5 Reasons Your Spoken English is NOT Improving

- Here are five reasons (graphic whooshing)

your spoken English is not

getting any better and what to do about it.

(calming rock music)

Hello, this is Keith

from the Keith (graphic beeping)

Speaking Academy.

Welcome.

Now, you may have studied English for a few years

but now you may feel that when it comes to speaking,

your speaking level is stuck at the same level.

You just can't move up.

Don't worry.

This is very common, right?

And there are things you can do to become unstuck

and keep advancing, right?

Today I'd like to give you five reasons

why you could be stuck

and how to improve and develop your speaking skills.

This is particularly good if you're preparing

for the IELTS and IELTS Speaking Test.

This will help you build up your confidence again,

develop your speaking skills

so you can face the examiner with confidence

and get the score you need.

Oh, by the way, stay around until the end

because I want to give you a bonus

which is my number one tip on how to become unstuck.

All right, let's begin with number one.

Okay, number one is low motivation.

Now, many of you have, well, for many students, right?

Learning a language (transition whooshing)

is something, it's a chore or even a headache,

something you had to do at school, right?

There was no choice.

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For those of you taking an exam like TOEFL or IELTS,

again, it's something you have to do

if you want to study abroad or immigrate/emigrate.

It's what we say in English, it's to jump through hoops.

You have to go through the process

just to get something done, right?

The problem is this headache and this stress,

we know from research, leads to low performance.

In most things, in sport,

but particularly in language learning.

Okay?

The solution.

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First of all, change your mindset.

Change it from, oh, I hate studying English to actually,

I quite enjoy studying English.

I'm always very happy when I read comments

in my YouTube channel from students who say,

"You know, I used to hate English,

but now watching your videos, I really enjoy it."

It's great.

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The other thing is you can take some action

to boost your motivation.

For example, if you're rich.

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Take a trip abroad.

That'll get you motivated to learn.

If you're not rich, stay at home.

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But join an online community.

Connect with other people similar to you

facing the same challenge can really help with motivation.

Or take an exam. (graphic popping)

What?

Take an exam?

That doesn't, yes, it does motivate you,

because, again, from goal-setting theory,

we know that having a specific goal, like an exam,

to work towards specific,

challenging and achievable goal raises motivation.

It does help if you have a structured learning path

towards that goal, of course.

Finally, you could do a bit of retail therapy.

We call it.

'Retail therapy' is when you go shopping

to make yourself feel better.

Go and buy something.

I feel great, right?

Go and buy a book (graphic popping)

to learn English or a novel in English.

Go and buy an online course.

It's true, right?

When you buy something new, it's like, oh,

it's shiny, great, and you feel better.

There's a dopamine rush.

And then what?

You can, I mean, online courses as well

are gonna boost your motivation and help you,

not only in the short term, but in the long term.

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Most online courses allow you to control the pace of study.

You're in control, right?

You can stop things, rewind, watch again.

There's no peer pressure like in a real classroom.

There's no other student's gonna laugh at you

and there's no real time pressure.

You just take your time.

Unlimited input, watching and reading again.

Unlimited output.

Courses like

my Gold course, (graphic whooshing)

my online course for IELTS students, IELTS Speaking,

you can meet up with other students

in small groups and practise as much as you want.

You pay once and then you just practise

as much as you want for months, for years if you like.

It's great.

So that continual output is essential

to speaking better English but boosting your motivation.

Great.

Let's move on.

Right, number two is a bad study method.

Now, just to be clear,

there is no right way for everybody to study.

We all study in different ways

and we have to adapt our study method

for something that works for us,

but we should base it on good research.

Things that we know work for language learning.

Okay?

So I know some students learn vocabulary

from long word lists.

For grammar, they have a reference book

with exercises and they go from unit one down to unit 100.

That's okay, okay?

But it's probably not enough.

Generally speaking, right, I would say,

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the solution, right,

is my approach, generally speaking,

is for learning vocabulary and grammar

is three steps, right?

