Аннотация:The article considers the method of peer assessment as one of the successful means for the formation of expert competence among linguistics students in the foreign language classes. The process of forming expert competence will allow students not only to approach the issue of peer assessment more consciously and deeply, but also to develop other useful skills, such as the ability to think critically, to build interpersonal communication effectively, and to develop cognitive brain functions. This work is based on the analysis of the peer assessment system, including factors influencing the effectiveness of peer assessment, such as age characteristics of students’ development and their interpersonal relationships in the group. The pedagogical experiment on the formation of expert competence was conducted by introducing specially designed tasks into the educational process. The target audience was the 2nd year linguistics students at the National University of Science and Technology MISIS. The results showed an insufficient level of professional skills in assessing verbal and nonverbal means of communication among students with main problems identified: intentional overestimation, fear of expressing opinion and criticism towards classmates, poorly formed phonetic competence. However, the potential of students in the further development of expert competence is noted, in the presence of constant training and greater time period.