11 Stupid Mistakes That Stop You From Learning English Speaking Skills

I have been helping people learn English speaking skills for more than 15 years.

I often meet students who fail to develop a command of the English language despite joining the best spoken English institutes.

I also came across participants who improved their English speaking skills within 2-3 months because they got the right guidance.

In this post, I will teach you how you can avoid some common mistakes that stop you from learning English speaking skills and become a fluent speaker quickly. 

5 Primary Mistakes That Stop You from Learning English Speaking Skills

1. Multitasking is A Major Barrier to Learning English-Speaking skills 

You might attempt too many things simultaneously such as reading newspapers, listening to the news and other programs, studying different books, video recording, and attending classes to improve your English speaking skills.

Most of you are either job seekers or professionals. You already have many responsibilities to fulfill. When they do multiple things together, you eventually feel frustrated, stop doing everything, and fail to learn English speaking skills.

Even if you want to improve English speaking by yourself at home, you need to focus on one or two aspects of English communication skills.

Lack of focus is the primary reason why you fail to improve your English speaking abilities. 

2. Distraction

 You might have the best teacher or mentor to acquire English speaking skills, but distraction can kill your effort.

Distraction has become a common phenomenon everywhere. When you want to learn something on YouTube, you often come across enticing videos that you cannot ignore.

I am often trapped by enticing YouTube videos.

Another form of distraction is considering all requests urgent. Suppose, you start practicing English speaking at home and your mother tells you to do some household chores. You immediately leave the work and invest two hours in completing that task.

After two hours you do not feel like practising again.

This attitude can hamper your growth as this is going to happen every day. Hence, it would help if you do other tasks before and after completing your assignment.

For English-speaking practice, the environment plays a crucial role. Remember, you are responsible for your environment.

You might fail to learn English speaking and other skills because you are distracted.

 3. Not Giving Your Best

Many participants do not attend class and practice assignments wholeheartedly.

If you want to get the best result, you need to give your best. You cannot top your college or school because you want it, you should be willing to pay the price.  

Neither can you become a top performer in your organization without hard work. You fail yourself when you are not willing to contribute your best.  

“The way a person does one thing is the way he does everything.”  

It doesn’t matter what you do, make it a habit to do your best to get the best result or desired result.  

If you asked me how to improve my English speaking skills quickly. My answer –  When you give your best, you can do everything faster.  

4. Lack of Consistency

Many students attend classes on and off.

It does not matter whether they join face-to-face spoken English classes or online English-speaking courses they carry the same attitude. They think unless someone forces them to do something, they have no responsibility to excel.

Can you imagine going to your office on and off?

Can you get a salary, increment, promotion, and other benefits if you are not regular?

People who join a gym to lose weight know that consistency is the most important attribute to lose weight.

One of my students Harshit was able to improve his English communication skills within one month because he practiced his assignment eight hours per day for thirty days without any break.

You are allowed to skip classes if you can practice speaking English at home without any excuse.

5. Lack of A Strong Reason to Improve English Speaking

People who have a clear goal and a sense of urgency always improve faster.

One senior executive joined us to polish his English communication skills. He was stuck in his career because he could not speak English.

He was even hesitant to face an interview since he could not speak English fluently. He was getting many interview calls as his technical skills were very strong.

For him, it was a question of reputation and career progression. He did his best to improve his command of the English language and became a good orator within two months only.

If you develop this clarity about why English speaking skills are important for you, you will become more focused and determined. 

Don’t just learn English because your best friend is doing it. Find a compelling reason to speak English confidently. Falling in love with the language is the best reason to learn it.

6 More Reasons That Stop You from Learning English Speaking Skills

6. Not PreferringThe Right Institute

You might choose a spoken English institute because the lesser fee is your only criterion for selecting an institute. Additionally, you might join an institute because it is located close to your home.  

You should choose an institute because it has a good reputation, or you were pleased with a demo session or pedagogy of an institute.  

Here are a couple of things you can do before choosing an institute: – read their blogs and watch YouTube videos – Practice and apply what you learn.  If you are convinced by their teaching methodology,  you can join the institute or online classes.

7. Excessive Focus on Grammar

Everyone starts learning English grammar from the fifth or sixth standard and continues it till higher education.  

If English grammar alone is enough to make you speak English, then these ten years are an enormous period to learn English speaking. However, not many students can speak English well despite learning the nuances of grammar for years.

 You can speak your mother tongue within a few years whether you go to school or not since you speak that language day in and day out. 

Hence, when it comes to speaking a language, you need to practice it consistently. Grammar cannot help you develop English-speaking skills, but it can refine your language skills.

8. Lack of Listening Practice

Let me start with your mother tongue.

You listen to your mother tongue everywhere such as school, college, cinema, market, home, your locality, and so on.

One of the reasons you speak your mother tongue so confidently is that you listen to your native language continuously.  

If you listen to people speaking English, you can start developing your confidence.

Here is Step-by-Step guidance for English Listening Practice.

 9. Not Speaking Enough English

I come across many students who learn English merely to crack an interview or get a job.

You may not develop an excellent command of the English language despite joining an institute or reading a book.

Learning English speaking is not about joining an institute or reading a book, it is about speaking English at all times or day and night.

Fall in love with English speaking, your progress will amaze you.

Speak English whenever you get an opportunity to speak. If you do not get enough opportunities to speak English, create opportunities to speak English or speak before a mirror or camera.

The top companies prefer people who are willing to learn new skills faster. Here are the Top 5 Skills Your Employer Look for.

 10. Making Lame Excuses

YOUR BIGGEST EXCUSE –  I fail to improve my  English speaking skills because I have a scarcity of time.

Nobody has more than 24 hours to develop skills or pursue a hobby.

If you have a burning desire to do something, you do it without considering time.  

Suppose, you want to watch your favorite movie or visit your ideal travel destination, you never have an excuse for time.

If you consider something important, you will get time for it.

One senior executive of a company came to me to improve his English communication and attended classes only once a week. He was able to improve his English since he practiced English at home and in the office regularly.   He did not allow the scarcity of time to stop him from learning English.   

11. Running away from a difficult step

Many learners try out YouTube, English movies, and other resources to learn English speaking, but they fail to get the desired result since they may not have the right direction. 

I hardly come across any student who did not try out many resources to improve his command of the English language.  

You might skip a step if you find it difficult or face any major challenge.

A good mentor will never let you skip a step until you master it.

I hope this post 11 Reasons You Fail to Learn English speaking skills will help you identify your challenges and improve your English speaking skills.  

Are you facing any other challenges in improving your English speaking skills? Comment Please.