How to MEASURE YOUR PROGRESS in English as a learner or improver.

How do you know if your English is improving and getting better? Measuring progress is difficult when learning English, especially for intermediate and advanced speakers. Should you take a test or exam like IELTS or TOEFL for instance? Today we talk about 6 methods to measure your progress and track how much better your English is getting. So if you use English as a second language at work, as a non native speaker, and your goal is to sound more native and natural, then hopefully you’ll find this podcast useful.

Helping international English speakers to improve their communication skills is my full time job! If you'd like to book a call with me to work on your English then, click this link.
https://www.breakoutbusinessenglish.com/start

The Golden List method
https://www.open.edu/openlearn/languages/learning-languages/the-goldlist-method

Transcript

Welcome back to the Breakout Business English podcast. My name is Chris and my full -time job as always is helping international professionals who use English as a second language at work to improve their professional communication skills. In today's podcast, we're talking about measuring progress.So if you've been speaking English as a second or third language for a while, then maybe you find it difficult to know when you're improving. When we first start learning a language, there are lots of easy and quick milestones to hit. There's always a new badge to receive or your app will let you progress through another level. Every piece of vocabulary makes a big impact when you're starting and every sentence structure increases the range of ideas that we can communicate. However, when you're an advanced speaker, this is not quite as easy. I work with a lot of people who use English at work and speak English every day and still want to improve. However, they're not sure if their effort is having any effect or any impact on their abilities and skills.So today, I'm going to give you six ways to measure your progress when studying English, especially if you're an intermediate English speaker or better. So let's say from a high B1 upwards, so B2, C1, C2, but especially anyone above kind of a medium, mid B1 level. Let's get started with number one. And this is to choose an open question and answer it regularly, either by writing or speaking, depending on which output skill you want to improve most. This could be a question like, what was the best part of your week? Or maybe, what has been the most interesting news story this week? Answering your question regularly, perhaps every week or month, depending on how quickly you're hoping to improve, can help you to see your progress. A lot of people use a similar system when they go to the gym and they start working out and getting fit and healthy. They take photos of themselves before they start lifting weights and working out, and then a couple of months into their training plan. Or maybe with running, you might compare the speed of your current runs to your older ones. I know, that's something I do myself. By reading or listening to recordings of yourself speaking at regular intervals in the past, you can hear how your English is improving. One important idea here, and something that I encourage all of my coaching clients to do, is to find reasons and excuses to use the vocabulary, sentence structures, and grammar that you've been learning recently. Getting specific and focusing on these new things is key to improving.So, if you've just learned the sentence structure, not only but then try to put this to good use in your answer. Even though this podcast is not about a professional communication topic, as most of these podcasts are, I do still want to share some vocabulary with you.So, let's take a quick look at that last phrase. Put this to good use. If I put something to good use, then I find a purpose for it. I find a way that it can be useful. For instance, if I have an employee who doesn't have much work to do, instead of letting them sit at their desk and play around on their phone and waste their time, I might put them to good use by finding a task for them. Or maybe I have an old piece of furniture that I'm going to throw away, that I'm going to put in the trash. Instead, if you tell me that you can put it to good use, then I might drive to your house with it to avoid it going to waste. I might even ask you, I've got some other furniture I need to get rid of. Do you think you can put any of it to good use? As I mentioned, helping non -native English speakers to improve their professional communication skills is my full -time job.So, if you'd like to work with me to improve the way that you communicate at work, then you can go to breakoutbusinessenglish .com to book some time with me. I sometimes send out discounts and offers for my one -to -one coaching sessions. And entering your email address there on the website is the best way to hear about those first.So, one more time, that is breakoutbusinessenglish .com. Okay, let's move on to our second method for measuring success. And this is to take a multi -level English test. Taking tests and getting grades is something that we get used to when we're in school and university. We know how well we're doing because someone tells us our grade. Maybe we get 85 % on a test or a B+. However, when you're self -studying, this is not so easy to find. In fact, as adults, this is something that often disappears from our lives entirely. Maybe we can measure our professional success and our careers by our job title or perhaps our salary. But that's about it for most of us. That's about the maximum extent to which we can measure our success. Now, there are two types of English tests. There are specific level and multi -level. A specific level test is a pass or fail. Let's say for instance, that you take a Cambridge