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Enhancing learner self-confidence 

Learner confidence can be slow to change and is deeply rooted. It is based on experiences in all areas of learners’ lives – some beyond our reach. However, it is easier to change if we focus on language learning and strengthen their confidence specifically in that domain, rather than aiming for their overall sense of self. When learners feel confident, they are more willing to try out new aspects of language and are less afraid of getting things wrong. If we want learners to actively use the language, helping them to feel confident is one key way to facilitate this.

In language learning, there are a number of things teachers can do to authentically boost learners’ confidence. Simply telling them to be confident or giving false praise will not work – learners have to feel they have earned their successes in order to take ownership of it and feel empowered by it. 

  1. Help learners see progress.

    Language learning is gradual and takes time. Sometimes it can be hard for learners to see their progress so making their growth visible is helpful for boosting their sense of achievement. For example, learners can respond to can-do statements, keep portfolios, or make a list of all the things they can already do in a language. It is also important to discourage social comparisons. All learners are individuals and make progress at their own pace. Ideally, we want learners to focus on their own progress and ensure they keep moving forward without comparing their own gains to those of others. Teachers need to avoid presenting a public comparison of grades or progress.  

  2. Ensure learners experience success.

    To gain confidence, they need to experience success. However, it is important that learners recognise this as a genuine earned success – if something is too easy, learners will not feel a sense of pride or a boost to their confidence. One way to ensure moments of success is for teachers to use scaffolding. This is when teachers break down bigger tasks into smaller, more manageable tasks which build up in gradual degrees of difficulty. For example, if practising a specific language structure such as questioning, the teacher may begin with an easier task which just requires more limited responses such as filling in sentences. They may make the next task a little more difficult where they have to add questions to a dialogue. Finally, if they feel learners have had sufficient practice and support, they could then move on to a more challenging task such as interviewing a partner where there is less structure and support. There are many ways to scaffold depending on aims and tasks, but the idea is to build up difficulty and take away support as learners gain confidence and mastery.  

  3. Empower learners with strategies.

    Confidence also comes from having a sense of direction and knowing what to do. This means it helps if teachers explicitly teach learners strategies for how to learn and use a language. For example, we can show learners how to carry on a conversation even when they don’t know certain words, how to read a text without knowing every single word, how to learn new vocabulary, how to plan and structure an oral presentation, where to find resources for practising writing blogs, who to approach for feedback or extra practice opportunities etc. Learners can be encouraged to try out different strategies and report back on how useful they found them. It is empowering to have a pathway of action to try out and ideas for how to overcome obstacles as well as believing one can improve one’s own ability. This is where having a growth mindset is also critically important for confidence and a willingness to even try out strategies.  

  4. Foster learner autonomy.

    A related feeling of control and empowerment can come from learners being given opportunities to make decisions about their learning. Learners can be given choices in (1) what they work on (e.g., between different tasks) or (2) how they work on it (e.g., offered the choice of who to work with or choosing between different forms of output such as a video or podcast). Any degree of choice can help learners feel they have control over their learning and helps them also make choices they feel comfortable with. This sense of control and empowerment can boost their confidence and willingness to become active participants in class.  

  5. Tackle unrealistic expectations and perfectionism.

    A threat to learner confidence can stem from them having unrealistic expectations of what they should be able to do or tending towards perfectionism. It is beneficial for teachers to explicitly discuss the nature of language learning with learners stressing how normal it is for progress to be slow and how mistakes are typical for every learner. In addition, teachers can use tasks (in writing and speaking) where they deliberately encourage learners to focus on communicating their main message and not worry about mistakes. Learners can be prompted try out new language and be creative in using a diverse array of communication strategies such as, reformulating complex expressions, using mime or gesture, or drawing on their other languages if need be. Language use can be extremely rewarding when they can get their message across to a partner successfully using whatever communication strategies they may know! It is communication that counts, not perfection! 

 

Reflection questions 

  • Can you think of a learner who needs a boost to their confidence? Would any of these strategies help them to see what they are positively capable of? 
  • Looking at upcoming tasks you have planned, can you see any which would benefit from the addition of other steps to scaffold it for weaker learners? 
  • In feedback, how often do you focus on highlighting the positive things learners can do and did well?  

 

 

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Sarah Mercer is Professor of Foreign Language Teaching at the University of Graz, Austria. Her research interests include all aspects of the psychology surrounding the foreign language learning experience. She is the author, co-author, and co-editor of several books in this area including, Exploring Psychology for Language Teachers (2015, with Marion Williams and Stephen Ryan), Teacher Wellbeing (2020, with Tammy Gregersen), and Engaging Language Learners in Contemporary Classrooms (2020, with Zoltán Dörnyei). She has published over 150 book chapters and journal articles and has served as Principal Investigator on several funded research projects. In 2018, she was awarded the Robert C. Gardner Award for excellence in second language research by the International Association of Language and Social Psychology (IALSP). Sarah is the auhor of this paper.


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Help second language learners overcome their fear of speaking

Use it or lose it! This phrase points to a key truth about language learning: We learn a language by using it. As teachers, our aim is therefore to encourage learners to become confident, comfortable speakers in the target language – not only as an end goal of language learning but also because doing so contributes positively to the learning process. The more learners use the language, the better they will become and the more confidence they will gain. Using the language successfully can trigger a positive spiral in which success creates facilitative conditions for yet more success. So, how do we get learners to overcome their fears and inhibitions?

 

In this blog, we explore what underlies learners’ reluctance to speak up in the language. In particular, we focus on core issues such as their fear of making mistakes, their worries about negative evaluation, a tendency to perfectionism, unrealistic expectations, and frustration about not being able to fully express themselves. To understand how these issues affect learners, it is helpful to consider them from two perspectives: (1) individual factors which refer to how learners feel about their language-speaking abilities and what they believe about language learning, and (2) social factors which refer to how they feel about the context in which they have to speak including the task they have to complete and people they have to talk with.

