Motivation is something (that seems) really important for any activity or thing you want to do and learn.
I agree with that.
Now, are we always motivated the same way or to the same extent?
I don’t think so. There are times when we feel less motivated to go to class or do certain language practice exercises. What can help then?
Today I will briefly talk about 3 things to consider if losing motivation is something you are worried about:
- interest
- routine
- intensity
Interest
I remember how I learned languages, how motivated I was, what I found motivation in, and how much energy all that gave me to keep going.
If you know why you are learning English, then keeping that goal in mind alone can greatly help. Whenever in doubt, just remind yourself of your goal.
In addition, if you can find some fun activity or topic that you enjoy learning about in English, it can be a plus force to fuel your language learning needs.
Routine
Routine help too. If you have set up a certain routine for the week that you dedicate to learning English, and you commit to it, then it can get you through the less motivated moments or periods.
Learning a language involves a great deal of skills development. Skills are things that you need to train through doing, not understanding or rational thinking.
Just like any skill. Just like music skills or learning how to draw.
When you want to master something, it needs to be done on a repeated basis, not simply intellectually understood.
If you feel like doing a lot of English one day, that’s fine. But then if you have no contact with English for the rest of the week, I would not call that balanced learning.
So try to establish some learning routine.
Intensity
One more thing: intensity. I learned this from a jazz drum teacher who, surprising as it may be, I took recorder lessons from.
I learned that for practicing it is not so much the amount of time that matters in the first place, but rather how focused you are, and how intense that practice time is.
So, whenever you do your language practice, make sure there are no major distractions, and you can study in a focused way.
It seems more effective to do smaller bits of focused practice on various different days a week than doing one massive practice session one day a week.
This content is authentic and it is not AI generated.
I write these weekly tips for you because I enjoy sharing techniques that I have seen work for my students through my 20+ years of teaching experience.
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đź‘‹ Hi, I’m Gábor
I am an English speech fluency trainer, specialized in pronunciation training.
Connect on LinkedIn | Gábor Légrádi | MA, RSA/CTEFLA