B2 level test. If you pass it, then congratulations, you have B2 level English. But if you fail it, then you really have no new information other than the fact that you are indeed not a B2 level. Similarly, if you pass it, you have no idea if you're a C1 level speaker or maybe even C2. Simply that you are at the very least B1. Therefore, a great challenge is to take a multi -level English test. This is a test that will give you a result ranging from absolute beginner to native speaker. I've worked with hundreds of people in one -to -one classes to help them achieve great scores on the IELTS test. And that's the test that I personally recommend people take. This is for a few reasons. Firstly, on the IELTS test, you can score anywhere between zero and nine in 0 .5 intervals. That means there are 17 different levels to go through. There's no such thing as passing or failing this test, only better and worse.So it gives you a really good idea of your level. Secondly, it tests all four skills. It gives you an individual score, again, zero to nine for each, which gives you even more granular information. The IELTS test is one of the most recognized English language tests around the world.So if you ever need to prove your English level when applying for a job, a visa, a university course, then this will likely be suitable. A moment ago, I described the IELTS test as giving you a more granular understanding of your English level. What does that word mean? Maybe you know the word grain, as in a grain of rice, a grain of sand, a grain of sugar, et cetera. Just like a grain of sand is the smallest possible form of sand, an individual single grain, we can use granular to describe information that is very detailed, that contains a lot of detail. If I tell you to drive north for a couple of hours and I'll meet you at a specific address, then the directions I've given you are quite vague and lack detail. However, if I tell you every single turn that you need to make and the exact distances that you need to drive between each turn, then we might say I've given you granular directions. Similarly, if I ask you to complete a task at work, I could either give you general instructions or write down step by step exactly what I want you to do and give you granular instructions. Granularity, that's the noun, granularity, is often useful when talking about data. Often we are asked for granular data. Our next idea is to find level specific materials and work through them to find out what is just above your level. This can be a useful way to measure your progress because you're not just outputting English, but getting a lot of input too. One of my favorite resources here is Engoo Daily News. Engoo is a website which publishes news stories that are tailored to English learners and improvers at different levels. All of their materials are rated from one to 10, beginner to intermediate to advanced, and then finally what they call proficient. However, their articles start at level five around intermediate, go through advanced and finish at level 10.So for instance, if you read a couple of level seven articles and they're really easy for you, then try the level eight resources. If that's still within your skill level, try the level nine stuff. If that's really challenging, then you know you are somewhere between a level eight and nine on their scale. Using this method, you can keep coming back to their materials and see how long it takes you to move up to the next level of complexity. Engoo is a website that I've used in one -to -one sessions with students for many years. And they have lots of other resources, not just their daily news. There are other places you can try as well. For instance, if you go to the British Council website, then most of their articles, stories and magazines, et cetera, are labeled with a specific level for different levels of English users. The British Council is a great resource. This is, I believe, funded by the British government and it is there to spread really great resources on grammar and English and vocabulary for the purpose of the British government.So you know that if you're using the British Council and a British Council resource, then you're getting really high quality materials. Okay, let's keep going and let's move on to the idea of recognizing and celebrating small victories. I think that sometimes when we're working on our second language or our third or fourth language abilities, sometimes we focus so much on improving, on what's next and learning the new thing, we fail to notice when we've had success or even if we notice it, we don't spend too much time thinking about it. Success can come in small moments, like being able to read an article at a higher level and getting a general understanding of what the article is about, or maybe watching a movie in English and understanding what a scene is about without having to read the subtitles. It can be much smaller than this. If you're learning new vocabulary or grammar structures, then trying to use them in your speaking or your writing is essential. Therefore, recognizing when you've successfully used something new is a victory.So give yourself a pat on the back. If you've been using the first suggestion in this podcast, then maybe you can talk about that little victory as a highlight of your week. It can even be a great idea to keep a diary of small victories like this to help you measure your progress. Okay, I used a phrase a couple of moments ago. I said, give yourself a pat on the back. This is an idiom. This is an informal way of speaking, probably slightly more American English. And this means to praise someone, to tell someone they've done a good job.So if I say that at work, Dave did some really good work today. So I gave him a pat on the back. This doesn't literally mean hitting someone on the back, although that is where this comes