It's context, zoom in and zoom out.

What do I mean?

So 'context' is exposing yourself to lots

of different kinds of language,

whether it's reading novels, (graphic popping)

reading blog posts, (graphic whooshing)

listening to podcasts, (graphic popping)

watching films. (graphic popping)

You're exposing yourself

to the vocabulary and the grammar in context.

'Zooming in' is you're picking out

a word or a grammatical item and analysing it.

So you need your dictionary,

you need your grammar reference book,

and you're understanding what it means.

And then 'zoom out', you look again or listen again

to the original text to help you understand it

and hopefully, you understand it better.

On top of that, you do need

practise and review. (graphic popping)

You can check out (graphic whooshing)

my recent video on learning vocabulary.

It's discover, practise and review, right?

You need all of those steps to really be learning deeply

and to move up to become unstuck.

If you're not following these steps,

you may have an ineffective study method.

Right, let's move on.

So number three is not enough practise.

That's right.

Hey, have you seen those videos on YouTube

that say don't study vocabulary?

And you're going, what?

Or don't study grammar.

What?

And you click.

Very often, the message there

is don't study English, practise English.

So they're telling you it's not enough to study.

You have to practise.

The reality is you need both study and practise.

You really do need both.

But the practise is the activation, and without it,

your English will stay here.

It won't come out here.

It's like reading a book.

If you read a book on learning how to swim,

it doesn't mean you're a good swimmer, right?

You have to practise, jump in the water.

It's the same with learning English.

So the solution to make sure you get enough practise.

Yep, I know, you're all very busy.

You've got studies, other studies,

you've got children at home maybe,

you've got a lovely boss

who doesn't give you enough free time.

You've got life takes over.

So to make sure you get enough practise,

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first of all, set an achievable goal.

If you can only do five minutes a week, that's fine,

but set the day, the time,

and the place when you're going to do it and do it, right?

Make sure it's done.

Forget everything else.

Do that.

If you can do 20 minutes three times a week, great.

Set the day, the time and the place and do it.

Ideally, the same time, day and place.

Not, same time and place each time,

so you don't have to think about it, okay?

Prioritise it.

Don't let others take this away from you.

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There are then the way to practise.

There's lots of ways.

I mean, as teachers know,

there's basically controlled, semi-controlled and free.

'Controlled' is where, for example,

you've got a sentence with a grammatical structure

and you change one word in the sentence.

Semi-controlled could be, we've got a grammatical structure

like the present simple tense.

So let's talk about where I live.

And we practise.

You control the environment.

'Free' is just free conversation,

where you're just speaking

to people and just practising freely.

Okay?

If you want more ideas,

I've got some great ideas, (graphic whooshing)

even if I say so myself. (laughs)

Up here in this video on different ways to practise

on your own at home alone.

Sounds like a film.

Let's move on.

And number four is the fear of making mistakes.

Now, I remember when I was a baby

and I was crawling. (laughs)

I can't remember what I did last week,

nevermind as a baby, but seriously,

I was crawling on the floor and I remember I stood up

and I tried to walk.

And my mum and my dad were there going,

"Oh, he's walking.

Look, come on, come on."

And I was there and then I was tottering

and then oh, boom, I fell.

And my dad picks me up and said,

"Right, that's it, in the cot,

you've had your chance, finished." (laughs)

Now that's not true,

but that's what you're doing to yourself

when you criticise yourself for making mistakes

and saying, oh, I'm so stupid, why do I do that?

I always make the same mistake.

No, it doesn't matter.

Be kind to yourself.

Treat yourself better.

Seriously.

The thing is, it's not your fault.

This often goes back to teaching in schools

where teachers are taught, it's not the teacher's fault.

We are taught to correct all the mistakes.

Do you remember getting your essay back from Mr. Jones

and it was covered in red ink, all those mistakes,

and you go, I'm rubbish at English, and it's not true.

