Kỹ năng học tiếng anh tiểu luận môn kỹ năng học tiếng Anh

HANOI UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
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STUDY SKILLS FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH
ASSIGNMENT

A REFLECTIVE PAPER

Student’s name: Nguyen Thi Tuoi
Class: DHTA1C - K6

Hanoi, January 2012
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English is a total new and unfamiliar language with us, so it is not easy and simple to
study it. However, we still need to study English because of its importance. Studying
English well requires many elements, such as: patience, practice, concentration,
knowledge, experience…And one of the most important elements is motivation
because it plays a great role in our study. We need motivation if we want to success not
only in studying foreign languages but also in doing anything else. As we know,
motivation is needful part in study, so finding out more about motivation is knowing
more about methods and skills to success.
What is motivation?
In psychology, motivation is defined as the process that initiates, guides and maintains
oriented behaviors. Motivation is something that helps us take action, such as drinking
water to reduce thirst or reading books to gain knowledge.

In daily life, motivation is defined as need or desire to achieve a certain goal. In other
words, motivation is why a person does a thing. Concretely in education, motivation
for study is what you hope to gain from our studies.
Where does motivation come from?
Motivation can come from two sources: from inside of us or from outside of us. In the
first case, motivation derives from our hopes, expectations, dreams and desire to do
something or to be someone. Motivation for study that results from inner ourselves are
individual and various, such as: desire to gain more and more knowledge, hopes to
know lots of interesting new things or dream about discovering the world and the
universe, etc…For example, motivation for study of a tourism student is desire to
travel many places, that of a diplomacy or marketing student is desire to meet many
types of people, that of politics students is desire to improve the world’s problems,
and that of a medicine students is desire to cure human’s diseases, etc…For an English
students, motivation for study is numerous, such as: love for English language, hope to
make friend with foreigner, expectation to study abroad…This kind of motivation is
not easy to lose because it comes from deeply inside us.
However, not everyone has strong motivation from within, and no one has continuous
motivation from within. Consequently, there is another source of motivation: from
outside. In education, grades are the most immediate and obvious motivation from
outside. For many students, grades are really important to their studies. With these
students high grades are tools expressing success and helping them pass examinations,
but after that they will certainly lose motivation to continue studying. Therefore, it is
completely wrong to set grades as our only goal. They also try to study well because
they want other people admire them. Moreover, they try to gain high grades so that
they can get good jobs with high salaries in future. Besides, some students study just
because their families expect much in them. This kind of motivation only can help us
try from day to day because it is artificial, and it can not maintain for long time. It does
not really come from ourselves, so it won’t help us improve our studies, gain
knowledge or achieve our last goal.
In general, it is very valuable and useful to know that good motivation will create great

encouragement for us. No matter where our motivation comes from or what our goals
are, it must help us study harder and more efficiently.
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How important is motivation for study?
We have known the definition and origination of motivation. Have you wondered that
why we need motivation for study? The answer lies in the importance of motivation.
The role of motivation is much greater than we think. It affects all the process of our
study.
First, motivation helps us start. There is a great difference between studying something
we like and studying something we do not like. When we have motivation about
something, we can study it effortlessly, and we needn’t to be forced or reminded by
anyone. A good starting can lead to a good process. Starting is the toughest part of
studying, so motivation may be helpful for us. As long as we determine to study
seriously, we have won half studying battle.
Second, motivation helps us keep studying continuously. Starting is an important
problem, but keeping studying is another more important problem. Whatever we study,
there are always obstacles on the way which can prevent us from achieving our goal. It
is easy to be disheartened when we meet too many obstacles if we do not have
motivation because motivation puts our resources into studying. It also drives us
towards our goal. Thanks to motivation, our resources can be used fully and
effectively.
Third, motivation helps us study more than necessary. Motivation can create studying
inspiration for us. When we are interested in something, we will voluntarily study
further and deeper than requirement. For example, if we study English just because it
is a compulsory subject, we certainly can not improve. Motivation will improve our
level of efficiency of study because this level does not only depend on qualifications

and abilities. The combination between abilities and motivation can fill up our chance
of success. We can get best of study too.
Fourth, motivation helps the study become more interesting. The way to success may
be difficult, long and boring to people who do not have motivation. This way may be
still difficult but enjoyable to people who are motivated to study. Motivation is an
important factor bringing satisfaction of study for us. Of course, there are always times
when our studies are not good, but motivation will be a guiding angel helping us stay,
move ahead and pass all the challenges and difficult times.
Finally, motivation helps us study more concentratedly. Even though we are interested
in studying, we sometimes realize that our concentration can be interrupted by various
factors. These factors are called distractions, such as: unexpected visitors, suddenly
noises, favorite movies or attractive video games. They will take our attention away
from our lessons. We can not prevent distractions from coming when we are studying,
but we can refuse them with the help of motivation.
As we can see, motivation helps us in many different ways. It brings for us
determination, effort, patience, concentration and even positive actions. Therefore,
there is no doubt that motivation plays an important role in our success.
How can we get motivation for study?
The role of motivation can not be denied, so each of us should think carefully about
finding out our motivation for study. But this work is not easy to do. One of the most
effective things we must do is setting our goal. First, let think seriously about what we
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want to do or who we want to be. Then determine which job our abilities are suitable
for or which work will bring happiness and satisfaction for us. After that, set a certain
goal to try based on our dream, demand and hobby. It could be either short-term goal
like upcoming exam or long-term goal like achievement we want to reach after our

