Abstract:

The article dwells on a number of challenges an English teacher can come across in an English class and highlights the possible reasons of failure, both psychological and educational.

Speaking is thought to be a crucial aspect of learning a foreign language because a foreign language class is communication-oriented.

A psychological barrier in speaking a foreign language is believed to be strong unless the class atmosphere melts it with partnership tasks, the teacher’s friendly attitude and understanding the reasons of students’ unwillingness to start speaking a foreign language (English, in particular).
According to a famous Russian psychotherapist and writer Vladimir Levi, we should address a student’s Field of Confidence, i.e. his / her successful background experiences which might help to destroy a false self-image of the student when speaking English.

The key point of the research the paper presents lies in the experimental estimation of student social abilities and building a working atmosphere to develop creativity and motivation level accordingly. The interaction abilities and skills within a student group differ, meanwhile they can be improved as long as the learners’ attention is drawn to motivating tasks that boost networking. On the other hand, it is challenged in case of mundane one-face frill tasks oriented at academic skills mastering rather than communication.

The students’ psychological differences (e.g.: easily-embarrassed as opposed to “celebrity” behavior) and diversity of learning abilities (visual, audial, motoric-based) should be taken into account by the teacher.

The main idea of the article is emphasizing the necessity to provide a particular working environment of mutual trust, support and encouragement. It has a direct influence on the speaking fluency of an individual student and overall performance of a group and should be taken into consideration by a teacher of a foreign language.

Keywords:

ESL, communication skills, psychological barrier, motivating tasks, student creativity.