SPEECH COMMUNICATION CULTURE NORMS AS CRITERIA FOR SELECTING THE VERBAL COMPONENT IN THE FORMATION OF A TEACHER'S PROFESSIONAL IMAGE

This article examines the norms of speech communication culture as criteria for selecting the verbal component in the formation of a teacher’s professional image. Rather than reducing verbal image to grammatical correctness or eloquence, the study conceptualizes it as an integrated system comprising clarity, intelligibility, linguistic normativity, pragmatic appropriateness, ethicality, dialogicity, audience accommodation, and constructive feedback. Recent studies published mainly between 2021 and 2025 were analyzed together with foundational meta-analytic evidence on teacher immediacy and classroom communication. A 2024 meta-analysis synthesizing 16 studies and 51 effect sizes found that dialogic teacher talk was positively associated with student achievement (r = .25), while inviting students to share ideas showed a stronger association (r = .40). A 2025 study involving 422 university students demonstrated positive relationships between perceived teacher communication accommodation—including verbal adaptation, instructional content, and emotional support—and communication satisfaction, teacher credibility, and reported learning effectiveness. Based on this evidence, the article proposes a seven-criterion analytical model for evaluating the verbal component of a teacher’s professional image.