проект английский

1. Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education «Irkutsk State University»

Contest «Bridging Subjects: One English Project, Two Disciplines»
Speak Without Fear:
Psychology of Language Anxiety
Creative project
Maria Medvedeva
Maria Shuvaeva
Tatyana Turygina
Ekaterina Shapovalova
Practical Psychology, 2nd year, group 204231-DB
Irkutsk, 2026

2. Relevance

Interest in learning foreign languages keeps growing all over the world.
English remains the most in-demand language in the professional
sphere, tourism, online education and international communication. At
the same time, many people find that even with sufficient knowledge of
grammar and vocabulary, speaking English feels frightening. This creates
a serious psychological barrier that stops them from using their skills in
practice.

3. Aim and tasks

-The aim of our project is to find
ways to reduce language anxiety
when speaking English
Tasks:
1. To study the theory.
2. To understand how anxiety
shows up – in the body, in emotions
and behavior.
3. To choose methods that work
and give clear recommendations,
so that people can speak without
fear.

4. Two disciplines: how psychology and English are related in the project

-English shows where the barrier
appears: in speaking, in dialogue, in
practice.
-Psychology explains why this
barrier appears and how to remove
it – not in general, but in relation to
language learning

5. What is language anxiety? Definition by Horwitz

-Language anxiety-“a distinct
complex of self-perceptions,
beliefs, feelings, and behaviors
related to classroom language
learning arising from the
uniqueness of the language
learning process.”
(Horwitz et al.,1986)

6. Three types of anxiety:

1. Communication apprehension – fear of speaking with other people: a
person is afraid to speak and to be misunderstood.
2. Fear of negative evaluation – fear that others will judge us or laugh at
our mistakes: fear of criticism, ridicule and judgement.
3. Test anxiety – fear of tests, exams and oral answers, and of any
situation where the answer is checked and graded.

7. How it shows up and why

-First, physical reactions (heart beats fast)
-Second, emotional reactions (feeling of shame)
-Third, behavior signs (avoid situations)

8. Practical methods for overcoming language anxiety

Method 1
Reframe anxiety as excitement:
-Instead of fighting this state, change how
you interpret it. Tell yourself: “I’m excited!”
This shifts your mind from “protecting
against a threat” to “looking forward to an
opportunity”, which helps you speak more
confidently.

9. Method 2

Climb the fear ladder
move step by step, from easy to
hard:
-Speaking alone.
-Recording your voice and listening
to it.
-A short one-to-one conversation
(with a friend or a teacher).
-Speaking or answering a question
in front of the whole group

10. Method 3

Write down your worries before the
test:
-About 10 minutes before a test or
an important speech, take time to
write all your worries on paper. This
exercise helps to “unload” extra
thoughts.

11. Method 4

-Be kind to yourself
Treat your mistakes the way you
would treat a close friend’s
mistakes. Excessive self-criticism
only increases tension.

12. Method 5

Box breathing
-If you feel panic growing in your
body, use a breathing technique:
1.Breathe in for 4 counts.
2.Hold for 4 counts.
3.Breathe out for 4 counts.
4.Hold for 4 counts.

13. Useful phrases for filling pauses in English

1.“Let me think.” – lets you take a pause to think.
2.“Can you repeat, please?” – helps if nerves stopped you from hearing
the question.
3.“How do you say…in English?” – helps if you forgot a word: you ask for
help instead of stopping.
4.“Sorry, I need a moment.” – a polite way to take a pause and collect
your thoughts.
With these phrases you can take a pause, ask for help and stay in the
conversation instead of staying silent.

14. Booklet

Scan the QR code to
read the booklet
Our booklet: Speak Without Fear:
Psyhology of Language Anxiety
What is inside:
-what language anxiety is and how it
shows
-three types of anxiety
-five ideas to try and useful phrases
-sources.
Where to use it:
-at school
-at university
-in English class.

15. Conclusions

During the project we came to three conclusions.
• 1. Anxiety blocks speech at the level of working memory.
• 2. One of the main triggers is not the language itself, but fear of
negative evaluation .
• 3. General advice like “calm down” may not work, so specific techniques
are needed.

16. Sources

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practices enhance mood and reduce physiological arousal. Cell Reports Medicine, 4(1), 100895.
4.Brooks, A. W. (2014). Get excited: Reappraising pre-performance anxiety as excitement. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 143(3), 1144–1158.
5.Chistopolskaya, K. A., Osin, E. N., Enikolopov, S. N., Nikolaev, E. L., Mysina, G. A., & Dvorsekov, S. E. (2020). The concept of self-compassion: A Russian
adaptation of Kristin Neff's scale. Cultural-Historical Psychology, 16(4), 35–48.
6.Englex. (2026). How to overcome the fear of speaking English: Simple tips.
7.Horwitz, E. K., Horwitz, M. B., & Cope, J. (1986). Foreign language classroom anxiety. The Modern Language Journal, 70(2), 125–132.
8.Kalganova, G. F., & Mardanshina, R. M. (2015). Problems of language anxiety in foreign language learning at an economics university. Modern Research of
Social Problems, (11), 608–619.
9.Kim, C., Aichler, L., Bridgett, T., Nicolarakis, O., Hanumantha Lacy, S., Sortino, R., Kushalnagar, P., & Pizzie, R. (2025). Language anxiety: Understanding past
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10.Neff, K. D. (2003). Self-compassion: An alternative conceptualization of a healthy attitude toward oneself. Self and Identity, 2(2), 85–101.
11.Radova, A. N. (2025). Psychological causes of the language barrier in learning foreign languages. b17.ru.
12.Ramirez, G., & Beilock, S. L. (2011). Writing about testing worries boosts exam performance in the classroom. Science, 331(6014), 211–213.
13.Timakov, E. S. (2024). The influence of foreign language proficiency and language anxiety on overcoming the language barrier among first-year students of
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15.Zhukovets, O. S. (2022). Fear of speaking English: Causes and ways to overcome it. In Practice of teaching foreign languages at the Faculty of International
Relations of BSU (Issue 12). Belarusian State University.
Thank you for attention!!