Immersive Storytelling and Gamification Elements as a Tool for Foreign Language Epideictic Speech Development

The article examines the didactic potential of using immersive storytelling and gamification elements as a tool for the development of foreign language epideictic speech. The objectives of this study are as follows: 1) to identify the didactic potential of using the fusion of immersive storytelling and gamification elements; 2) to determine the didactic advantages of using this fusion for the development among master's students of linguistics of epideictic speech as the capacity to speak at special occasions in a foreign language; 3) to present the stages of implementation of immersive storytelling and gamification elements; 4) to study the changes after the use of immersive storytelling and gamification elements in the level of development of foreign language epideictic speech in master’s students of linguistics; 5) to assess the possibilities of using the fusion of immersive storytelling and gamification elements for the development of foreign language epideictic speech of master's students in linguistics; 6) to substantiate the need to use the fusion of immersive storytelling and gamification elements for this development of linguistic competence; 7) to analyze the structural and content characteristics of this foreign language rhetorical competence of master's students in linguistics in respect to the totality of its cognitive, operational and motivational components. A three-stage algorithmic prescription for organizing work on the development of foreign language rhetorical and communicative skills of master's students in linguistics with the use of a set of communicative tasks and rhetorical tasks aimed at overcoming foreign language rhetorical difficulties is proposed. The significance of the fusion of immersive storytelling and gamification elements in the educational process, which allows expanding the didactic capabilities of a teacher, is revealed. Factors contributing to the development of foreign language epideictic speech of master's students have been studied. The study shows that the use of fusion of immersive storytelling and gamification elements in the educational process of higher education contributes to the development of foreign language epideictic speech in master's students of linguistics.