Digitalization of philological education as a factor in the formation of new language competencies

Abstract

The relevance of the study is determined by the rapid digitalization of higher education and the transformation of the professional activity of modern philologists under the conditions of the widespread use of digital communication platforms, automated language systems, and artificial intelligence technologies. In the contemporary educational environment, traditional philological training is increasingly losing its compliance with the requirements of the digital society, as it does not ensure the systematic formation of competencies in computer-mediated communication, information-analytical text processing, the use of linguistic corpora, and automated editing of AI-generated content. The problem becomes particularly significant due to the extensive use of digital tools by students without the corresponding development of professional reflection and critical analysis of digital content. The purpose of the article is to conduct an empirical study of the impact of the digitalization of philological education on the formation of new language competencies among philology students in higher education institutions. The research methods include the analysis of scientific literature, generalization of modern approaches to the digital transformation of language education, a pilot survey of 100 philology students from one of the capital higher education institutions of Ukraine, as well as methods of mathematical statistics, including descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and Student’s t-test. The results of the study revealed a significant gap between the intensive everyday use of digital technologies and the level of professionally oriented digital competencies. It was found that 87–93% of students actively use messengers, ChatGPT, online translators, and other digital tools; however, only 34% are able to analyze the genre characteristics of digital communication, 28% can perform multimodal text analysis, and 26% are capable of identifying AI-generated texts. The lowest indicators were recorded in the field of information-analytical competence: only 15% of students have experience working with linguistic corpora, 12% use automated language analysis systems, and 10% apply quantitative tools for language analysis. At the same time, the survey demonstrated a high level of student motivation toward mastering digital technologies professionally: 88% of respondents recognize the necessity of digital tools for modern philologists, 81% expressed willingness to learn how to use them, and 76% support the inclusion of artificial intelligence courses in educational programs. Statistical analysis confirmed the significance of the identified discrepancies between the everyday use of digital tools and the professional ability to apply them critically. The conclusions state that the spontaneous use of digital technologies does not automatically ensure the formation of professional language competencies. A deficit of competencies in computer-mediated communication, information-analytical text processing, and post-editing of AI-generated content was identified. The necessity of purposeful integration of digital disciplines, corpus linguistics, and methods of critical digital text analysis into the training system of future philologists was substantiated. Prospects for further research include the development of methodological models for forming new language competencies, the creation of criteria for their assessment, and the investigation of the effectiveness of integrating artificial intelligence technologies into philological education.