Does progress in English slow as you get more advanced?

Ian Wood
A young woman sat in a library with headphones around her neck reading a book
Reading time: 4 minutes

Why does progression seem to slow down as an English learner moves from beginner to more advanced skills?

The journey of learning English

When presenting at ELT conferences, I often ask the audience – typically teachers and school administrators – “When you left home today, to start your journey here, did you know where you were going?” The audience invariably responds with a laugh and says yes, of course. I then ask, “Did you know roughly when you would arrive at your destination?” Again the answer is, of course, yes. “But what about your students on their English learning journey? Can they say the same?” At this point, the laughter stops.

All too often English learners find themselves without a clear picture of the journey they are embarking on and the steps they will need to take to achieve their goals. We all share a fundamental need for orientation, and in a world of mobile phone GPS we take it for granted. Questions such as: Where am I? Where am I going? When will I get there? are answered instantly at the touch of a screen. If you’re driving along a motorway, you get a mileage sign every three miles.

When they stop appearing regularly we soon feel uneasy. How often do English language learners see mileage signs counting down to their learning goal? Do they even have a specific goal?

Am I there yet?

The key thing about GPS is that it’s very precise. You can see your start point, where you are heading and tell, to the mile or kilometer, how long your journey will be. You can also get an estimated time of arrival to the minute. As Mike Mayor mentioned in his post about what it means to be fluent, the same can’t be said for understanding and measuring English proficiency. For several decades, the ELL industry got by with the terms ‘beginner’, ‘elementary’, ‘pre-intermediate’ and ‘advanced’ – even though there was no definition of what they meant, where they started and where they ended.

The CEFR has become widely accepted as a measure of English proficiency, bringing an element of shared understanding of what it means to be at a particular level in English. However, the wide bands that make up the CEFR can result in a situation where learners start a course of study as B1 and, when they end the course, they are still within the B1 band. That doesn’t necessarily mean that their English skills haven’t improved – they might have developed substantially – but it’s just that the measurement system isn’t granular enough to pick up these improvements in proficiency.

So here’s the first weakness in our English language GPS and one that’s well on the way to being remedied with the Global Scale of English (GSE). Because the GSE measures proficiency on a 10-90 scale across each of the four skills, students using assessment tools reporting on the GSE are able to see incremental progress in their skills even within a CEFR level. So we have the map for an English language GPS to be able to track location and plot the journey to the end goal.

‘The intermediate plateau’

When it comes to pinpointing how long it’s going to take to reach that goal, we need to factor in the fact that the amount of effort it takes to improve your English increases as you become more proficient. Although the bands in the CEFR are approximately the same width, the law of diminishing returns means that the better your English is to begin with, the harder it is to make further progress – and the harder it is to feel that progress is being made.

That’s why many an English language-learning journey gets abandoned on the intermediate plateau. With no sense of progression or a tangible, achievable goal on the horizon, the learner can become disoriented and demoralised.

To draw another travel analogy, when you climb 100 meters up a mountain at 5,000 meters above sea level the effort required is greater than when you climb 100 meters of gentle slope down in the foothills. It’s exactly the same 100 meter distance, it’s just that those hundred 100 meters require progressively more effort the higher up you are, and the steeper the slope. So, how do we keep learners motivated as they pass through the intermediate plateau?

Education, effort and motivation

We have a number of tools available to keep learners on track as they start to experience the law of diminishing returns. We can show every bit of progress they are making using tools that capture incremental improvements in ability. We can also provide new content that challenges the learner in a way that’s realistic.

Setting unrealistic expectations and promising outcomes that aren’t deliverable is hugely demotivating for the learner. It also has a negative impact on teachers – it’s hard to feel job satisfaction when your students are feeling increasingly frustrated by their apparent lack of progress.

Big data is providing a growing bank of information. In the long term this will deliver a much more precise estimate of effort required to reach higher levels of proficiency, even down to a recommendation of the hours required to go from A to B and how those hours are best invested. That way, learners and teachers alike would be able to see where they are now, where they want to be and a path to get there. It’s a fully functioning English language learning GPS system, if you like.