The good news for teachers is that we can positively impact both sets of factors which work together. We can take action to promote positive frames of mind among our learners which empower them to speak up, and we can also shape and design our classrooms and tasks so that they reduce learners’ inhibitions and facilitate a greater willingness to use the language.

 

This visual presents five of the key issues that hold learners back from using the language. We will briefly introduce each of them here to raise awareness of how individual and social factors can work together to impact on learners’ willingness to speak up. In five separate blogs, we will then explore each factor in more depth focusing on the active steps teachers can take to combat such inhibitory factors.

 

Aspects of the social context

Not every speaking situation is fraught with the same level of anxiety – chatting with a friend alone is not the same as giving a presentation to the whole class with the teacher assigning a grade to the performance. Understanding that the social setting matters to how comfortable learners are using the language is empowering as it provides teachers with key areas to work on. There are two aspects where teachers can take action in this regard: (1) promoting positive group dynamics (i.e., the levels of trust and quality of relationships between students as a group), and (2) reducing anxiety in the immediate speaking context (i.e., what are learners being asked to talk about, how prepared do they feel, and who are they are talking with, and who is listening? Is the focus of the task on communication or accuracy?).

 

The learner’s frame of mind about speaking

The second aspect that affects learners’ willingness to use the language is how they feel about themselves and language learning more generally. If learners do not believe practising the language is important or that they can improve their skills or that mistakes are necessary for growth, they are likely to avoid actively taking part in speaking opportunities.

To help learners develop a facilitative frame of mind which encourages them to use the language, there are three key areas we can work on: (1) Promoting a growth mindset (i.e., helping learners to understand that everyone can improve their language skills and mistakes are useful in that process); (2) boosting self-confidence (i.e., helping them to recognize their own progress and become aware of their successes, and providing support so tasks feel manageable); and (3) helping learners regulate their emotions and, specifically, lower their anxiety (i.e., teaching them about their emotions, how to recognize signs of stress, and coping strategies for managing negative emotions effectively). When learners have a positive frame of mind about using the language, then they are more likely to get speak up as they worry less about being judged and focus on the opportunity to practise their skills and communicate with others.

 

Reflective questions

Here are some questions to help you think in concrete terms about your own learners and what areas you might wish to explore in more depth. As you read the series of blog posts on each of these issues, think about a specific group of learners you work with. Consider how the issues raised concern your group of learners as individuals and/or as a group and which of the suggestions you would feel comfortable working with in your setting.

  • How would you describe the group climate in your class?
  • Is there anything you could do to further strengthen the trust and respect among your learners?
  • What aspects of task set-up do you actively consider when planning a speaking task in class?
  • In what ways do you seek to promote a growth mindset about language learning among your students?
  • How confident do you think your learners feel about their speaking in English and how might this differ across task types?
  • What do you do in class to lower learner anxiety?
  • What do you hope to gain by reading this series of blog posts?
  • What action steps will you take to try out ideas in your context as appropriate?

 

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Sarah Mercer is Professor of Foreign Language Teaching at the University of Graz, Austria. Her research interests include all aspects of the psychology surrounding the foreign language learning experience. She is the author, co-author, and co-editor of several books in this area including, Exploring Psychology for Language Teachers (2015, with Marion Williams and Stephen Ryan), Teacher Wellbeing (2020, with Tammy Gregersen), and Engaging Language Learners in Contemporary Classrooms (2020, with Zoltán Dörnyei). She has published over 150 book chapters and journal articles and has served as Principal Investigator on several funded research projects. In 2018, she was awarded the Robert C. Gardner Award for excellence in second language research by the International Association of Language and Social Psychology (IALSP). Sarah is the author of this paper.


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Volunteer Teaching: My Experience Teaching English To Refugees

Leanne and her students during her volunteer teaching tripThe Project

Two Americans, Two Brits, a Spaniard, an Australian, a Swede, a Polish, a Norwegian and an Italian. The small (but mighty) team that built the new free shop known as the Szafa Dobra or Wardrobe of good in Krakow, Poland. Over just a few weeks this small team of volunteers working for Drapen I havet/A drop in the Ocean and Internationale Bund Polska rallied to set up the free shop. From finding a location to stripping and painting walls to sourcing electricity and unpacking countless cardboard boxes, it was no easy task. Not only this, but the team were also volunteer teaching in the evenings – a busy few weeks! Continue reading


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5 Golden rules to help students read English in their free time

ATTACHMENT DETAILS TEWO-Graded-Readers-blog-5-golden-rules-to-help-students-read-English-in-their-free-timeExtensive Reading (reading whole books for information or entertainment) helps learners consolidate their English enjoyably and in a stress-free way. This is particularly important when students fall behind with their studies, for whatever reason. Free time or holidays offer an opportunity to catch up.

This blog presents five golden rules for free time reading with guidelines on encouraging young learners and teenagers to read and some suggested reading lists. Continue reading


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Flashcard Games For Teaching English (With A Little Twist For Teenagers!)

A teacher teaching English with flashcard gamesAs Roald Dahl once said, “Life is more fun if you play games.” I could not agree more! That’s why I believe flashcard games can be an effective and practical tool to introduce a new set of vocabulary, revise newly taught words or as a way of starting a storytelling lesson. There are so many things to do with a bunch of flashcards. Playing flashcard games can help and encourage learners to maintain their work and enthusiasm. I believe every teacher has lots of games in their toolbox, and they get to choose one when needed. Continue reading