from, patting them on the back. But we use this as an idiom to say praising someone or giving them this congratulations. I should say the way I've used it there, give yourself a pat on the back is probably one of the most common ways to use this idiom. And if you already knew this idiom, well, give yourself a pat on the back. Okay, our next idea here is to keep a golden list. A golden list is a method of remembering new vocabulary based around using a physical notebook. If you're anything like me, you love physical notebooks, but often struggle to find a reason to use them.Well, I've got one for you. There are some great videos about the golden list method on YouTube. And I personally always refer students to an article published by the Open University on this method.So probably the easiest way for you to find that is to search Open University and golden list method on Google or whichever search engine that you use, just type in Open University and then golden list method. The golden list system is based around spaced repetition, which is the same idea that all of the most effective vocabulary learning apps use. What you'll be left with once you've started using this method is a notebook full of the new vocabulary that you've been learning. When you're just starting out with a new language, you can fill up pages very quickly. But when you're at a higher level, it's more challenging to find that new vocabulary. One thing that I encourage students and clients to do is to use a system like the golden list method and return back to the earlier pages, the ones you filled in weeks, months, or even years ago. And ask yourself, how much of the vocabulary do you still remember? How much do you use regularly? And how much have you forgotten? This system isn't really going to give you a specific level to indicate how you're doing, but it will show you what you've learned, what you've tried to learn, and of course, what you've forgotten. Okay, let's move on to another idea now. And this idea is to think about your progress in terms of time, to measure time spent speaking, reading, listening, or writing in English. Now, feel free to disagree with me here. And I know that some people will, but I'm going to suggest that if you're engaging with a language, then you are improving. Actually, if you disagree with me, then feel free to leave a review. If you're on Apple Podcasts, then you can leave a review on Apple telling me why you disagree with me. Feel free to give the podcast five stars maybe while you're there, but let me know why you disagree with me.So that would be a good chance to practice your writing, I think, writing a podcast review. So I know this from my own experience of learning Korean. The more time I spend speaking, the better, and the more confident I get. I work with a lot of people who tell me that the only time they spend working on and improving their English is on their video calls with me, their coaching sessions with me, which is great. But if that limited amount of time speaking is what you're getting, then it's going to limit your progress. Incidentally, if you don't have many opportunities to speak English with other people, then it can be really helpful to build a speaking practice routine on your own by yourself. If you go back in time a little bit on this podcast and scroll through to one of the earlier episodes, then I did a whole episode on how you can build a great speaking practice routine on your own. I think it's episode two or three, maybe four. It's really early in this podcast.So have a look at that, have a listen to that, and see if that would be useful for you. So as I mentioned, another way to approach this is to simply measure the amount of time you spend working on the skill that you're trying to improve. Be that writing, speaking, reading, or listening. Remember, of course, that we improve the most when we are at the edge of our abilities, when something is challenging, but still within our ability level. There is little point in listening to a podcast if you don't understand a single word. But equally, there is little point in reviewing vocabulary that you learned at the beginning of your English language journey. But if you're challenging yourself, then in my opinion, you are definitely improving.So measure the amount of time that you spend challenging yourself. Now, some of these methods are, in my opinion, stronger than others. Taking an IELTS test is probably the most popular option here, but it's the most expensive. Personally, I think that the first method I mentioned is the best for most people, that being answering the same question regularly and comparing the quality of your answers over time. If you would like to work with me one -on -one to improve the way that you communicate at work in English, then you can go to my website, which is BreakoutBusinessEnglish .com. And put your email address in there, and I'll let you know how you can get onto my schedule. Equally, as I said, I often send out discounts and offers on my coaching sessions, on packages there.So having your email address in there is the best way to hear about those first. I've worked with hundreds of professionals to help them prepare for the IELTS test.So if that's your goal, then feel free to book some time with me, and let's get to work. Okay, that is about everything for today. As I mentioned, if you're on Apple Podcasts, then feel free to leave a review. That really helps me out, helps push the podcast to new listeners, and helps me keep going making it. I'm not that consistent with this right now, I admit. I'm a lot better at putting out YouTube videos, but maybe we'll work on consistency. Maybe we'll get a few more podcasts out, if we get some more reviews, of course.So that's it for today. I hope you're having a great week, and I will talk to you next time on the Breakout Business English Podcast.