Make a Habit of Learning English
Since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis, many people have had to
change their habits, or usual ways of doing things.
Some people who used to go to school now study at home. Some of them
have been trying to get in the habit of learning and studying on their
own.
How might habits connect with studying and learning?
Today’s Education Tips will explore that very question.
What are habits?
Habits are regular ways of dealing with your environment. You generally
do not pay attention to them.
In the book Good Habits, Bad Habits, Dr. Wendy Wood notes that “A habit
turns the world around you—your context—into a trigger to act.”
Habits take many forms – eating, exercising, even studying. You may not
realize it, but habits make up many of the actions that you do every
day.
How are habits made?
In the book Atomic Habits, James Clear describes a four-step process by
which habits are made. These steps are cue, craving, response, and
reward.
The cue tells your brain to begin a behavior. The craving is what makes
you want to do something. The response is the actual habit that you
perform. The response, in turn, gives you a reward. “Rewards are the end
goal of every habit,” Clear writes.
Consider this example. Maybe you have the habit of often checking social
media. The cue might be a feeling of boredom while you are near your
computer or phone. The craving could be a desire to stop that feeling.
The response is checking social media, and the reward is seeing
something interesting. When that process is repeated many times, it
becomes a habit.
Clear believes that to create a good habit, you need to follow several
steps. You need to make your new habit obvious, or easy to see or
understand. The habit should also be attractive, simple and satisfying.
Let’s think about how you might develop an English study habit.
Make a habit studying English
You should organize your surroundings in such a way that the cues of
your new habit are very obvious. For example, if you want to get in the
habit of studying English every day, leave English books or notes in a
very clear place.
To make your habit attractive, Clear recommends joining a culture where
your new desired behavior is the normal behavior. For example, you could
join a group of other English learners in online meetings.
To make your new habit easy, you could decrease the number of steps you
have to take in order to study. You could also try reducing the amount
of time you study. Clear suggests beginning your habits with limited,
shorter time periods – two minutes for example. As you repeat the
practice over time, you can go longer.
An important point to keep in mind is that if you place too many demands
on yourself, you are more likely to give up on your new habit.
Finally, you need to make your habit satisfying. You can give yourself a
reward after completing your new habit. For example, if you study
English for 15 minutes, you could reward yourself by listening to a song
you like. Or you could think about how much progress you have made since
you first started studying English.
Wood notes that your reward should come right after you do your new
habit. “Rewards have to be experienced right after we do something in
order to build habit associations ... in memory,” she writes.
Closing thoughts
Building new habits can take time. You may have to repeat an action many
times before it becomes a habit. But with time, careful planning and
continued practice, you can do it. |
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