Study Tips
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Set your goals.
Do you have language goals?
Set specific goals. I want to improve my English is too general. I want to increase my vocabulary and get better at structuring my sentences is more specific. If you know exactly what you want to achieve, it will be much easier to create a personal study plan.
Set realistic goals. How many new words can you learn in one week? 100? Think again. You might be able to memorize a lot of new words and their definitions, but is that enough to improve your communication? You need to study new words and not just memorize them. Do you know how to pronounce the words correctly? Are you able to use them correctly and appropriately in new sentences? It would be more realistic to learn 10-20 words in one week. You would also have to make time to review the new vocabulary in the following weeks in order to retain it all.
Set practical goals. I want to speak faster sounds like a good language goal at first, but do you really need to talk fast to be a good speaker? Successful communication is not really dependent on speed. Having accurate grammar, strong vocabulary, and clear, smooth pronunciation will give you confidence as an English speaker, so those are better goals to set.
Once you have specific, realistic, and practical goals, you need a study plan. How much time can you spend on your language studies on a weekly basis? It might sound impressive to say, “I’ll study every day for an hour.” Can you really give that much time if you are working or studying full-time? Creating a study plan that is too demanding will only lead to frustration when you realize you cannot keep to the schedule. Try to find at least 10 minutes a day for your English studies. Sometimes you’ll be able to do a lot more, but if you make just a little time each day to study, there will be progress.
Make time to read.
Reading can help you improve your vocabulary. Reading can expose you to new grammar or reinforce grammar that you’ve already learned. Reading can help you better understand what kind of language is most appropriate in a certain situation. In short, reading has many benefits because it is closely connected to other language skills. However, reading is also a skill in itself. How well do you understand the theme of a text? How well do you understand a writer’s tone and purpose?
My advice is to make time to read in English. It will help you improve your general mastery of English. It will also make you a better thinker in English.
But what exactly should you read?
1. Read news articles. Journalists usually provide good models for grammar, vocabulary, sentence structure, and text organization.
2. Read popular novels. Fiction offers many examples of conversational English.
3. Read poems, song lyrics, jokes, celebrity gossip and other texts for entertainment. Become comfortable with reading in English. Fill your mind with new thoughts and form them in English. You can often use your reading as a conversation topic with others.
4. Read instructions, labels, brochures, weather forecasts, and other informational texts in English.The information may be readily available in your native language, but force yourself read the English first. See if you can gain the information you need in English.
Is there a special way you should be reading? Not always. However, if you truly want to gain all that you can from a text, consider these strategies:
1. Read multiple times. Read once for a general understanding. Read a second time and look up new words in a dictionary. If it’s a novel, put it aside after you finish and then try reading it again after a few months. Can you understand more?
2. Let the author’s organization help you. If you’re reading a news article or academic text, let the title help you predict the theme. Look at the first sentence of a paragraph and try to identify the topic.
3. Be able to summarize what you’ve read. Practice retelling the key parts of a story or news event. You can do this by yourself, and it can be done aloud or on paper.
4. Read aloud. Reading is often done silently, but you can also use a text for pronunciation practice. Try using my Oral Reading Fluency playlist on YouTube. What other sites can you use? Some news sites offer audio recordings of the articles. First, listen as you read along silently. Then play the recording again and pause often as you listen and repeat. Finally, try to read along with the speaker using the same rhythm and intonation.
For websites that provide reading practice, see my list of recommended resources.
Learn how to listen.
Students often make it their goal to get better at conversation, and they believe that speaking more will help. It’s true you need to find opportunities to speak in English, but please don’t forget that conversation skills include listening. By listening, I don’t simply mean being polite and giving your attention to others. A good listener seeks exposure to different speakers and different topics. A good listener listens actively. Pay attention to the vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation of people who can serve as models.
