The Mindful Approach to Dealing with the Plateau Effect

When learning French starts to feel like a chore

Do you sometimes feel that reaching French mastery is like being eternally pushing your rock to the top of a mountain only to get back to the start over and over again?

Frustration and self-doubt have become you study buddies, and you wonder if you’ll ever get above the intermediate levels?

You’ve probably hit what we call “ a learning plateau”.

The good news? Actually, there’s 3 :

• Nothing’s wrong with you.

• It won’t last forever.

• With a self-compassionate approach, you don’t even have to “suffer” through it.

In this article, I’ll share with you my best tips to approach the Plateau Situation without hitting your head against a wall - or against a grammar book.

Content of the article

1. What’s the Plateau Effect?

   1. Why do Learning Plateau happen?

2. What NOT to do when you hit a Plateau

3. Embrace Challenges

4. Reflect and Adjust

5. Practice Acceptation

6. Create your Sustainable French learning Routine

What’s the Plateau Effect?

If you’ve been learning languages, or learning anything really, you’ve probably experienced “a plateau” in your progress, meaning that you have felt some stagnation in your level even if you’ve kept showing up for yourself and giving loads of efforts into your practice.

You reach a learning plateau when “the quantity of efforts you provide no longer give you sufficient results to make you feel like you’re progressing.” In other words, you keep making important efforts to reach your goals - sometimes more than before - but you’re barely seeing results.

Ensue long periods of deep frustration, self-doubt, self-criticism.

Why do learning plateau happen?

• Learning isn’t linear : We tend to see progress in a very linear way, which leads us to have wrong expectations. When you’re in the beginner’s levels, if you practice with a speaking tutor once a week, you’ll experience tremendous progress, and you expect that it will keep going this way until you reach an advanced level. It’s not that simple, because it’s not taking into consideration that our brains and souls need time to consolidate the knowledge and skills we have acquired. Hitting a plateau might simply means that your brain is working “behind the scenes” to strengthen the foundations of your future learning.

• No novelty, no gain : We humans love comfort and habits, but staying too long in a routine can be a disservice to your language progress. When you keep engaging in familiar learning tasks that don’t bring you novelty or challenge, your progress may plateau. We need to be stimulated by new experiences, varied learning materials, and different approaches to push us past the plateau.

• Afraid of making (too many) mistakes: The fear of making mistakes and of failure will hinder the progress you can make and keep you stuck because it limits the risks and opportunities that you’ll take outside of your comfort zone. This is why many learners avoid “active” practice such as journaling in French or having group conversations on deep topics.

• The Wrong Method: Ok… there isn’t really a “wrong” method, but even the best method can become wrong for you once you’ve reached its limits! Experimenting with different approaches, seeking guidance from experts or mentors, or incorporating new resources and technologies can help you break through the plateau and discover more effective ways of learning.

• You’re getting better! As you pave your way towards French proficiency, the language structures you’ll come across will be more complex and nuanced. Naturally, you’ll need more time, effort and deliberate practice to reach mastery. So don’t fret yet, having reached a plateau can actually mean that you’ve reached a higher level

• Your circumstances: We keep hearing that “if you really really REAAALLY want it, then everything is possible. And that’s just not true. We all have life circumstances that prevent us from doing exactly what we wish. At University, it takes about 4 years for a student to reach mastery of a language. 4 years… studying about 12-15 hours a week and having little responsibility outside of studying. As envious as we all are - I truly wish I could go back in time and enjoy all this free time again - we need to take into consideration what is real right now. Recognizing and addressing the external factors of your life can help you regain momentum and define sustainable learning goals.

What NOT to do when you hit a learning plateau

Plateaus are such a cause for frustration that typically, we resort to one of these 3 options :

1. Double our efforts & persevere with the same strategies. The famous “No pain no gain approach”, except with a lot of pain and still no gain, which in the end will make us quit.

2. Believing we’re not good enough. We default into the belief that learning languages above intermediate does require talent after all, and since it seems you’re limited, you lose hope and quit.

3. Take a break and see how it goes. We’ll get back to our practice in a week, or two, or 10, or like the vast majority of the people who take a break… never: they quit without admitting they quit.

The sad thing is that every learner will sooner or later hit a plateau, and without better options than those I just mentioned, it means that language learners will sooner or later quit because it does seem like the most reasonable option!

No worries though, we do have better options!

Embrace Challenges

Seek out new challenges and learning opportunities that push you out of your comfort zone. In short : try something new, try something harder and your motivation and stimulation might kick you out of the plateau.

• If you’ve been learning French using websites and podcasts for French learners, try using materials that are conceived for French speakers instead : a podcast on self-discovery, a yoga YouTube channel, French meditations, etc.

• If you’ve been practicing in a group, try 1:1 conversations with a tutor. Or the opposite!

• If you usually shy away from listening activities and focus on reading, mix things up and do what has scared you up until now.

• If you’ve been speaking and having conversations, try journaling for a while. It’s a fantastic way to consolidate what you’ve learned so far and gain confidence in accuracy and self-expression.

The goal is to invite novelty and change so that your mind - that has gotten used to the same type of effort - wakes up a little!

Reflect and Adjust

Reflect on your learning strategies and on your approach of learning.

Sometimes, a mindset shift is all you need. Sometimes, you need to adjust your materials, methods and approach al together.

Here are a few points :

• There is more than one “right” approach to learning languages. Don’t be scared to try something outside of the beaten path.

• There isn’t really a destination to arrive at when you learn a language. French isn’t a mountain to climb because there is no summit.

• If you’ve been feeling that learning French has become a chore, it’s high time to change your practice and infuse it with pleasure and joy again.