I think the students who make all those mistakes

should get a great prize (graphic popping)

because it shows that they're trying, they're testing,

they're experimenting with the language, right?

I think, often, the problem is the word mistakes.

Yeah.

Mistake.

It's something bad,

something you shouldn't have done, right?

Oh, listen, I'm so sorry,

I called you an idiot, right?

I'm sorry.

It's my mistake.

My bad.

I won't do it again.

But that's not what English language is about.

It's not about mistakes and bad.

So when I'm correcting students,

I actually don't say that's wrong.

That's a mistake.

I actually say,

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that's not quite right

and the focus changes from bad,

wrong to not quite right,

almost right, keep going, right?

So the solution

is when you're with your English and experimenting

is in your head,

when something's wrong or a mistake, you say in your head,

that's not quite right and keep going,

keep experimenting 'cause you will get better.

Next.

Number five is you don't believe in yourself.

And this really is a question of confidence.

I think many students lose their confidence,

especially at that intermediate level,

maybe a Band 6 in IELTS

where they're pushing and pushing and they're stuck

and you lose your confidence.

The problem is the more you lose your confidence,

the worse your ability gets

and you speak worse and worse, right?

Part of the problem as well

is you're comparing yourself with others.

I'm at a Band 6 and he's got a Band 7

and he's got a Band 7 and she got her Band 7.5

and you think everybody else is progressing

and you're stuck on your own here

and your confidence shrivels up.

It's not true.

The solution, really, (graphic whooshing)

is don't compare your self to others.

Forget about everybody else.

Focus on what you can control

and focus on building your confidence.

Small goals that you can achieve on a daily basis

is how you build confidence.

It really is a skill that you can build.

So don't compare with others.

Compare you today with you a month ago.

And look at that progress,

and that's where to focus.

Right?

Now, if I remember correctly,

I have a bonus tip for you, right?

My bonus tip is focus more

on communication rather than language.

Sometimes we get so absorbed with the vocabulary

and the grammar that we forget to communicate, right?

And I understand when you're speaking,

there is a balance between fluency and accuracy.

I suggest when you're practising on your own,

focus on vocabulary and grammar and get it right.

So focus on accuracy, speak more slowly and get it right.

Record yourself and play back, things like that.

But when you're with other people,

focus on fluency and communication, really.

What do I mean?

Well, I mean, what is good communication?

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It's your posture, it's your confidence, it's your voice.

Is it loud and clear?

A confident voice.

Do you have variation in volume and intonation?

Are you using stress to emphasise your points?

Are you using some body language and gestures?

All of that is good communication and it's really important.

I think sometimes as students we forget about that

'cause we're stuck in the forest of vocabulary and grammar.

So look beyond the forest

and think about communication.

Right?

That's it.

Let me summarise then.

And by the way, if you click on the link below,

there is a PDF (graphic beeping)

which will tell you (graphic whooshing)

all of today's video lesson, a nice summary.

But basically, if you feel that you're stuck,

you're not making progress,

especially with your speaking skills,

then do the following, right?

Do something (graphic whooshing)

to boost your motivation.

Choose a good study method. Practise regularly.

Change your focus away from mistakes

to that's not quite right and keep going.

Compare you today with you in the past and not others,

and really believe in yourself.

And focus more on communication rather than language.

And I think if you do all of these persistently over time,

it will help you become unstuck.

It'll help you make progress,

develop your speaking skills

so you can become a confident speaker of English.

And if you're taking IELTS, get the score that you need.

Finally, if you want a good method,

a chance to zoom in and zoom out with me

and a chance to practise with others as much as you want,

come and join me

on my Gold course, (graphic whooshing)

IELTS Speaking Success,

Get a Band 7+ GOLD.

And I'm sure you'll love it.

You'll make the progress that you need to make.

In the meantime, if you like this video,

please do subscribe, (graphic beeping)

turn on notifications for future videos,

and I'll see you in the next video coming up.

Thanks for watching.

Take care.

Bye-bye.

(calming rock music)