The following are some recommendations about what makes a good student of languages that I have found very useful and motivating, which I think it is a key word. 

The Good Language Learner

We know from research by Rubin (1975) that the Good Language Learner:

1. is a willing and accurate guesser.
2. has a strong drive to communicate.
3. is often not inhibited.
4. is prepared to attend to form.
5. practises.
6. monitors his own speech and the speech of others, and
7. attends to meaning.

So what does this mean? Although this research is a bit dated and culture specific, we can still learn a few lessons from it.

Language Learning Strategies

The most frequently used techniques (Naiman et al., 1978) by Good Language Learners were:

1. having contact with native speakers.
2. listening to radio, T.V., records, movies, commercials etc.
3. reading anything: magazines, newspapers, professional articles, comics, etc.
4. repeating aloud after teacher and / or native speaker.
5. making up bilingual vocabulary charts and memorising them.
6. knowing about his/her strengths and weaknesses.(learning intelligences)
7. following the rules as given in grammar books or text books.
8. having pen-pals.

Study Skills

If you're going to learn a foreign language, you might need to brush up your general study skills first. This means you should attend to issues such as:

• managing your time effectively.
• making good notes: organize your notebook.
• planning out your studies.
• collecting together the resources you need: use a folder or file.
• making sure you have a suitable place to study.
• brushing up your IT skills: ask me about suitable links for your needs.
• trying a few memory exercises.
• developing your own confidence-building techniques.