Improving English Speaking for Non-native Speakers

8/20/2019 Improving English Speaking for Non-native Speakers

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Improving English Speaking

for Non-Native Speakers

by Aiman Azlan

www.aimanazlan.com

Contents

Introduction 2

Chapter One: Are You Afraid? 4

Chapter Two: My English Speaking 8

Chapter Three: Exposure 11

Chapter Four: Practice 13

Conclusion 17

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IMPROVING ENGLISH SPEAKING FOR NON-NATIVE SPEAKERS

Introduction

My name is Aiman Azlan and I am from Malaysia; born and raised. Myrst language is Malay and I speak more Malay than I do English.

However, that is not an excuse for not being able to learn and improve

in English.

English, like any other languages, consists of four separate skills that

are linked to each other in some way. These four skills are reading,writing, listening, and speaking.

Any English prociency tests such as MUET, IELTS, or TOEFL will test

the students on each of these four skills. This particular booklet will

focus mainly on English speaking. To become completely procient in a

language, one has to be adequately procient in all four skills.

Having said that, don’t be disheartened if you can’t speak English. Not

being able to speak English doesn’t necessarily make you bad in

English. You may not be able to speak, but perhaps you can read,

listen, or write English. That makes you somewhat procient. This is not

an all-or-nothing matter.

A skill falls on a spectrum of mastery between no mastery at all and

complete mastery. Most of the non-native speakers I meet, many of

whom think that they are bad at English, fall somewhere on this

spectrum but I wouldn’t say that they belong in the far left end of the “no

mastery at all” zone.

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Most, if not all, of the Malaysian students who have went through

primary school education have at least a basic understanding of

English and its usage, and that will be our starting point.

Do keep in mind that this brief booklet was designed with my own

personal experience in mind. I am, you could say, a typical Malaysian

student who went through a typical Malaysian education system so it

safe for me to assume that many of us share the same foundation.

I do realise that this simple booklet is unable to cater to every

individual’s unique capabilities and circumstances. Therefore, if the

guide that I will provide in the coming pages does not work for you, do

not feel demotivated.

Perhaps what you need is a different approach, one that I am unable to

deliver. That would be my shortcoming, not yours. Find the approach

that suits you best. If my approach works for you, then carry on. But if it

does not, then I am sure there are other approaches out there for you.

Don’t give up that easily.

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Chapter One: Are You Afraid?

Fear of making mistakes, fear of being laughed at, fear of rejection, fear

of judgment, fear of not being good enough, or any other fears are all

real and should be acknowledged, but many of them, if not all of them,

are unreasonable.

One of the many possible reasons why those fears are unreasonable is

because they stem from having an unrealistic expectation ofthemselves, of others, and/or of life in general.

These are among the many unrealistic expectations people can have:

1. They expect from themselves to be perfect.

This is an unrealistic expectation of themselves. No expert started off

perfect. David Beckham probably missed a few kicks when he rst

started, Albert Einstein probably didn’t know how to calculate 2+2 at

some point, William Shakespeare probably struggled with saying his

rst English word, and you most denitely fell down the rst time you

tried to walk. It is perfectly normal to expect imperfections.

The rst time you do something will be decorated with many mistakes

and shortcomings. But that is not necessarily a bad thing. Making

mistakes is a normal part of the learning process. We should not fear

mistakes, in fact we should welcome them. I am not saying let us all

make mistakes intentionally. What I meant was when mistakes happen

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(and they most probably will), we need to accept them and learn from

them. It is through learning from mistakes that we grow into a better

person.

2. They expect others to always be nice and kind.

It is a positive thing to think good of people and that should remain the

default position. However, we cannot run away from the simple fact that

there are naughty people out there.

There will be people who will intentionally or unintentionally demotivate

you when you want to do something good. There will be naysayers and

disbelievers in the greatness that you can achieve.

Though we do not judge their hearts because we don’t know for surewhat’s in them, we should avoid paying attention to these people. If the

things that they say and do don’t add value to your life, then it is not

worth it to invest your time and energy in them.

You may not have the power to shut them up or to control what they say,

but you do have the power to control how you react. People cannotharm you with their words unless you allow them to.

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3. They expect life to be relatively smooth and easy.

It is a given that life is full of difculties and challenges. Each of us has

our own fair share of them. To expect life to always be convenient to you

is to expect fairy tales to come true.

Once we realise that life is difcult, then at that point life becomes

easier. It becomes easier because we no longer carry unrealistic

expectations on our shoulders.

