Overcoming the Fear of Mistakes in First-Year Students of Non-Linguistic Specialties to Enhance the Effectiveness of English Language Classes

The article addresses the issue of fear of mistakes as a primary psychological barrier to learning English among students from non-linguistic specialties. It is noted that the fear of making a mistake can significantly reduce language activity and complicate the formation of communicative skills. The aim of the article is to determine ways to overcome the fear of mistakes in first-year students of nonlinguistic specialties as a factor of enhancing the effectiveness of English classes. The following tasks are solved: to reveal the psychological nature of the fear of mistakes and its impact on the process of mastering a foreign language; to analyse modern approaches to correcting mistakes in teaching English; to offer a set of activities aimed at overcoming the fear of mistakes, developing students’ communication skills and creating a supportive educational environment. It has been found that a substantial number of studies reveal the significant impact of the fear of mistakes on the effectiveness of learning a foreign language, which may be associated with the student’s personality, the teacher’s personality, and the conditions and organization of the educational process. It has been analysed that in teaching a foreign language, the optimal approach is to correct mistakes in a tolerant way, in particular, to use delayed correction. A set of activities for firstyear students of the specialty “Journalism” is proposed with a focus on the communicative goal without excessive emphasis on mistakes, which helps to overcome the fear of mistakes, form communication skills, confidence in speaking, and enhance the effectiveness of English classes in higher education institutions.