The word confidence comes from Latin or French and literally means 'full trust in yourself'. But confidence can be reduced by disappointing exam results, making mistakes, feeling as if you're not progressing and many other things.
Boosting your confidence will help you to get the best possible results and enjoy your learning too. Here are some tips.
1. Schedule your study time
Do you study regularly? Unconfident students often don't. They may study only when they're in the right mood, leave it until the last minute or get busy with other things and end up not studying at all. But lack of regular study may weaken your confidence further.
Break this cycle by making a schedule. Decide what day and time you will study and for how long. Mark it in your calendar so that your time is reserved.
It's better to study regularly (e.g. a little every day) than intensively (e.g. all day once a week).
2. Remember your purpose
There are many reasons why people learn English. What's yours? If you're unsure, take time to identify it.
Unconfident learners sometimes feel lost or directionless. To boost your confidence, remind yourself why you are learning English. This will give you a sense of purpose and of going in the right direction.
3. Set goals
Unconfident learners might have vague goals such as to improve their English generally, or they may not have thought about a goal at all.
Set goals for yourself – the more specific, the better. Perhaps you aim to understand songs in English or to achieve a particular IELTS score, for example. Your goal should be challenging but doable.
Break it down into smaller goals for day-to-day study sessions. For example:
- Today, I'll listen to my favourite song and check the vocabulary in it.
- Today, I'll do an IELTS writing practice test.
When you complete your daily goal, give yourself a small reward. Soon, you'll gain confidence as your completed goals move you closer to achieving your overall goal.
4. Record your successes
If you look back in your life, you've probably overcome many obstacles and achieved many goals already. You have certainly achieved a lot in your English learning to be capable of reading this article!
Don't let these successes be forgotten. Recording and remembering success is a big confidence booster. Here are some ways to do it.
- Write your goals down. Tick them when you achieve them.
- As well as a 'To do' list, keep a 'Done' list.
- Make a folder on your computer for your certificates, best work and nice comments you receive.
- Start a private Padlet or Instagram to store images of your completed work.
- Write a journal and reflect on your progress.
Whichever way you choose, review your achievements from time to time. After just a few days you'll see evidence of your ability to achieve.
5. Deal with fear of failure
Fear of failure is a major cause of low confidence. However, there's another way to look at failure.
- F.A.I.L. = First Attempt In Learning
Nobody learns without making mistakes. But mistakes actually provide useful information about what you can improve. They help you to get it right next time.
So let your mistakes come out in lessons or exercises. Once you know about them, you can correct them. You won't repeat them in your exam or interview, when it matters more.
Don't fear mistakes – lessons, exercises and classrooms all exist for the purpose of trying, making mistakes and learning.
Good luck in your studies!
I love English since i was little and I enjoy to read it out loud , and I really want one day that i can read freely of all English books as I wish and this is the reason why i keep learning English.
My reason of studying English, is because in 2018 I found one Pop Group, that the name is Now United, and how I Started to love the group, I dicided to study English to undestand what all the members from the group was telling durring some interview or music.
What's your reason for learning English?
Do you feel confident that you can achieve your goals?
- There are a bunch of reasons for me to learn English. First of all, I'm a language enthusiast. I've been in love with English learning since I was 12. After many years, I realized that interest is truly the best teacher. Another reason for my learning English is that it is a language I must use in the workforce. There's a saying goes Live and learn. As a second language learner, I believe that we should keep on learning and make English a daily habit. Finally, I want to achieve 8 in the IELTS exam by the end of next year, so I'll work hard on this.
- I'm confident that you can achieve my goals. Because I'm always on the way.
My idea of learning a foreign language such as English is quite essential for many reasons, one of which is the ability to communicate with many people around the world and exchange knowledge between cultures.
in this order, I set one goal for me to start learning English and excel in my Academic way
Currently, I'm living in another country where English is the first language, and sometimes I feel insecure about my way of talking. My goal is to gain confidence in my self and improve my English skills.
I like the meaning of the word confident: "full trust in yourself". But how can I increase my confidence in learning English? This article gives 5 good tips, each of which is important. For me, I have a problem with learning English recently, when I give a short presentation, I feel nervous, because I worry about making mistakes and forget to enjoy the learning process.
So, it is also important to record my success, think back three years ago, I was a beginner, I remember my first English class, I could hardly understand what the teacher said, I wanted to give up and leave the class. But I keep going, I have a goal and I need to achieve it.
I really appreciate this platform giving me a chance to leave a comment, which has been a great help in how I practice organizing my language in English and expressing my ideas.
Thank you!
Hi hong yuan,
Thanks for sharing your reflections. It sounds like you have a clear goal in mind and we wish you luck as you work to achieve it!
Jonathan
LearnEnglish team
My reason is to get the good job at the oversea. And then I would like to communicate with other peoples and study the subject which I want to learn.
I have confident to achieve my goals but sometime difficult to arrange the study times because i have to go work everyday. However, I will never give up and i try my best to get achievement what is my future dreams. Thanks for your sharing and happy to answer your question.
My gaol at learning English is to be advanced in the language, to use it as it is my mother language .
I feel I can reach my gaol by practicing and learning new things , use it in regularly.