Unrealistic expectations will almost denitely result in unnecessary

stress and disappointment. I called it “unnecessary” because it can be

avoided. Plus, life without difculties and challenges will turn out to be a

very boring life.

So, what now?

Manage your expectation well and you will save yourself a lot of

unnecessary heartaches. This is not to say that with the right

expectation, suddenly everything will be candies and rainbows.

The right expectation helps us to focus on what matters more and on

what matters most, and to ignore what is essentially a waste of time and

energy.

Be condent in yourself by believing in yourself. At the very least, you

should believe that you can try your best in English speaking. After all,

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what more can people ask from you than your very best? Before you

can expect people to have a reasonable expectation of you, you rst

have to have a reasonable expectation of yourself.

Condence lies in the mindset that you have chosen, particularly in

what you think of yourself. The mind is so powerful such that it can

create a reality based on what you think and how you think.

How is that so? Well, to simplify, your mind will lead you to nd every

conceivable evidence to prove that what you think is true.

So, whether you think you can or you cannot, you are absolutely right.

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Chapter Two: My English Speaking

A lot of people know me through the videos I uploaded on Youtube

(www.youtube.com/aimanazlan90). Since 2011, I uploaded videos of

me speaking on various topics and yes, I speak in English. I received

emails and comments from people wondering how I polished my

English speaking to become how it is today.

First of all, my “incredible” uency in my Youtube videos is, in part,due to my “incredible” video editing skill. What you watch on

Youtube is the nal product coming from many outtakes. I purposely

hide my mistakes with video editing, not because I am embarrassed by

them (sometimes I even show them on Youtube), but because I want the

messages in my videos to be delivered well. The point is, I make many

mistakes in the process.

Second of all, even in my best English speaking moments, I am not

as uent as a native English speaker i.e. someone who speaks

English since the rst time they learned how to speak. A native English

speaker will speak faster and with greater exibility (i.e. they don’t

stumble as much).

So as good as I am at English speaking, I am not as good as a native

English speaker. Some people think that I speak too fast for them to

comprehend, but if you compare my pace to a native English speaker,

then you realise that I am actually more towards the slower end of the

speed spectrum.

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Lastly, don’t be too mesmerised with what you see, thinking that it

magically happened. What you see is a product of years of practise

and patience. There are many ways you can practise and I will share a

few in the coming chapter. For now, I would like to emphasise on

patience.

Don’t expect improvements to come tomorrow when you only started

today. Self-improvement is a process that takes time, so don’t expect

things to fall into place all at once. Take it one step at a time. There are

no shortcuts to success. You have to be willing to do the work in order

to get the result.

Now that I got those two things out of the way, allow me to share with

you my experience with learning English speaking . It would be easyfor me to give you a list of step-by-step things to do in order to get to

the level that you wanted, but to do that would be to simplify the reality.

Reality is complicated and nuanced, hence we should treat it as such.

What I think would work better is to give you a conceptual

understanding with which you can apply in your own unique situations.

English speaking is a skill and a skill can be acquired. Different

individuals can acquired a skill differently and can master the skill at

different levels of mastery, but the skill can be acquired nonetheless.

Any skill acquisition, to my estimation, follows the same learning

pathway. To acquire any skill, one needs two basic things:

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1. Exposure

2. Practice

In essence, that is how I acquire my English speaking skill. Let explore

more about those two basic things in the coming chapters.

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Chapter Three: Exposure

Like a child learning how to talk, the rst thing he does is observe -

taking it all in. That is the concept behind exposure. With English

speaking, one needs to observe how English is being spoken . Here,

one exercises his senses of sight and hearing to observe the words

people say and how they say those words. This is where one learns

pronunciation and vocabulary.

I personally think reading is a better resource for learning vocabulary.

But spoken English is where one learns how to use the words in one’s

vocabulary. In other words, one understands context. Speaking of

context, it is worth mentioning that when one is exposed to a language,

it is a direct and indirect exposure to the culture of the language as

well.

Language and culture are intertwined. One cannot separate the two.

When one is exposed to the English language, one will learn to some

extent the culture behind the language; either British, American, or a

mix of both. With any culture, there is bound to be negative and positive

practices. It is upon the person who learns to differentiate between the

two and chooses wisely, especially in our borderless world of today.

I have been exposed to English at an early age, through movies and

songs. Since I grew up in Malaysia, though not impossible, it is

unfortunately difcult to meet an English speaker. Having the

opportunity to study overseas does widen the opportunity of direct

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exposure to native English speakers, but movies and songs are still

decent methods of exposure to the English language.

