While teaching any subject there is one common theme that all teachers must take in to account. It is the area of a student’s self confidence. This is especially important in a TESOL classroom where the goal is for students to eventually produce language on their own in a meaningful manner. In order for students to be creative in speaking a second language, they must be confident in the skills that they have learned. As teachers, it is our purpose to motivate our students to a deeper level of comprehension and knowledge by building self confidence.

There are several ways that teachers can help to build confidence in the classroom. The first and most obvious technique is simply to create an environment that promotes positivity. Students should constantly be encouraged and praised for their efforts. The TESOL classroom should be free of negativity and criticism. Any effort to produce the English language should be heavily praised. Students that feel good about their efforts and proud of their abilities will want to continue to learn the language. Success breeds a desire to succeed more. TESOL teachers should be cheerleaders, encouraging students not to give up and praising them for success.

Other techniques that can be used in the classroom include activities that promote success for everyone in the class, not just the brightest students. Activities where accuracy of language is not as important as fluency help all students succeed because there is more room for creativity. Using as much or as little as they know, students try to convey an idea, and there are no right or wrong answers. As well as with speaking activities, journal writing is a good technique to use in the TESOL classroom to provide students with an open ended way to communicate in English. An added benefit of journal writing is that it promotes independence in idea and word choice which is crucial to communicating in the real world.

Another technique that should be used to build confidence in the TESOL classroom is giving your students useful contexts for what they are learning. Do not simply teach grammar or vocabulary for its own sake, but put it into a context that represents a probable situation the student will face. Then, practice the exact situation time and again so students will become familiar with how the language is used and will be prepared with what they are expected to say. If they are prepared with appropriate answers, students will automatically feel more self confident in those specific situations. Lastly, the simple advice of having clear objectives for your students will give them a sense of confidence because they know what is expected of them. Also using the same phrases repeatedly and employing target language in your own speech as a teacher will help to reinforce what you’ve taught and thus give confidence to your students.

“Confidence-building sounds very touchy-feely, but it’s very important”. This statement by a TESOL teacher couldn’t be more true. It may be a portion of our classroom that we downplay as teachers, regarding grammar and vocabulary as more important. But in all reality, students won’t use their newly learned vocabulary or grammar if they don’t feel confident in themselves and their English abilities.

lexi