I suggest learners do the following:
1. Train your ears and your mind to handle variations. When you look for movies, songs, audio podcasts, or online lectures in English, don’t limit your language practice to one dialect of English. Become familiar with different accents. In your own production, you can focus on achieving a certain accent if you wish, but in terms of listening, you should learn to deal with variations in sounds, intonation, vocabulary, and grammar.
2. Find good models and follow them. It’s all right to listen to informal English. In fact, you should learn to associate certain expressions and speech patterns with different contexts. What’s appropriate among friends? How should you talk in a work or school setting? If you have doubts, voice your questions and learn the answers. You need to expose yourself to English used in different situations. However, I wouldn’t recommend focusing heavily on “street talk.” That kind of speech makes use of non-standard grammar and may include offensive words. Focus more on general, academic, and professional English because more standard speech will help you achieve successful communication in a greater number of situations.
3. Listen, reflect, and practice. What I mean is that you should listen carefully to the language used by those around you. When you hear a new expression or an interesting structure, think about the context and the topic. Repeat it to yourself and consider how you can use it in your own speech. If you remain uncertain about the vocabulary, grammar, or pronunciation you recently heard, ask someone about it.
Please look at my page of Useful Links. You will find a number of recommended resources for listening practice.
Choose and use your resources wisely.
A great resource won’t help much if you don’t know how to use it. Learn to recognize all the resources available to you and learn to get the most you can out of each one.Some resources are easy to spot because they are hosted on websites for English language learners. For a list of some useful online resources, click here.
Let me suggest ways to study with other kinds of resources:
Movies
Watch movies in English for study and pleasure. Use DVDs, DVRs, or online recordings so that you can pause when needed and watch certain parts multiple times.
Suggested study plan A:
- 1. Watch once without captions (English subtitles).
- 2. Watch again with captions.
- 3. Watch again without captions. Can you understand more?
Suggested study plan B:
- 1.Watch once without captions (English subtitles).
- 2. Choose a favorite scene and write down the words you hear.
- 3. Watch that scene again with captions. Compare your script to what is written on the screen. Correct your copy.
- 4. Read your script.
- 5. Watch that scene again and speak along with the actors.
- 6. Repeat steps 1-5 with other scenes from the movie.
- 7. Watch the entire film again without captions. Can you understand more?
Song Lyrics
- 1. Listen to a song in English.
- 2. Write down the words you hear.
- 3. Find a copy of the lyrics online. Compare your copy to the actual lyrics. Correct your copy.
- 4. Read through the lyrics and underline new vocabulary. Look up new words in a dictionary.
- 5. Listen to the song again and try to sing along. It’s all right to read as you sing.
- 6. If possible, record yourself and play it back. Can you improve your pronunciation? Slowly and carefully, practice the phrases that cause the most difficulty. Then repeat step 5.
- 7. Learn the lyrics well enough so that you can sing along without looking at the lyrics.
- 8. Recall the new vocabulary from step 4. See if you can use the new words and expressions in your own speech.
Online/ Offline News Articles
Find a good magazine or website that covers topics which genuinely interest you and include reading as part of your regular studies. Can you read at least one article a week? You might be able to read more, but set the minimum as one article per week. The following steps can be spread out over the course of a week.
- 1. Read the article once for general understanding. Read silently.
- 2. Read the article again with a dictionary and note new vocabulary in a notebook. Write the words and expressions down along with definitions and an example from the article. For the pronunciation of a new word, use an online dictionary and listen to the audio sample.
- 3. Read the article aloud. If you’re using a website, see if there is an audio recording for you to listen to first.
- 4. Using some of the new vocabulary, try to summarize the article. You can choose to do this in writing. You can also record an oral summary for yourself.
Don't be afraid to make mistakes.
Whether you’re using English in the classroom, at work, or some other place, don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Focus on expressing your ideas. Know that communication can be successful even with small language mistakes. Of course, it’s wise for everyone to think before speaking, but as a learner you can’t let a desire for perfect grammar or impressive vocabulary hold you back from saying or writing what needs to be communicated.
