Philology Students’ Perceptions of Ethno-cultural Empathy and Intertextual Literary Heroes as Role Models

This study’s main aim is to examine the ethno-cultural empathy levels of philology students and how they perceive the heroes in literary works in terms of values and their tendency to adopt these heroes as role models. This study employed a descriptive relational survey, with participants comprising philology students from two state universities in Kazakhstan. Using the snowball sampling method, 285 voluntary students were included. The Scale of Ethno-cultural Empathy and the Role-Modeling Scale of Intertextual Heroes in Literary Works in Terms of Values were used to collect data. The findings showed that philology students exhibited high ethno-cultural empathy, with mean scores of 3.57 in Empathic Feeling and Expression, 3.32 in Empathic Perspective Taking and Acceptance of Cultural Differences, and 3.45 in Empathic Awareness. Their mean score on the Role-Modelling of Heroes scale was 3.28, indicating a limited tendency to adopt literary heroes as personal role models. Gender analysis revealed significantly higher empathic tendencies among female students, though no significant gender difference was found for role-modeling heroes. Third- and fourth-year students demonstrated greater empathy than first- and second-year students. Multiple regression analysis indicated that students’ role-modeling perceptions significantly predicted their ethno-cultural empathy levels, suggesting a positive contribution to empathy development. The study recommends enhancing ethno-cultural empathy and hero role modeling among philology students by selecting culturally diverse literature, planning character analysis activities, strengthening empathy programs, creating ethics-focused materials, fostering interdisciplinary collaborations, organizing reading groups, and using interactive digital platforms.