How to Motivate Students Who Feel Like They Aren't Improving

Many students start studying English with enthusiasm and a positive attitude. But learning a new language isn't easy, and people often reach a point where they lose motivation because they don't feel like they're improving anymore. They may eventually come to you with a serious look on their faces, asking for advice on how to get out of the situation they feel stuck in.

To help you with that, we've collected a few tips to suggest to students who need help getting back on track.

Change up the routine

One reason students may feel they aren’t improving is because they often talk about the same types of topics in the same situations. If that’s true, they may have simply gotten too relaxed, so it’s time to get them outside of their comfort zone.

Try suggesting lesson materials they don't normally use, even those they usually avoid. Do they often do Daily News articles? Suggest the Business or World Literature categories instead. Try a Describing Pictures lesson and challenge them to create a short story based on the image. Rather than chatting about familiar topics, surprise them with some What If questions that could lead to a fun and interesting discussion. For example:

• •If you could be another person for a day, who would you be and why?
• •If you had a time machine, where would you go and why? Where would you not want to go?
• •If you found a suitcase full of money, what would you do? Who lost the money and why?

The goal with all of these suggestions is challenging them to use their English in fresh ways. Don't let them get too comfortable!

Mistakes are OK

Many students don't realize that they are slowing down their progress because they are afraid of making mistakes. They may take a long time to speak, choosing their words very carefully, which often results in unnaturally slow conversations. And some learners barely speak at all!

As obvious as it may seem to you, simply reminding them that it's totally fine to make mistakes can help to relieve the pressure they often put on themselves. If they want to improve, they need to get over the idea that everything they say must be in "perfect" English; they will only get better if they are willing to mess up along the way.

In fact, encouraging students to have a sense of humor about their mistakes can be very helpful. Rather than fearing them, laughing at errors while learning from them is a much healthier way of thinking about things that can't be avoided anyway.

Dust off the dictionary

Here's an interesting fact: only about 400 words are used in 75% of most spoken English. It's possible that students who feel like they aren't improving have learned the majority of these important words, resulting in a feeling that their progress has slowed down. However, there are still many, many other words they are probably not familiar with at all. 

Encourage students to spend some time looking through a dictionary and learning new words. In addition to expanding their vocabulary, they will be listening and thinking with more focus than usual as they search for opportunities to use those words in their conversations with you and others.  

Of course, this might result in some funny situations in which they try to force a word that doesn't really belong. However, that's a good chance to remind them of our previous point: mistakes are a regular part of the learning process! Besides, funny mistakes often stick in our minds and can help us to avoid similar errors in the future.

Think positively

This is a simple but very effective tip! Students will need to resist the temptation to feel sorry for themselves and give up on ever improving. If you've been tutoring a student for a while, think of an area where they've gotten better and tell them about the progress they've made. 

Any kind of encouragement that reminds them of the advancements they've already made can motivate them to keep working toward the next level.

You can also encourage them to set daily or weekly goals. These can be things like memorizing a specific number of new vocabulary words or reading a complete news article without using their dictionary. Small victories will help them to see their improvement and are easier to recognize than vague goals like "being fluent" that are harder to measure and aren't realistic in the short term.

Wrap-up

When working to reach any type of goal, there will be high points and low points on the road to success. When students feel like they are stuck, push them into new, challenging territory. This could mean expanding their vocabulary beyond everyday words, or speaking about weird situations that will get them thinking in new and unexpected ways. Encourage them to have a sense of humor about their mistakes, and remind them of how far they have already come. They can still go higher!