The important thing is to make the effort. Gather your thoughts and start expressing them. When you’re speaking, don’t rush. Remember that you can add further explanation when your listener needs one. When you’re writing, just start typing. Don’t sit there looking at a blank screen for a half hour wondering if you’ll be able to perform the necessary task. You can always go back and edit before you send an email or print a document.
Along with a fear of making mistakes can be the false belief that the only way to improve your English is to study with a teacher. Yes, a teacher can give you feedback and correct mistakes, but a good amount of independent study can help, too. You can even gain practice from speaking with other learners whose English is weaker than yours. How is that possible? First, that kind of a situation can place you in the role of a teacher, and being able to explain what you know strengthens your knowledge of English. Second, with other learners you are relaxed and focused on making yourself understood. Sometimes with a teacher, your eagerness to please or fear of making mistakes can be distracting.
Here are two suggested forms of practice:
1. Make time to write for no one but yourself. Keep a journal and record a few sentences about what happens each day. When you write, you have time to think, and you can carefully choose your words and structures. You should also feel free of worry because no one is going to judge your language. You’re writing for yourself. Every week or so, go back and reread what you wrote. Has your English improved enough to correct some of your own past mistakes? You’ll learn by becoming your own editor. In addition, structures and expressions that you practice using in your writing will become more familiar, and then in conversation you’ll begin to include them more frequently and appropriately.
2. Talk to yourself. I’m not the first teacher to suggest this. Many language teachers believe in the power of monolog. As with the journal, there’s freedom in self-practice. For example, practice speaking as you make yourself breakfast. Narrate your actions or talk about the plans you have for the day. You can also recreate a conversation in your head and perform all roles. What does each person say? If you’re thinking of a conversation that actually took place, then consider how you could improve your original choice of words.
Learn spelling patterns in English.
You can always use a spell check on the computer to correct your work, but wouldn’t you like to have the confidence that you know how to spell correctly when you write in English?
If you learn spelling patterns in English, you’ll not only improve your writing, but you’ll also improve your pronunciation. That’s because there is a connection between how words are spelled and how we pronounce them. For example, do you know that /k/ can be spelled with a C, K, or CK but that CK can only appear at the end of a syllable or the end of a word? (Compare: cat, kite, pick, hockey.) How many ways can we spell a long “a” /eɪ/ sound? A, AY, EY, AI, EA, and EIGH are all possible patterns. The list may appear long, but it is limited. If you become familiar with the list, you’ll become more accurate in your writing and pronunciation.
So how can you learn these patterns? Here are some suggestions:
First, you must read. You need to expose yourself to the written language frequently. That doesn’t mean you have to read a new novel every month. Pay attention to signs and labels around you. Read short texts that appear before your eyes every day.
Second, write. You can let the spell check help you, but take notice of how the computer corrects your words.
Third, quiz yourself. Make an audio recording of the words you commonly misspell. Then once a week, play the list and write down the words on a piece of paper. When you are finished, correct your work with a dictionary.
Fourth, try some interactive exercises and games for spelling. See my list of recommended resources.
Fifth, take note of homophones. Those are words that sound the same, but are spelled differently.
My final piece of advice is to challenge yourself to read different dialects of English. You should be able to read and understand texts regardless of the author’s country of origin, U.S., U.K., Australia, or elsewhere. You can be consistent in your own spelling when you write, but learn to deal with differences between British and American spelling patterns.
For websites that provide spelling practice, see my list of recommended resources.
Best Practices for Learning English
What’s the best way to learn vocabulary?
Visit USA Learns to read my guest article on this topic.
In a live Q&A session hosted by Preply, I talked about learning idioms among other challenges that learners face. View here.
What does it take to become fluent in English?
Listen to 34 experts in the field. Click for a special blog post by Jason Levine.
Ryan O’Loughlin asked 11 English teachers what it takes to go from good to great. Click here.
How can I get more practice?
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A message to all language learners : Believe in yourself!
Listen to my complete message in the video below. You’ll hear both Russian and English.
