Many of you will be familiar with the word ‘plateau’ as a word that you can use to help you describe line graphs in part 1 of the IELTS writing exam. Here, according to the Longman Dictionary, plateau can be described as ‘a period during which the level of something does not change, especially afterContinue reading “What is the Intermediate Plateau? (And how to overcome it)”
Author Archives: Peter
High quality input for advanced learners to help prepare for the IELTS exam
In the previous blog post, I mentioned how extensive reading (especially graded readers) can be a useful source of input. One of the advantages of using graded readers is that they are available at different levels and so it is easy for people of all abilities to find a suitable book. However, if you areContinue reading “High quality input for advanced learners to help prepare for the IELTS exam”
How to get good quality input – Extensive reading
In the last blog post, I wrote about the importance of getting lots of input in order to develop your implicit language knowledge. There is also another blog post that shows how a high level of implicit language knowledge is essential for effective communication in English. However, getting the right quality of input is alsoContinue reading “How to get good quality input – Extensive reading”
How to develop implicit language knowledge – Focusing on input
In the previous blog post, I attempted to explain the difference between implicit and explicit language knowledge. I also tried to show why it is much more important for language learners to focus on developing implicit language knowledge rather than explicit language knowledge. Therefore, in this blog post, I am going to try and showContinue reading “How to develop implicit language knowledge – Focusing on input”
Why doing grammar exercises is (mostly) a waste of time – Explicit vs implicit language knowledge
Many people know that doing lots of grammar exercises from a textbook is not very useful to help you become fluent in English. However, it can sometimes be difficult to explain why doing grammar exercises is not very useful. After all, we need grammar knowledge to help us communicate in English, so why is doingContinue reading “Why doing grammar exercises is (mostly) a waste of time – Explicit vs implicit language knowledge”
When should I take my IELTS test?
In the previous blog post, I showed how long it might take to increase your IELTS score. This is especially useful to know for students who are around the intermediate (B1) level and want to study in English at university and need an IELTS score of between 6 and 7. However, it is obviously alsoContinue reading “When should I take my IELTS test?”
How long does it take to increase my IELTS score?
As with learning English, there are a variety of factors that can influence how long it takes to increase your IELTS score. However, I will attempt to use a variety of sources that should help to give an estimate. The most useful source for this is a research article that investigated how much students improvedContinue reading “How long does it take to increase my IELTS score?”
How long does it take to learn another language? (Part 4)
Conclusion (with some numbers!) As can be seen from the previous posts, there is no easy answer to this question, but we can make some general predictions using information from this paper from Cambridge University Press (CUP) called ‘How long does it take to learn a foreign language?’ and information from Cambridge Assessment.* First ofContinue reading “How long does it take to learn another language? (Part 4)”
How long does it take to learn another language? (Part 3)
Factor 3: The Individual Learner INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES – Differences in age, gender, personality, learning ability, motivation, etc. can all affect how quickly you learn. For example, younger learners seem to be better at learning pronunciation features of English compared to older learners. However, older learners are better at using skills and strategies to help themContinue reading “How long does it take to learn another language? (Part 3)”
How long does it take to learn another language? (Part 2)
Factor 2: The Learning Environment The learning environment is another important factor that will influence how quickly another language can be learnt. Learning environment includes: LEARNING CONTEXT – Being in an environment where you have more opportunities outside of class to communicate in English are likely to help you learn faster, e.g. by studying inContinue reading “How long does it take to learn another language? (Part 2)”
Self-Study English 