study. Lastly, write down our goals and stick them in front of our desk so that we can
see whenever we study. Our goals will give us right directions to follows. They are the
best source of motivation because they keep us focused and help us do whatever to
achieve our aims.
However, setting goals is not the only problem. After finding out our motivation for
study, we must face to another important work. It is keeping that motivation during our
process of study which is even more necessary and difficult. But if we really try, there
are still many ways to keep being motivated to study.
First, be really interested in our subject. Think of how it is important to our study, how
it is related to other fields and how it affects our life. With English students, it is not
difficult to realize the role of professional knowledge. Nowadays, English is clearly
the world-wide language. It is used in every fields in every area in the world. We speak
English at international places like airports, harbors, immigration offices…or in trade,
tourism, technology, communication, education abroad. Being good at English can
help us find a high-salary job, make friend with more foreigners, understand more
humankind knowledge…Therefore, it is necessary for all of us to be able to use
English fluently. When we see the role of our main subject, we will have true interest.
To raise up our interest, we should search a lot of interesting information of the subject
by reading books or using internet. The more interest we develop, the more motivation
we have.
Second, find out an effective method of study for ourselves. Start with experience and
habit we had in the past. Then compare them with our study in the present and
consider all process and problems. Lastly, sum up to choose the best method of study.
There are many ways to study English well. We need have useful dictionaries, books
or document. We should also know how to learn vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar,
structure and rules of English. If we know the method to study effectively, we will
become more motivated and inspired.
Third, choose comfortable place and suitable time to study. The best place of study we
can choose is our own private rooms. If they do not have quite enough, we can choose
another better place such as library. Moreover, put all our notebooks, reference books,

pens…in our study place. To have best time of study and save our time, we need set a
definite schedule and try to follow it. Our study schedule depends on our class in
school, social activities and private time. We should plan study time and relaxing time
equally to avoid tiredness and boring. Good place and good time will not only inspire
us but also enable us study more efficiently.
Fourth, avoid prolonging during the process of study. One of the main reasons of
lacking enthusiasm about studying is the fact that we prolong the beginning of the
study too long. This has negative effects on our study. To limit prolonging, we need
see our aims clearly and plan our study detailed. Let start with simple steps before do
complicated and difficult work. Whenever we prolong or want to give up, try to forget
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that intention and only focus on studying by remind ourselves about our motivation
and purpose why we study.
Fifth, be concentrated as much as possible. When we have television, cellphone,
computer, magazines…nearby, we will easily lose concentration. These distractions
will become obstacles on our way. Consequently, we must remove all these
distractions from our place of study. Just only think of subjects and get stared with
studying no matter distractions are attracting us. If we are tired or boring, we can allow
ourselves to relax like listening a good song. Whenever we feel lack of interest to
study or being lazy, free our mind from negative thoughts and we will get back our
motivation.
Sixth, have positive thoughts and avoid negative feelings. Our attitudes about studying
can have a great impact on our motivation. We can increase our motivation only by
thinking toward positive way. On the other hand, negative feelings such as boring,
anger, anxiety or disappointment can kill our motivation before we start studying. Our
study will become worse if we keep thinking about our results are excellent or not. Do

not waste our valuable time and energy on negative emotions. We needn’t think of
something we can neither change nor control like other students’ result. Instead of, we
should try to forget pressure of grades and think more about knowledge, skills as well
as experience we can get from studying. When facing to stress, calm down and
remember that everything is depend on our attitude.
Seventh, reward ourselves. If we feel lack of motivation for study, set our goal and
give an attractive prize for us when we success. It is really simple but very effective.
By rewarding ourselves, we naturally put higher effort on studying. This helps us
achieve success faster and easier. However, we must apply a certain rule that simple
goal means small award and important goal means big award. When we have a few
small success, we will have gratification to try more. So, we can increase our
motivation drastically and maintain this motivation on a high level until we reach our
last goals.
Finally, be more responsible with our study. We need time to review what we have
achieved after a period of study. We should consider about both success and failure so
that we can have experience as well as right direction for future. One thing we should
remember is not to scare mistakes because they are inevitable. The most important
thing is the fact that even if we have determination to redress our wrong, we will
success. As long as we have responsibility with our study, being motivated to study is
not a problem anymore.
In short, we have known definition, origination, importance and ways to have
motivation for study. Motivation is decided element in our study. It will determine how
far we can go and how successful we can achieve. It will help us overcome challenges
and difficulties during the process of study too. While studying, if we have positive
motivation, it means we have half victory.
The end.

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