by John Welford

Created on: May 22, 2008

The concept of improvement implies that there is something already there that needs to be improved! In this case, you are presumably a learner of English who has reached a certain standard and who needs to go up to the next level.

It makes a difference as to whether it is your spoken or written English that you wish to improve. Let's take spoken English first.

SPOKEN ENGLISH

A conversation is a two-way process; you speak and then someone else replies. You therefore need to understand the English that the other person is using, and to make sure that they understand you. Simply engaging in conversation with a native English speaker will not lead to improvement if either of you cannot understand the other. It will therefore help you enormously if the other person knows what your level of English is, and is prepared to repeat things, put them another way, and be patient with you if you struggle to find the right words.

You should therefore find someone who is either a trained teacher of English as a Second Language, or who has been recommended to you as an English coach, for this purpose. During your conversations, listen carefully to the way that your coach phrases his/her sentences, and be prepared to ask questions such as "why did you say that?" and "could you say that again, please?"

It is also worth listening to broadcasts in English, especially if you can record them and play them back. One problem with English-language radio, TV and films is that the people speaking will do so quickly, because they expect to be understood by their audiences. If you do not understand something, you have no time to think about it, because the next piece of dialog is following along behind. You will not learn much if you are always confused by what you are hearing.

One of the most difficult things for the English learner to understand is idiomatic English. This means that people in normal conversation use the language in ways that you will not find in the textbooks. Here is a possible example of what you might hear in an everyday conversation on a British street:

"You all right, mate?"
"Yeah, great. You heard about Darren's old man?"
"What's that?"
"He went ballistic when he said his bird was up the duff. Told him to sling his hook."
"You're joking. You on the level?"
"Straight up."

There are plenty of examples here of slang, idiomatic, language that the English learner might have problems with. For example, "on the level" and "straight up" sound as though they must mean very different

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>