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What should you do when you lose confidence in your ability to speak your target language?

Evidence-based answer · Last updated · How it’s made

The short answer

Losing confidence in speaking is extremely common and, research shows, is driven less by your actual language ability and more by beliefs, anxiety, and how you interpret past speaking experiences — all of which can be deliberately rebuilt. The most effective paths back are: getting low-pressure speaking practice (private, informal, or tech-mediated) to rack up small wins, reframing setbacks as fixable rather than proof you're "bad at languages," and reducing the specific triggers (fear of judgment, harsh correction, native-speaker comparisons) that fuel the anxiety-confidence spiral.

Answered for language learning in general. No specific language was set for this question, so the findings are drawn from general second-language research rather than one language’s literature.

Confidence is a belief, not a skill measurement

Your confidence in speaking (what researchers call 'self-efficacy') is your own judgment of whether you can perform well in a given situation — it is a separate thing from your actual ability, and the two can be out of sync in either direction.1,3

In plain terms

Self-efficacy just means how capable you believe yourself to be at a task, regardless of how capable you actually are. Someone can be quite skilled but feel unable to speak, or feel confident despite gaps in ability.

Confidence predicts speaking success better than anxiety does

In a study of undergraduate English learners, self-confidence had a clear, meaningful statistical relationship with how well students actually performed in speaking tests, while anxiety on its own barely mattered once confidence was accounted for.4

How you explain your failures shapes future confidence

The way you mentally explain a bad speaking moment matters: attributing it to something fixed ('I'm just bad at languages') damages confidence long-term, while attributing it to something temporary and fixable ('I hadn't reviewed that vocabulary') protects and rebuilds it.1

Example

Instead of thinking 'I froze because I'll never be good at this,' thinking 'I froze because I hadn't practiced that topic recently' turns the same failure into something you can act on next time.

Watching relatable peers succeed rebuilds belief

Seeing or hearing about people similar to you succeed at speaking — not distant expert native speakers, but 'near peers' at a comparable stage — helps rebuild the belief that speaking well is achievable for you specifically.1

Example

Watching a fellow beginner who started a few months before you hold a real conversation can do more for your confidence than watching a native speaker, because their progress feels reachable rather than impossibly far away.

Feedback and encouragement from others count as real evidence

Specific, well-timed feedback from a teacher, tutor, or partner acts as evidence your brain uses to update its confidence judgment — vague praise or vague criticism does less than concrete, actionable comments.1

Low-pressure, private practice reduces the fear driving low confidence

Practicing in private or low-stakes settings — such as speech-recognition apps, one-on-one sessions, or online/hybrid formats — measurably reduces speaking anxiety and rebuilds confidence, especially for learners whose main fear is being judged or laughed at by classmates.2,8,9,13

For deeply anxious learners, flexible formats alone aren't enough

A qualitative study found that while flexible, lower-pressure online/hybrid speaking courses boosted confidence for most students, learners with deeply rooted anxiety kept struggling despite the friendlier format, still fearing judgment and mistakes.2

How correction is delivered changes whether it helps or hurts

Corrective feedback on speaking mistakes can either lower anxiety and build confidence (when it's supportive and well-judged) or increase anxiety and cause students to withdraw from speaking (when it's harsh, excessive, or interrupts mid-sentence).10

Fear of negative judgment is a top driver of low confidence

Across several studies of learners speaking English as a foreign language, the biggest reported causes of anxiety and low confidence were fear of being laughed at, fear of making mistakes, and fear of being judged — not lack of knowledge itself.5,7,12

Confidence, not just skill, drives willingness to actually speak up

Self-confidence (alongside grit and motivation) was found to be a significant predictor of learners' willingness to actually initiate communication in their target language, separate from how much English-language media or activity they engaged with.14

Small verbal 'stalling' habits can protect fluency and confidence

Using natural filler words and hesitation markers (like 'um', 'you know') while searching for the right word was found to support fluency, confidence, and active participation, rather than being purely a sign of weakness — though overusing them was linked to lower perceived proficiency.11

Talking with same-boat peers helps you cope, not just avoid

One coping strategy language learners use when a course feels overwhelming is deliberately connecting with other learners going through the same struggle, which provides comfort and a sense that difficulty is normal rather than a personal failing.6

What to do with this

  • Treat a confidence dip as a belief problem, not proof of a real ability problem — the two are genuinely separate, and beliefs can be deliberately rebuilt even while skills catch up.
  • Concretely: (1) Get frequent, low-stakes speaking reps where mistakes carry no social cost — a speech-recognition app, a private tutor, or a supportive language exchange partner — so you can rack up small wins without fear of judgment.
  • (2) After a rough speaking moment, consciously reframe it: instead of "I'm just bad at this," identify the specific, fixable cause ("I hadn't reviewed that vocabulary," "I was tired"), since this kind of attribution protects long-term confidence.
  • (3) Seek out relatable role models — other learners a bit ahead of you, not native speakers — whose progress feels achievable, since comparing yourself to native speakers tends to undermine confidence rather than build it.
  • (4) If you use corrective feedback (from a tutor, teacher, or app), favor supportive, well-timed correction over constant interruption or harsh correction, which is more likely to increase anxiety and make you withdraw.
  • (5) Don't fight filler words and hesitations too hard — using "um" or "you know" while you search for a word is a normal, even helpful, strategy that supports fluency rather than a sign you're failing.
  • (6) If your anxiety feels deep-rooted rather than situational, a friendlier format alone (like switching to online classes) may not be enough — consider talking to a tutor or teacher directly about the anxiety itself, and connecting with fellow learners who share the struggle for encouragement and perspective.

