Communicative Training as a Method of Overcoming Psychological Barriers that Arise when Learning a Foreign Language

Introduction. The article discusses the psychological barriers that arise in the study of a foreign language among secondary school students, modern teaching methods to overcome psychological barriers. The article also analyzes the study results of the possibility of overcoming psychological barriers that arise when learning a foreign language with the help of communicative training. Recommendations are offered for the prevention and overcoming of psychological barriers that arise when learning a foreign language among schoolchildren. Literature review. The article provides a theoretical analysis of approaches to the study of psychological barriers that arise in the study of foreign languages. Particular attention is paid to Stephen Krashen's affective filters: confidence, motivation and anxiety. The factors of occurrence of psychological barriers in learning a foreign language among students are also considered. Research methods. At the ascertaining and control stages of the study, we used the "Language Barriers" methodology of the Center for Language Psychology. The purpose of the methodology: to determine the nature of the difficulties that students face in the process of learning foreign languages. At the formative stage, a communicative training was developed and introduced into the educational process to overcome the psychological barriers of schoolchildren. Research results. Analysis of the results of the ascertaining stage of the study allowed us to conclude that students have an increased level of barriers, difficulties in understanding foreign speech, do not always understand the meaning of sentences, find it difficult to use a foreign language, etc. The use of communicative training, gaming technologies in foreign lessons improved performance on all affective filters (anxiety, motivation, confidence), reduced psychological barriers, reduced fear of difficulties and improved students' attitude to the school discipline "English", create a positive attitude to its study, stimulating the independent speech-thinking activity of students. Conclusions. The results of the study led to the conclusion that communicative training, gaming technologies are effective methods for overcoming psychological difficulties and barriers that arise when learning foreign languages.