The advice provided here will help you get over your fear of IELTS speaking anxiety, and with time and practice, you’ll be able to talk confidently in IELTS speaking section.
1. Breath
It’s crucial to breathe when speaking anxiously. Take a few deep breaths and lower your brain’s activity. You’ll be able to relax and settle your thoughts using this. You’ll notice a difference if you do this before entering the examiner’s room.
2. Visualization
This is essentially the “fake it until you make it” method. Start the day of your speaking test optimistically. Think about passing the exam with flying colors and visualizing your accomplishment. Don’t focus too much on the examiner’s personality, any random questions you could receive, etc. Simply try your best and get ready for whatever happens.
3. Practice
Your brain functions the same way when you practice something repeatedly. If you often use the same phrases, you won’t need to think about them; they will naturally flow from your tongue. Learn essential phrases such as “I think” can be replaced with “in my view,” and “I like” can be replaced with “I find this/that appealing.” If you use these terms often, they will still come out when you are feeling IELTS speaking anxiety.
4. Remember
Even native speakers might make grammatical or vocabulary errors when speaking. Making errors is common, and nobody will mistreat you for them. You can only learn more and more via mistakes!
5. Mantras
Mantras are something we say to ourselves rather than others. They typically contain a nice or optimistic message and are said in your head. Your mantra may be “I am an excellent English speaker,” for instance if you’re studying the language. A language is a potent tool. The way we think about something varies depending on how we discuss it. Speak positively about yourself: “I am a terrific speaker.” Use the positive to outweigh the bad.
The King’s Speech, an outstanding Oscar-winning film with the same concept, is a must-see case study showing how a King of an empire overcame his fear of speech via a dedicated effort.
Nothing is out of the question if you have faith in yourself!