From here, like a child, one learns to imitate. Imitate how a word is

pronounced and how a word is properly used in a conversation.

Imitation means, what many despises, practice.

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Chapter Four: Practice

We like shortcuts and ease. We want the fastest and most convenient

way to get to where we want to go. Although there are situations where

there is a shortcut and there is an easy way, life doesn’t always provide

us with that luxury.

Life, by default, is difcult. When one realises that, life becomes easier

to deal with. Most of the great things that we want to achieve requiresgreat effort on our part.

We need to try . It doesn’t make much sense to achieve something

without trying, like wanting to go to a place without taking a single step.

If one wants to be better at English speaking, then one needs to rst try

to speak in English.

As with anything being tried the rst time, there are bound to be

mistakes . Don’t be afraid of mistakes. Instead, be afraid of not trying.

Be afraid of not giving it your very best. Be afraid of not taking

advantage of the opportunities given to you in this very moment.

Mistakes should not be feared. Mistakes should be embraced. That is

not to say that we all make deliberate mistakes and that we all become

clumsy people. The meaning behind embracing mistakes is that we

accept mistakes when they happen, even after we have done our very

best to avoid them.

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Practice and exposure go hand-in-hand. You can’t do exposure without

practice and you can’t do practice without exposure. There are many

ways to practice and I will suggest a few that work for me.

1. Sing

Don’t worry. I am not suggesting that you get on stage and sing

(although that would be okay if you are up for it). What I am suggesting

is singing English songs by yourself.

When you sing English songs, you are essentially practicing how to

speak in English. You are pronouncing English words and you are using

those words in sentences to convey a message. That is essentially

English speaking.

2. Imitate

While watching English movies, you can imitate how the actors in those

movies talk. Here, you will be exposed to nuances in pronunciation and

word usage, since in movies there are a myriad of cultural avours and

context variations.

By repeating how the words are pronounced, you are essentially

practicing how to speak and knowing how those words are used in the

movies can give you clues as to how to use them in real life.

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adamant as you are in wanting to improve English speaking, then it is

not impossible to have that good quality English conversations as

practice.

But if that is too much to ask, then nd a non-Malay, non-Malaysian

friend and force yourself to speak English (which you have to, since the

person can’t speak Malay).

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Conclusion

If I can conclude everything with one simple sentence, it will be this:there is no shortcut .

I know how tempting it is to want an easier and a more convenient path

to improve English speaking. If there is a pill that can make you a good

English speaker, it wouldn’t be farfetched to think that the pill would be

a bestseller.

We love shortcuts. But life is not always that generous to us.

Many great things can only be achieved after we overcome great

challenges. It is not the goal that teaches us the most, but it is the

journey to reach that goal. That is something that we should remember,

be it for English speaking or for any other skill that we want to be good

at.

English speaking is indeed a skill like any other skill, following the same

pattern to mastery: exposure and practice. Of course, each individual

will master this skill at varying levels, but almost everyone can at least

master it to a level that is adequate for daily usage - which I am

assuming is what all of us want, at least.

In essence, the message that I would like for everyone to take home is

this: try your best and don’t give up .

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Aiman Azlan Academy

Aiman Azlan Academy is a self-motivation platform for individuals who

seeks to improve themselves through acquiring and ne-tuning

essential intrapersonal and interpersonal skills. Among its focus are

self-condence (intrapersonal skill) and English speaking (interpersonal

skill).

Aiman Azlan Academy is committed to helping people build the right

mindset in order to generate their own self-condence without relying

too much on other people. This is done through encouraging people totry to speak in English through the SPEAK UP! English Speaking

Seminar.

In the seminar, Aiman Azlan Academy shares with people, specically

non-native speakers, the essential tools needed to start their individual

journeys towards becoming a better and a more condent Englishspeaker.

The Academy is currently touring throughout Malaysia to deliver the

seminar to those who share the same passion.

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If you would like to know where and when the next seminar will be,

please visit www.aimanazlan.com or contact the Academy by email at

[email protected].

You can also attend the seminar by inviting the Academy to your

institution. Simply contact 013 416 4652 (Muhammad).

Start your journey today.

Be better.

www.aimanazlan.com
http://www.aimanazlan.com/mailto:[email protected]://www.aimanazlan.com/

Improving English Speaking for Non-native Speakers

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