The Fluency Mindset - Is it the Answer to Your Struggles in English Communication?

What is the biggest difference between successful English learners and those who give up before they get fluent?

Attitude!

I have seen this very often throughout my years of English teaching. Those with the fluency mindset accept that they will make mistakes and are often very determined to succeed.

You now may wonder.....

Could having a fluent mindset be the key to my struggles in English communication?

Here are a few important mindset shifts we need to have in order to be successful in language learning:

• From a passive learner to active self learning

Many people often sign up for language courses with the idea that by just listening to the teacher explain the language and then doing a bit of practice whenever they can will get them fluent.

Others may download English learning apps and magically expect it to put the information in their head when they have made no effort to put in the work.

While online courses or apps may be useful tools, they do not really provide enough input (listening, reading) or output (speaking, writing) practice to really become fluent in English.

You are your main motivator and can ensure that you are learning what is relevant to help you stay focused.

Rather than making them your main language learning tools, it may be better to use them as part of your wider language learning.

One needs to have much more interaction with the language.

• From finding fault with your current situation to working with what you have.

As humans there is always a tendency to compare ourselves with others. Its normal to feel discouraged when you compare yourself with other language learners. Some may advance faster or have more time or money.

By adopting the fluent mindset, you can find a way to work around these disadvantages.

You may have family and job responsibilities but you may be able to practice your listening skills while driving to work. During your lunch hour, you can have a quick 30 minute speaking session on Zoom/Skype to practice English vocabulary expressions for participating at meetings with an English coach.

The most important thing is to look for ways to change what you can and work out how to turn what you can't change to your advantage.

In essence, use what you have to get what you want! Make the best use of your current situation!

• From forgetfulness to trusting your brain

Some may think that they just have a bad memory.

Its true that many can forget vocabulary words right after looking them up. In fact, forgetting is a crucial part of having a fully functioning memory. If we remembered everything our mind will be overwhelmed and totally exhausting.

English learners with a fluency mindset tend to view forgetfulness as normal even though it can be frustrating at times.

The following are some techniques that can be used to improve your memory:

• Visualization - Make a mental picture of what you wish to remember. For example, let's look at the expression 'deep dive'. To deep dive means to do a detailed examination of a subject.

We can picture someone doing deep sea diving. The fact that they are deep in the ocean gives the idea that if we are doing a deep dive of a particular topic, it must be 'deep'- well researched and detailed not just surface level.

• Recitation - We can try to repeat words that we want to remember especially when in conversation. This can help to strengthen the neural connections in our brain.
• Interest - The focus should be to keep getting more and more exposure to words and patterns in context, by listening to engaging things at the right level. You need to have an interest in the topic being considered. When your emotions are involved, you can enhance your memory.

• Consolidation - The brain needs time to process information so that it can be stored in the long term memory. Over a specific period of time, review whatever was learnt perhaps even repeating it to someone or yourself. This will help to reinforce this in your memory. For good reason, repetition has been called the mother of retention. In other words, the more you practice, the less effort memorizing will require because it will be stored in your memory.

When it comes to achieving fluency, one needs to be persistent and not give up easily. He also needs to enjoy the process until the day when he is actually fluent but he couldn't figure out when it happened.

So is having the fluency mindset the key to all your English communication difficulties?

The answer depends on you!

Which technique do you think you can use today? Which might be more challenging for you?

I would love to know in the comments below!