Learn about the Global Scale of English learning objectives

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    Managers and HR professionals have a global workforce at their fingertips – and now, . This makes adopting a secure English language test for employment more important than ever.

    An online English test enables organizations to assess candidates’ language proficiency from anywhere in the world, screen more applicants, and standardize the hiring process. They also help HR professionals and managers to save time – ensuring only people with the right language skills advance to the interview stage.

    But how can employers be certain these tests are safe? And how easy is it for people to cheat? In this article, we’ll explore a few of the top security concerns we hear, and share what features make online language tests secure.

    What is an online English test?

    An online English test measures how well a job applicant can communicate in English, focusing on speaking, listening, reading and writing skills. They also assess a candidate’s specific English for business skills – for example, how clearly someone can communicate on the phone with clients, or understand what is being said during a conference call.

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    When many people think of taking a language test, they imagine the traditional way: students in a large testing center scribbling away with pen and paper. No mobile phones are allowed, and if test-takers are caught cheating, they’ll be flagged by a proctor walking around the room.

    So when managers or HR professionals consider the option of an online English test – taken digitally and often without human supervision – it’s no surprise that many have questions about security. Let’s take a look at some common concerns:

    Is cheating a problem?

    A large number of test takers admit to cheating on their tests. According to research by the International Center for Academic Integrity, 68% of undergraduate students say they’ve cheated on a writing assignment or test, while 43% of graduate students say they have.

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    The truth is, not very. With Versant, exam cheating is actually quite difficult, and test takers would have to outsmart a range of AI monitoring technologies.

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    Finally, the entire test is recorded. When suspicious behavior arises, HR professionals will decide whether to accept or reject the results – or have the candidate retake the test.

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    Versant: a secure English language test

    ճ Versant automated language test is powered by patented AI technology to ensure the most accurate results for test takers and employers alike. Even better, our remote testing lets HR professionals securely and efficiently assess candidates worldwide, 24/7 – and recruit top global talent to help more companies scale.

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    Why did you decide to develop an app for stock investors?

    “People tend to shake their heads at the mention of the stock market; it involves big numbers, lots of data and is high risk. I thought about investing but there weren’t any helpful tools to do so. My idea was simple: make investment easier for myself and for others in Thailand and that led to my idea for the StockRadars app.”

    How did you know your idea was a good one?

    “It was the one that kept me awake at 3am, so I put all my energy into finishing the app. Trusting your own intellect is crucial because sometimes you have to actualise your idea before you can even tell if it’s a good or bad one. If it works, then good for you. You never know, you could be standing in line to be added to the  – private companies valued at more than $1 billion. If your idea bombs, you can always move on and try another one.”

    When you pitched your idea to investors, how did you approach it?

    “I made sure that potential investors could see the value of my idea, not by presenting the projected numbers but by showing how much dedication, time and energy I had put into the project. When you’re able to prove that you have invested in yourself, the investors will invest in you too. I also pitched hard with facts about the importance of the product – I wanted investors to understand that if the app can balance the risk of stock investment, then we can make it less complicated for our users.”

    What was your greatest fear when you were in the meeting?

    “I tried not to think of myself as a small, powerless business from a small country with very few successful technology start-up companies. Thoughts like that could have hindered me when I was pitching – but I try not to be the kind of person who overthinks things. Of course, you have to pitch your idea in English, which can be daunting. People often believe that you have to use big words and jargon to give the impression that you’re clever but that’s not necessarily true. Investors are people, too, and people want to listen to something simple, with clear facts. Luckily, I had learnt to speak English while I was working for an IT company in Vietnam.”

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    1. Familiarise yourself with the type of test questions you will be asked and know what to expect on the day

    The official guides published by the testing bodies are an excellent source of information to help you fast-track your learning. They offer materials that replicate the real test questions as well as guidance and strategies for dealing with every task set. Taking a practice test in exam-like conditions helps to improve time management skills and set realistic expectations on your potential performance.

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    IELTS has long been the standardized test approved by the Australian government and the test of choice for visa applicants both for work and study. Since November 2014, in an effort to make it more convenient for applicants, the DIBP has approved a number of additional tests that can be used as proof of English language skills, including TOEFL iBT, Cambridge English Advanced (CAE) and the  (PTE Academic).

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