Is my English getting better?

This is a common, and important, question asked by many English students. They certainly hope so! And if it is getting better, they feel good about themselves and they’re motivated to keep working at it. But how can they know?

In the classroom, and with my tutoring students, I always try to notice improvement and let my students know about it. Sometimes they don’t believe me at first (Remember that language acquisition happens subconsciously, so they don’t always notice the improvement themselves as quickly as I do).

But what if you don’t have a teacher who can do that? What can you do? I have several suggestions. None of them is a complete answer to the question, but all of them will help you know if your English is getting better.

Your friends can tell you

The biggest encouragement one of my students received came from a friend he hadn’t seen for several months. After a few minutes together, the friend turned to Greg and exclaimed, “Your English is so much better!” Greg hadn’t been aware of how much better his English was until his friend noticed it and told him.
This is something you and your friends can do to help each other. But for this to work, you and your friends need to be focused on improved communication, not absence of mistakes. You need to pay attention to the quality of English communication you share with each other. If you are mistake counters, focusing on what’s wrong, it will never work! However, if you focus on how your ability to communicate improves, this can be powerful encouragement.

You’re able to read and listen to more difficult material

If you are consistently, or regularly, choosing reading and listening material that is easy to understand, it is natural for you to choose more and more difficult material as your English improves. Take a look at what you were reading last year and compare it with what you’re reading right now. You’ll probably be surprised!


You depend less and less on your first language

I asked Adrian, the student I wrote about in Frustration to success and Frustration to success: how he did it, how he measured his improvement. Adrian acquired English autonomously (by himself), without attending classes. He told me that as his English improved, he noticed that he depended less and less on Portuguese. He said he didn’t hesitate as much when he used English. He began to read faster and pause less. He read and listened to more difficult material.
Adrian made a special point of “respecting the process,” of reading and listening at an appropriate level – easy enough to understand without stopping. He told me that when he did that, he made faster progress. As a result, it was easy to recognize how his ability to read and listen to more difficult material changed as his English improved.
Yusmary, another student, told me that, as her English improved, she didn’t have to think so much about what she was doing. The words came easier and easier, and she understood more of them. She says she’s reading faster, and she doesn’t have to pause to think as often as she did in the past.


The reflective English student

When I was studying for my master’s degree in education, we were encouraged to be reflective teachers. We were encouraged to be aware of what we did in the classroom and how students responded to it. We were encouraged to spend time thinking about our teaching, about what we did well and what we needed to improve.
This is a good habit for English students to develop. Take time to reflect on, or think about, your English. Don’t focus on your mistakes (That’s a big mistake!). Think about how your ability to use English – for reading, listening, speaking, writing – is changing. How it is getting better. Notice some of the things that Adrian and Yusmary notice. If you do, you’ll begin to get a good sense of how your English is improving. You’ll feel good about yourself. And you’ll be motivated to keep working at improving it!

Warren Ediger
[1]Krashen, Stephen (2003) Explorations in Language Acquisition and Use.
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