Preparing for a language test is something many people fail to do when they want to take the test be it for English proficiency, French competence or any other language. Those that even prepare for the language test focus mainly on the physiological aspect of the test without working on their mental makeup or orientation towards the test and this leads to failure or unexpected lower marks in the test altogether…..
Preparing for a language test is something many people fail to do when they want to take the test be it for English proficiency, French competence or any other language. Those that even prepare for the language test focus mainly on the physiological aspect of the test without working on their mental makeup or orientation towards the test and this leads to failure or unexpected lower marks in the test altogether.
Why need the mental orientation
The question we may now ask ourselves is why do we need to mental orientation of a test taker before a language test can be taken. Well, the reason cannot be far-fetched. Throughout the course of ones life, good health has a lot to do with the mental well-being of a man. Likewise, positive mental health allows people to realize their full potential, cope with the stresses of life, work productively amd make meaningful contributions to the community. This, in relation to test taking, allows a test taker be fully at alert when taking a test, assist with the fright that often comes with taking a test or exam, help the test taker answer questions more calmly and accurately, and also permits him or her to confidently have a conversation with the examiner.
Effects
Mental orientation affects how we think, feel and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. Without a sound mental orientation, we can have low or no energy, feel numb or like nothing matters, feel helpless or hopeless, lead to smoking, drinking, or using drugs, feel unusually confused, forgetful, on edge, angry, upset, worried or scared, hear voices or believe things that are not true, have persistent thoughts and memories thet are not positive and experience severe mood swings that cause problems in relationships. These can impair the way we take any language test which in turn affects our marks.Confidence
I have taught several kinds of students and I have noticed one major deficit in their mental orientation which if cultivated can actually greatly lead to their successful test taking. In fact, it would most certainly lead to a fulfilling experience for them with so many positive testimonials and the thing which I call in this article – the No. 1 mental tool is CONFIDENCE. There is something about confidence that makes a test taker attractive, knowledgeable and eloquent while taking any language test. I have often used it in all the exams and tests that I have taken in my whole life and found out that it does not disappoint me. I am not trying to sound unreal or spiritual here, but the picture I want to paint in front of you is that, with confidence, even if you do not have the perfect words or sentences to use to express yourself in a language test, you can quickly look for alternatives or alternative ways to divert the test to make you look wise and sharp.Take for instance, you are talking with an examiner in the speaking skill of a test and you do not know a particular word or even response to the question, I know some language tests like IELTS and even TEF Canada among others permit the candidate to ask his own question from the examiner or even say he does not have much to say about that topic at the moment and so another topic should be given to him to talk on but it is confidence that would allow such candidate to make use of such testing advantage to a reasonable level.
Mental Problems
As much as I know that good mental orientation can boost the activeness of a candidate while preparing and taking a test which lead to good grades, I am also aware that some candidates can suffer from some mental conditions such as stress, depression, and anxiety which can disrupt a persons routine while taking the test on the test day. Some of these conditions, I have come to realize, can be due to continuous social pressure from other test takers and or even family members who expect the best from the candidates.Hence, I always try to identify symptoms of such conditions while preparing a candidate for any test and I suggest you also do the same to yourself or others you are helping out. Candidates might experience physical symptoms including restlessness, fatigue, tense muscles, panic disorders, phobias when being asked to respond to a question in class, do a short test or even a mock exam, that should be a red flag and assist you in knowing how to treat and help them out.When it comes to test taking, no stone must be leaved unturned. Lots of people retake tests sometimes due to these issues, not necessarily due to their lack of understanding of the language or ability to construct sentences. Sometimes, if we look into their mental orientation towards the test itself, themselves or their environment, we find the problem and now can help them get the best in the tests.Solutions
There are many ways and methods to help candidates with these mental issues, and I always recommend that they are more effective when each candidate is worked on at a time, in other words, these strategies should be highly individualized. I am not a doctor, neither are you I think but as a language coach or student, you need to be in the right state of mind or help candidates be in the right state to prepare for tests.Thus, you can play the role of a therapist, by trying to talk with the candidate through the mental problem. Let yourself into the life of the candidate to understand why he or she feels he can not take the test or why he feels afraid of answering questions in a certain way. This can help you understand the root of their mental issues and start to work on more thoughtful approaches to come up with to better help them reduce the risk of isolation in class and self-indictment.You can also advance to recommending self-help ideas to help them with their mental issues. These could be in form of changes in alcoholintake, eating diet, sleeping habits, listening routines, deep breathing, relaxation techniques and so on. These are things you can even try with them at first and leave them do when you see they have gotten the hold of it. Sometimes, in class, when I give assignments to students and they come back not doing them as a result of their mindset blockages, after haven asked the reason why and they come up with excuses, I put myself up to do it with them for the first times and soon they go on without me. It is all in an attempt to being more supportive of their test preparation activities.There are still a lot of methods to use in helping candidates which appear to be much more medical than therapeutical so I leave them out in this article. If you find out that your candidate or you are not gaining from the strategies talked about above, you can consult a medical practitioner before continuing your test preparation classes. Work on yourself first and be in the right state before taking any test so that you can always maximize your money with excellent grades.I hope you enjoyed todays post, if you have any questions, comments or inquiry, kindly make use of the comment section below this post. Thanks! And do not forget to rate and share this article with your colleagues.Talk to you soon!