Foreign Language Teaching in the Context of Positive Psychology

The article discusses the possibility of integration of key ideas of positive psychology in the process of teaching foreign languages in new educational conditions. The authors emphasize the importance of personality psychology while learning a foreign language due to the difficulties of adaptation to distance learning. The main stages of the development of positive psychology and introduction of the conception of positivity into the learning process are described. Positive approach, that facilitates the development of the learners' psychological resources in the formation of their professional cross-cultural communication competence, is analysed. The authors show the potential of a foreign language course as a means of gaining psychological assets and unlocking personal positive potential. The mechanism of managing psychological assets lies in conscious self-regulation, that in the context of learning a foreign language is defined by the authors as a meta-resource, that allows to overcome difficult situations in life, make conscious choices in conditions of uncertainty and achieve goals, maintaining positive attitude to any type of activity. Out of all the components of conscious self-regulation made known by psychologists, the following four components are of utmost importance and play a key role in learning a foreign language in higher education institutions: self-presentation, self-control, self-adaptation, and self-organisation. The article stresses the importance of working out and implementing communicative-psychological tasks that would activate the formation of conscious self-regulation. Practical tasks are defined as communicative-psychological activities and problems that are added to the traditional stock of exercises. Solving communicative-psychological problems lets the learners mobilize their personal resources and focus on a positive view on their life and educational difficulties. The students learn to formulate their positive ideas and build positive interpersonal relationships, adapting themselves to any situation of cross-cultural interaction.

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