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You're listening to the Learning English Conversations podcast from BBC Learning English.
We'll have another episode of The English We Speak soon, but today we're continuing with our special series Beating Speaking Anxiety a podcast to help you fight your fears of speaking in English.
This episode is called I'm Scared I'm Not Getting Better.
Do you feel like your English speaking isn't getting better?
Yeah.
These days, I feel less confident about my English.
I can see my bad point.
On the surface, these are people who seem to be able to get past their anxiety in some way.
But internally, they're suffering.
It takes a long time to learn a language competently.
So we should celebrate the little milestones that we achieve along the way.
Today, we're going to talk about what to do when you feel like you aren't improving when speaking English.
Hello and welcome to Beating Speaking Anxiety, our special series to help you become more confident speaking English.
I'm Georgie, an English teacher and presenter at BBC Learning English.
And I am Hanan from BBC Arabic.
You can find the transcript of this episode to help you learn on our website bbclearningenglish.com.
Many people feel like no matter how much they study, they can't improve their speaking.
Hanan, I think you mentioned that when you first moved to the UK, you had a high level of English, but you still found it hard to have conversations.
Yes, that's very true Georgie, especially that you know your classroom language is very different from the day-to-day language.
Yeah, when I was learning Spanish, I spent so much time reading, practicing my listening.
But when it came to speaking, I just found it so much harder because it's so in the moment.
It was much harder to improve.
And this is a common experience.
So on the surface, these are people who seem to be able to get past their anxiety in some way.
They seem to be able to get the promotions, do really well at work.
But internally, they're suffering a lot of the time, feeling a lot of discomfort internally.
This is Rhiannon Carter.
She's an English teacher and speaking coach who works with high level, high anxiety learners.
That means people who are really good at English, but really worried about using it.
As Rhiannon says, these are people who might seem to be doing well, but inside they feel like their anxiety is holding them back.
They might have reached what they would consider to be like a wall in terms of.
You know, I couldn't go for a job with that level of responsibility because my English just isn't up to it.
Or, you know, my manager tells me I'm doing fine, but I feel so insecure every time I'm contributing in meetings.
I feel like I'm not doing my best.
Rhiannon finds that when people reach this wall, the best thing they can do is stop trying to improve their English at all.
This might sound strange.
How can you improve your English without learning more English?
But Rhiannon says that putting too much pressure on your English skills can actually make speaking anxiety worse, especially if you're a bit of a perfectionist.
If you are taking lots of action and if it feels like, my God, I've been in course, after course, after course, and I sign up for more and I follow more people on social media and I'm listening to podcasts like this one and I'm doing everything.
Well, then maybe you stop doing it.
And maybe you say, I need to take a break from focusing primarily on English.
Maybe there's something else I really enjoy.
Rhiannon recommends trying things that you're interested in and that allow you to practice English, but without the focus being on English.
For example, she had a student who wanted to study for a master's in botany.
That's the study of plants.
And she was saying, you know, oh, Rhiannon, should I take the IELTS exam?
Should I take the Cambridge exam?
And I'm like, you know what you should take?
An evening class in botany couple of hundred quid, about equivalent of what you would be spending on uh, on english preparation and you're gonna be around people who are interested in the same topic as you.
You're going to be naturally using the kind of vocabulary that you're going to need for your, your masters, later.
Go, try that and if there are still gaps or if you realize that you don't meet the entry requirements okay fine, we come back and we do something more language related.
Um, but try something else.
I like this tip because the focus of what you're doing is on something you like and enjoy and it might make you feel relaxed.
And then there's less focus on the language you're using.
It also makes the language feel more real because you're using it for a real purpose.
And that's motivating.
Rhiannon's advice sounds really great for higher level learners.
But Georgie, what about people who feel like their English level is holding them back?
Yes, learning a language is a long journey and it can sometimes feel like you're stuck at intermediate level.
If that's you, the best thing you can do is recognise and celebrate the progress you've already made.
Let's hear from Barnaby Griffiths, a speaking coach, who has been offering us advice throughout this series.
Language learning is a very, well, it's a never ending process, isn't it?
And we know that it goes on and on and on.
So we need to be very clear that we are progressing by noticing that we've improved week on week, month on month, and celebrating that and feeling good about ourselves and saying oh, I'm better than I was a month ago.
So how can learners make sure they're celebrating their progress, Georgie?
Yeah, so one method is you could keep a diary, write down things you've achieved, things you found difficult.
Another idea you can set small goals for yourself and it can help to send a message or email to yourself to remind you to do them.
And Barnaby suggests using video to recognise how far you've come.
A way of doing this is by recording yourself.
If you record yourself a few times a week or once a week and you compare gradually how you're improving, you should celebrate that progress because it might not be a huge difference.
But I always compare to learning a musical instrument.
These things, it takes a long time to learn a musical instrument competently.
It takes a long time to learn a language competently.
So we should celebrate the little milestones that we achieve along the way.
Use the link in the notes for this episode or visit bbclearningenglish.com.
Next time we'll be talking about how to express your personality in English in our final episode of the series.
Join us then.
Bye.
This is not the future we were promised.
Like how about that for a tagline for the show?
From the BBC.
This is The Interface, the show that explores how tech is rewiring your week and your world.
This isn't about quarterly earnings or about tech reviews.
It's about what technology is actually doing to your work and your politics, your everyday life.
And all the bizarre ways people are using the internet.
Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.
