Irina A. Basova

The article examines the development of strategies for cultivating trust-based relationships between foreign language teachers and their learners, situating these strategies within the broader construct of professional communicative competence. The aim of the work is to review existing research frameworks, identify their core components, and develop a comprehensive taxonomy of the requisite knowledge and skills. The leading research method is a comprehensive synthesis of findings from psychology, pedagogy, linguistics, and conflict resolution in pedagogy (pedagogical conflictology) concerning the origins and trajectories of pedagogical conflicts. The relevance of this work stems from the existing gap between the recognized importance of trust-based relationships for the quality of educational communication and the lack of a functional model within the structure of professional and communicative competence for foreign language teachers, given the disparate interdisciplinary nature of research in this area. The article highlights the critical role of the teacher’s emotional intelligence in nurturing trust throughout the instructional process and demonstrates, through a comparative analysis of conflict-development models, the value of early preventive measures. Teaching competences are identified as essential instruments for establishing and sustaining learner trust. The article then introduces interactive, learner-centered strategies designed to preempt conflict through effective interpersonal engagement. An examination of teacher–learner interaction models underscores the necessity for educators to deepen their understanding of these models and of learners’ active roles in communication. For the first time, three distinct trust-building strategies are defined (creating a supportive learning environment, preventing conflict escalation, and fostering individualized interpersonal engagement) and the specific knowledge and skills required to implement each are delineated. The theoretical significance of the article lies in a systematic synthesis of methods for building trust in the foreign-language classroom. The practical value lies in an original taxonomy of professional communicative strategies tailored to graduates of language teacher training.