<<Study Help>>

Learning is a skill and it can be improved.

Your path to learning effectively is through knowing

yourself
your capacity to learn
processes you have successfully used in the past
your interest, and knowledge of what you wish to learn

Motivate yourself

If you are not motivated to learn English you will become frustrated and give up. Ask yourself the following questions, and be honest:-

Why do you need to learn/improve English?
Where will you need to use English?
What skills do you need to learn/improve? (Reading/Writing/Listening/Speaking)
How soon do you need to see results?
How much time can you afford to devote to learning English.
How much money can you afford to devote to learning English.
Do you have a plan or learning strategy?

Set yourself achievable goals

You know how much time you can dedicate to learning English, but a short time each day will produce better, longer-term results than a full day on the weekend and then nothing for two weeks.

Joining a short intensive course could produce better results than joining a course that takes place once a week for six months.

Here are some goals you could set yourself:-

Join an English course (and attend regularly).
Do your homework.
Read a book a month.
Learn a new word every day.
Visit an English speaking forum every day.
Read a news article on the net every day.
Do 10 minutes listening practice every day.
Watch an English film at least once a month.
Follow a soap, comedy or radio or TV drama.

A good way to meet your goals is to establish a system of rewards and punishments.

Decide on a reward you will give yourself for fulfilling your goals for a month.

A bottle of your favourite drink
A meal out / or a nice meal at home
A new outfit
A manicure or massage

Understanding how you learn best may also help you.

When you.	Visual	Auditory	Kinesthetic & Tactile
Spell	Do you try to see the word?	Do you sound out the word or use a phonetic approach?	Do you write the word down to find if it feels right?
Talk	Do you do so sparingly but dislike listening for too long? Do you favour words such as see, picture , and imagine?	Do you enjoy listening but are impatient to talk? Do you use words such as hear, tune , and think?	Do you gesture and use expressive movements? Do you use words such as feel, touch , and hold?
Concentrate	Do you become distracted by untidiness or movement?	Do you become distracted by sounds or noises?	Do you become distracted by activity around you?
Meet someone again	Do you forget names but remember faces or remember where you met?	Do you forget faces but remember names or remember what you talked about?	Do you remember best what you did together?
Contact people on business	Do you prefer direct, face-to-face, personal meetings?	Do you prefer the telephone?	Do you talk with them while walking or participating in an activity?
Read	Do you like descriptive scenes or pause to imagine the actions?	Do you enjoy dialog and conversation or hear the characters talk?	Do you prefer action stories or are not a keen reader?
Do something new at work	Do you like to see demonstrations, diagrams, slides, or posters?	Do you prefer verbal instructions or talking about it with someone else?	Do you prefer to jump right in and try it?
Put something together	Do you look at the directions and the picture?		Do you ignore the directions and figure it out as you go along?
Need help with a computer application	Do you seek out pictures or diagrams?	Do you call the help desk, ask a neighbour, or growl at the computer?	Do you keep trying to do it or try it on another computer?

Adapted from Colin Rose(1987). Accelerated Learning.

Source: http://www.learnenglish.de/improvepage.htm