment actualizes the cognitive paradigm of mass media, developing their communicative potential in the discursive context of syncretism of functional and stylistic resources. It is connected with a change in the status of information and ways of its perception. Therefore, the entertainment media segment is optimized, which increasingly functions as an effective component of the information paradigm. And as a result - as a didactic resource for learning the world in a media format. In the context of its dynamics, this tendency is represented in the actualization of the lifehack. Linguostylistics of this genre is characterized by a contrasting combination of educational and entertainment functions of the language, which is synchronized with the communicative requests of the modern mass audience.

References

1. Caillois, R. (2001). Man, Play, and Games. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press. 224 p. [in English].

2. Edutainment.

3. Huizinga, J. (1955). Homo Ludens; a Study of the Play-Element in Culture. Beacon Press. 232 p. [in English].

4. Koziol, M. Life hacks: Seven shortcuts to an easier day.

5. Li, M., Liu, I. & Tsai, M. (2018) Study of the impact of Edutainment on children's cognitive abilities. Bulletin of psychology and pedagogy, 4554 [in English].

6. Lifehack.

7. Martino, D. (1999) Education and Entertainment. Journal on the Uses of Multimedia in Education. International Journal of Instructional Media, 1-3 [in English].

8. Murdock, S. (2010). Edutainment: Review of the Literature. Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, 19(4), 349-362 [in English].

9. Okan, Z. (2003). Edutainment: Is learning at risk? British Journal of education technology, 34 (4), 255-264 [in English].

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