Now pick something to do it with

Each of these opens an overview of the apps, courses and immersion material worth a look for that — filtered to exactly what the advice above points you at:

Conversation practiceLanguage exchangePrivate tutoringGroup lessons
Or see the full resource list

Worth knowing

  • Most of these studies are small (often 9-100 participants), come from EFL classroom contexts in specific countries (Indonesia, Turkey, Philippines, etc.), and are largely correlational or qualitative rather than controlled experiments proving cause and effect — so we can say confidence and speaking performance are linked and that certain practices are associated with confidence gains, but we can't always be certain a given technique will cause a confidence boost for any individual learner.
  • Almost all sources concern English as a foreign/second language learners rather than English speakers learning other target languages, though the underlying psychological mechanisms (self-efficacy, anxiety, attribution) are presented as general to language learning, not English-specific.

Want a deeper literature dive?

There’s enough published research here to go wider than the usual pass. Available on the Pro plan.

See plans

  1. [1]Julie Waddington. Self-efficacy. ELT Journal 2023. doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccac046
  2. [2]Syauqiyah Awaliyah Alfiani Nur, Nurdin Noni, Chairil Anwar Korompot. Fostering Self-Confidence: The Impact of Online-Based Hybrid Learning on English Speaking Proficiency. ELT Worldwide: Journal of English Language Teaching 2025. doi.org/10.26858/eltww.v12i1.70605
  3. [3]Mark Wyatt. Research Into Second Language Learners’ and Teachers’ Self‐Efficacy Beliefs: Making the Connections. TESOL Quarterly 2020. doi.org/10.1002/tesq.3010
  4. [4]Gaya Tridinanti. The Correlation between Speaking Anxiety, Self-Confidence, and Speaking Achievement of Undergraduate EFL Students of Private University in Palembang. International Journal of Education and Literacy Studies 2018. doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijels.v.6n.4p.35
  5. [5]ZIAN FARADISA AZMI, 126203203208. STUDENTS' ANXIETY IN SPEAKING ENGLISH IN THE SECOND GRADE AT SMAN 1 KARANGAN. 2024. https://core.ac.uk/download/668418507.pdf
  6. [6]Chaffee, Kathryn E., Noels, Kimberly A., McEown, Maya Sugita. Learning from Authoritarian Teachers: Controlling the Situation or Controlling Yourself Can Sustain Motivation. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching 2014. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1134774
  7. [7]Mustafa Naci Kayaoğlu, Hasan Sağlamel. Students’ Perceptions of Language Anxiety in Speaking Classes. Journal of History Culture and Art Research 2013. doi.org/10.7596/taksad.v2i2.245
  8. [8]Yan Qi. Cognitive overload in multimedia language learning: a review of attention limits and instructional design strategies. Frontiers in Psychology 2026. doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1850074
  9. [9]Rickman Roedavan, Iis Kunia Nurhayati, Kemas Muslim Lhaksmana, Muhammad Yudhi Rezaldi, Esa Prakasa, Sritenaya Geovani Putri. A WebGL Serious Game for Practicing English Conversations in Public Places Using Speech Recognition. International Journal of Serious Games 2025. doi.org/10.17083/ijsg.v12i2.890
  10. [10]Riki Ruswandi, Revita Fitrianti Sukma, Nafisa Fadhilah Rahim. The Impact of Teachers' Oral Corrective Feedback (OCF) to Students' Anxiety in Speaking Class. JEELS (Journal of English Education and Linguistics Studies) 2025. doi.org/10.30762/jeels.v12i1.3432
  11. [11]Aditya Rangga Putra Cahaya, Alief Noor Farida. The Use of Conversation Fillers in English by the Students of English Education in Intensive Speaking Class at Universitas Negeri Semarang. J-SHMIC: Journal of English for Academic 2025. doi.org/10.25299/jshmic.2025.vol12(2).24191
  12. [12]Yuliana, Rini, Haryanti, Ari Putri. Psychological Factors Influencing Students' Anxiety in Speaking English. 2024. doi.org/10.31000/globish.v13i2.11481
  13. [13]Muzakki Bashori, Roeland van Hout, Helmer Strik, Catia Cucchiarini. Effects of ASR-based websites on EFL learners’ vocabulary, speaking anxiety, and language enjoyment. System 2021. doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2021.102496
  14. [14]Ju Seong Lee, Nur Arifah Drajatı. Affective variables and informal digital learning of English: Keys to willingness to communicate in a second language. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology 2019. doi.org/10.14742/ajet.5177