With that in mind, the first step to free yourself from the Plateau in a smart and mindful way is to assess the current situation. If you don’t have a clear vision of what is, it’s challenging to understand how to act.

I’ve created some journaling prompts for you to follow. I strongly advice that you take the time to write down your answers. This will help you understand yourself at a deeper level, but also look back on your reflexions in the future for further adjustments.

1. Why am I learning French? What am I trying to accomplish? Tip: try to go deeper than simply “I want to speak it well”. What does your heart say? (For more guidance, read here “How to Find your Deep Reason for Learning French”)
   

2. How do I feel when I study French? What are my emotions? My thoughts? My bodily sensations?

3. How do I learn best? What’s my strongest memory sense: auditory, visual, movement, writing, photographic?

4. How much space do I currently give to French learning? How much time do I learn every week? What’s my current practice like? Tip: don’t write down your “ideal” current practice, but your real one.

5. What’s my current learning strategy? What do I do to learn French?

6. What are the resources that I’m currently using? Why did I choose them? How long have I been using them? Would I recommend them to a friend?

7. What learning activities are fun for me? Which ones are boring?

8. How much creativity do I allow in my language learning?

9. Which learning activities have been bringing me the most progress? Is it still the case today?

10. Which ones have been inefficient?

11. What language skills do I practice the most? Writing? Listening? Speaking? Reading? How and for how long do I practice each of them?

12. What are the language skills that I shy away from? Why do I avoid them?

13. What are my strengths and my weaknesses in French? What aspects of the langage should I improve at the moment? How can I do so?

14. Finally, what do I believe about myself that is hindering me from moving forward?

Practice Acceptation

It is tremendously frustrating to be stuck in your language learning progress, and no one wants to experience this for a long time.

Here’s the deal though: the sooner you accept that you’re in this Plateau Effect, the sooner you’ll get out of it.

I’ve met so many learners that resist the reality. They convince themselves that if they keep going like they’ve always been going, “at some point”, they’ll have a breakthrough. Or they give up, as they decide that they’re simply not good enough, not cut out for languages after all, or not as motivated as they thought they were, etc.

We resist change with every ounce of our soul, but we must change to keep going.

And first we must accept.

The journaling prompts I shared with you above are going to help you on this path towards acceptance. Once you have answered them, you’ll probably notice the elements that you can change, tweak, improve. You’ll be able to have a clearer vision of what is this famous “comfort zone” for you, and so make a plan to get out of there.

• Accept your level, your skills, what you’ve been doing well and what you’ve been doing not so well. Accept your learning style, and your personality (an introvert doesn’t learn the same way as an extrovert). Erase all judgment from your inner monologue. Instead, bring compassion to the areas where you feel self-dissatisfaction.

• Accept that the process of learning languages can be long, despite what some marketing sites promise you. It’s a process, it’s not linear, your level will fluctuate because the language lives inside of you, and you are ever-changing.

• Accept that we are all unique and different, and so are our learning styles. If you’ve been looking with envy the videos of young language learners and their beautiful journals and language notes, be inspired but remember to accept that your life is very different.

• Accept that you’re at the center of your learning: no matter the methods you choose for your French language learning journey, no teacher, no program, no app can do the work for you.

• Accept change, novelty and risk. Accept that there’s a part of you who doesn’t really want to accept change, novelty and risk.

A new sustainable French learning practice

Now that you have gained some clarity around the possible reason why you’ve reached a learning plateau, about your current language learning routines, your strengths and weaknesses, and practiced acceptance, it’s time to move you out of the Plateau desert.

Let’s craft a new mindful and sustainable French learning practice that works for you

Step 1: Using your notes from the journaling prompts above, choose the language skills that you want to work on first. Plan learning activities and materials to help you do just that. Be as creative as you want!

Step 2: I don’t know if you’ve noticed too, but life is sometimes unpredictable and things go rarely according to plan. That’s why flexibility is key! Instead of focusing “how much studying” you want to get done, create dates with yourself on a weekly basis. Honor these dates, but invite flexibility on the choice of the activity : if you’re too tired, why not do some yoga in French? If you’re stressed, do a French meditation. The gaol is to be in contact with the language as often as possible.

Step 3: Keep track of your progress in a journal. Write your observations during the week, a bit like a self-assessment : what activities did I do in French? How did I feel? What am I proud of? What can I improve? What can I celebrate? This is a wonderful way to have a constant sense of clarity, to boost your self-confidence and to keep going!

Remember to trust to process, let go of the result… and enjoy the ride!

Conclusion

Plateaus are natural and common occurrences in the learning process. Rather than viewing them as setbacks, embrace them as opportunities for growth and self-discovery.

Using materials that are related to topics that you love and find engaging is a wonderful way to learn to let go of the result and be present with the learning process instead. It’s not easy, but definitely worth it.

Fortunately, you don’t have to walk this path alone : remember to engage with other language learners, communities, mentors or teachers who can guide and support you.

As you embark on your transformative language learning journey, get access to a supportive community of like-minded individuals who share your passion for personal growth and language acquisition.

Our membership program La Bulle offers just that and more.

By joining us, you'll gain exclusive access to a wealth of resources designed to enhance your language learning experience. From expert-led workshops on mindfulness and language integration to guided meditation practices tailored specifically for language learners, our program is designed to help you unlock the full potential of your language learning journey.

As a member, you'll have the opportunity to connect with fellow learners who are on a similar path, sharing insights, progress, and experiences. Our community is a safe space where you can find encouragement, support, and accountability.

If you're ready to take your language learning past the Plateau Effect and experience the transformative power of combining language acquisition with self-growth, I invite you to join La Bulle membership today.

But whatever you decide to do, my dear French learner, I urge you not to quit. Let French learning your act of freedom, of joy and self-expression.

Power and light,

Jessica