TEFL / TESOL Blog

Mid-Year Check-In: How Do You Know If Your English Has Improved?

It takes a lot of hard work and effort to improve your English, as well as some pondering about yourself is required as a language learner. If you are learning English, you may have allowed yourself to believe that you are able to tell what progress you are making over time. It may also feel like progress in learning English happens too slowly, especially if you have set certain goals for yourself (like becoming an English teacher, or just becoming more fluent).

Courses like Certificate in Teaching English Phonetics are excellent for honing your skills and measuring progress, but alongside these courses are questions of how to measure progress. Read on to explore how you can measure your progress, even if you feel that you've never reached the next level.

What is Progress in English?

Everyone's progress looks different when it comes to English language learning. Progress isn't simply moving up a level in your grammar or building your vocabulary - it is becoming more confident overall in what you can and cannot do.

Here are a few other ways to measure progress:

• Fluency

Speaking more fluently and naturally, without thinking too much about the specific words to use.

• Vocabulary Expansion

Collectively, any new words and then effectively using these new words while conversing.

• Grammar

Feeling more confident when using complex structures and not getting them wrong.

• Listening Skills

Understanding faster/more difficult speech without having to use subtitles.

How to Know You're Improving Your English (Even if Your Level Hasn't Changed)

One way to think about your progress in English is to consider how you manage English tasks that were once difficult.

Here are a few examples that show improvement even if you are not changing levels:

• Comfort with Speaking: You can have a conversation without feeling that jittery nervousness.
   
• Understanding More: You can now understand a movie or TV show in English, without subtitles, with much less difficulty.
   
• Faster Response Time: Your reactions in English are becoming much more immediate, and there is a much shorter thought processing time.
   
• Confidence with Writing: You can write emails, reports, or even an essay with fewer mistakes, more accuracy, and more flow.

Stuck at the Same Level? You Might Be Advancing Anyway

Many learners will experience what feels like a plateau or being stuck in their learning process at some stage. This is entirely common. However, issues like these should not intimidate you – it is possible that your learning is now focusing on deeper improvements that may not be as immediately obvious.

Why this happens:    

• Mastering the Basics

Once the commonly used parts of a language are mastered, it becomes much harder to notice the gradual progress that takes place, even while you are making deeper learning (progress) below the surface.

• Subtle Improvements

You could be quite simply fine-tuning your accent, you could be becoming much more confident in the act of conversation, or you could be picking up subtle intricacies in the language too; these occur over time.

                       
 

Keeping Yourself Motivated to Learn English: Celebrate your successes

To keep motivated for learning over the long haul is important. Enjoy the little things and have reasonable learning goals so that you can appreciate your growth.

Some simple ways to keep motivated:

• Track Your Growth: Use language journals or language apps to track your growth.
• Build attainable Objectives: Break your learning into small portions, like ‘Remember 10 fresh words every week.’
• Celebrate Your Progress: Take joy in being able to carry on an entire conversation or learn an English-language film without support.
• Take Breaks: If you're dealing with anger, it's advised to take a break. You can come back again when you're ready to learn something fresh with a fresh approach.
   

Getting Better At English Can Further Support Your Career.

As you develop, so will the chances for growth in particular areas like your job. In a global world with the corresponding diversity, language skills are more and more an asset in the curriculum of international or intercultural activities.

How can learning English help you further your professional career?

• More Job Prospects: In order to be able to communicate at every workplace, there are plenty of people who want teachers to speak in English.
• Greater Networks: English alone will allow you to work and connect on an international level.
• Greater confidence: Your improved level of English can improve your self-confidence during interviews and meetings.
• Career Opportunities: If you want to work in an MNC or even outside the country but are not well-versed in English, either it gets tough for you to get a job, or no one will shortlist your resume for an interview.

Bottom Line

Knowing how much English you are learning helps keep you motivated and on track. For those of you who want to take your English learning a step further, there are Online TEFL Learners programs. Getting a Specialized TEFL Certification can help enhance your teaching skills and allow you to offer more value in your classroom.