Nowadays, there are many methods and approaches claiming to be the best way to improve your English communication or get you fast results, although in my experience nothing is easy unless you are willing to put the work in…even more so when English is not your first language and using it confidently can be really nerve-wracking.
How would you feel if you could improve your confidence and communicate better in English as a result?
New research has suggested that by working on our mindset we can also improve our communication in English. So forget your old textbook and think about these innovative ways to communicate better in English.
Your mood
This is far more imortant than people give it credit for and it can have a serious impact on how much you can improve your English. Since the early 1980s Krashen has argued that when we are calmer, happier and generally more positive the brain is more receptive to learning new information, whereas when we are experiencing negative emotions the brain shuts down and literally rejects processing any new information. In fact, one study by the University of Zurich has shown that we can learn up to 30% more just by being a positive mood. So, think about what kind of things make you feel happy and high vibe, get in the mood and then communicating English will come much easier to you.
Your state of mind
In spite of being postive and happy, you can still have a million thoughts flying through your head distracting you, right? Well, there is good news about this too. A study by the University of California found evidence to suggest that these constant thoughts are actually stopping you from getting better at communicating in English. Luckily for us the study also found a simple solution to solve this problem; the practice of mindfulness. Have you tried it? The University of Minnesota found that even as little as 3 minutes of mindfulness a day can help you reduce negative thoughts, clear your mind, relax and improve your English. These studies showed a plethora of benefits that come from practising mindfulness as little as 3 minutes a day. Such benefits include; improved test scores, a significant increase in vocabulary learning, better presentation outcomes when given in English and more importantly, significantly less anxiety was experienced when using English by all the participants in the studies.
Memory
Furthermore, psychological studies have also shown that mindfulness can significantly improve your working memory for facts and learning new information. This means that just by spending at least 10 minutes of your day relaxing and practising mindfulness you will actually increase your memory capacity in as little as 4 weeks leading to a potentially greater vocabulary in English even subconsciously! Moreover, if you practise it consistently and over an even longer period of time the results increase even more and your brain starts to integrate these techniques so you become more self aware of your emotions and thoughts.
Therefore, you can see it is no longer necessary to be stressed about improving your communication skills in English, or giving a presentation in English because stress can actually decrease your performance. Now there is an easy solution with clear benefits: Mindfulness. By developing this daily habit not only can you create a positive state of mind, stay high vibe and feel more confident, but it has been scientifically proven to improve communication skills when using English as a foreign language with regular and consistent practise.