Vocational English classrooms, due to their professionalism and practicality, create certain learning pressure on students, and some students may experience sophophobi, the fear of learning. Combining cognitive psychology theory, this study aims to explore whether incorporating ideological and political education in vocational English classrooms can alleviate students’ learning anxiety.

Two vocational colleges were selected for the experiment, each with two classes, with approximately 200 student participants. The experimental class incorporates ideological and political education in English classroom, while the control class performs routine teaching. The research lasted one semester. Pre- and post-evaluations were conducted using a learning anxiety questionnaire and cognitive psychology assessment tools. The experimental data was statistically analyzed using Excel.

The results showed that compared with the control class, the symptoms of sophophobi in the experimental class were significantly alleviated at the end of the semester (P<0.05). In cognitive evaluation, the students in the experimental class had a more positive cognitive evaluation of English learning, demonstrating a stronger learning motive and confidence.

Based on the analysis of cognitive psychology, integrating ideological and political education into vocational English teaching can help students reshape their cognitive evaluation of English learning, thereby reducing the symptoms of sophophobi. It is recommended that the integration with ideological and political education can be promoted in vocational English teaching when colleges design teaching programs.