COMMUNICATION BARRIERS FACED BY ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS AT A UNIVERSITY LEVEL: FACTORS AND SOLUTIONS

Many graduates of Ukrainian higher educational institutions cannot interact with others in English because of numerous barriers to effective communication. The present study aims 1) to investigate the barriers to effective foreign language communication among the university students and 2) to find out some effective solutions to the problem so that both teachers and students could benefit in their objectives and outcomes regarding communication skills. The research outcomes have shown that Ukrainian university students face different issues in communication proficiency though they generally have positive attitude towards learning English. It has been found out that the participants of this study face language (vocabulary and grammar) barriers, psychological barriers (fear of making mistakes, fear of speaking in front of the class), lack of contact hours, inappropriate teaching methods, curricula and textbooks as factors that lead to the failure to effectively communicate in English. Another major factor is that many university students get confused when native speakers use different slang words, proper names, local names, food names, etc. and speak very quickly and may have different accents. The present study also attempted to highlight some strategies for coping with communication barriers such as use of appropriate teaching methods and aids, avoiding frequent error correction, practicing communication skills outside the classroom, exploiting collaborative work and authentic materials, making students aware of cultural diversity and differences as well.