To the question of psychological difficulties of maritime English learning by cadets of maritime academies

Abstract

Successful employment and professional growth of merchant seafarers is impossible without a good command of maritime English. The process of learning maritime English is quite complex and involves not only mastering numerous professional terms but also the ability of future seafarers to use them in the daily working environment of a multinational crew. Among the main factors that make the process of mastering a foreign language complicated, are external and internal factors. External factors include the influence of the environment, educational institution, lecturer’s personality, and family. Internal factors include the physical and psychological characteristics of the cadets. Despite the motivation of future maritime professionals, they may experience certain difficulties while communicating in a foreign language. One of the reasons is the presence of a psychological barrier, which manifests itself as feelings of anxiety and fear associated with real or expected communication in English with representatives of other nationalities. To solve this problem, it is required to deeply understand not only linguistic but also psychological aspects affecting the success of foreign language learning. The use of a communicative approach combined with translation and audiolingual teaching methods in maritime English classes, creating conditions close to real professional situations at sea, reducing the number of tasks aimed at practicing grammar material, reading and translating texts, and focusing on the development of communication skills help to overcome psychological problems. A teacher's awareness of his or her role as a mentor and motivator, whose main goal is to develop the potential of cadets and to activate their sense of responsibility for the successful accomplishment of their goals, will maximize the effectiveness of training. Thus, mastery of maritime English depends on the efforts of both lectures and cadets.