Improve English Effectively

Hi there! I’m Gina Saodiah and I’m thrilled you’re here. Have you ever stopped to think about whether learning and speaking English would be important for your life and change the way you see the world? Since English is very empowering as it recognized as the global language of the world. Thus, it is important to continue to develop our English in as many different contexts as possible. If something improves or if we improve it, it gets better. That’s the main idea when we seek to improve our English. To assist you and especially my classmates in improving our English language ability, I have put together advice and ideas on ways to improve our English. It actually a few simple habits that we need to integrate into our daily life. Let’s get started.

Be Proactive

Starting a proactive habit is challenging but the result is we are genuinely engaged and enjoy the process of mastering the language. This is the message that I recommend to everyone about developing proactive-learning habits so that we must being proactive and taking initiatives for pursuing our goals, because it is more benefits as the more we learn, the more we will know. Be proactive in terms of what we wanted to improve was decisive in making us into a successful language learner, so take advantage of any available learning opportunities. As you learn English, you’ll soon collect a mountain of questions. Don’t sit on your doubts, be curious and resolve them! If you're enrolled in a course, just ask your teacher. Even though there are people who say that there are no bad learners, only a bad teacher. I don’t believe that at all. I think whether we are in a classroom, or studying on our own, the good learners are the ones who proactive, who are motivated to take charge of their learning. They are the ones who are not passive.

We Learn to UNDERSTAND

Understanding is better than memorizing. Memorizing something is committing it to memory, such as flipping through flashcards with vocabulary words on the front and their definitions on the back and hoping that you’ll be able to remember them by trying to rapidly memorize, practice such as this is often very quickly forgotten afterward. On the other hand, understanding is learning something, such as being able to utilize that very vocabulary word that being studied for in a conversation with a friend. Therefore, the kind of information that people learn from memorizing is very different than understanding the knowledge of English itself for use in a natural conversation. You should think about what the word means, drawing connections between new words and ideas, then you can make the learning more durable. What I don’t understand surely I will forget, and forgetting means that all that time I’ve spent learning the new word of expression has been put to waste. That’s why we must understand the words first before memorizing them. 

Watch our Way, Stay Motivated

If you want to get good at English then surround yourselves with English. People in a rich diversity environment benefit from early exposure to English and gain concepts such as familiarity with letters and sounds. For me, there are some habits that help me to gain familiarity with English such as watching TV shows or movies, listening to songs and radio shows, and reading books and magazines, all in English. The English language is truly global and the opportunities to it are endless. Therefore, it will be more effective if you can find your way to learn English that appeal to yourself because everyone has their own way. Stay motivated also helps us to have a general awareness of English and to ensure that we are committed to it. Just make sure to enjoy yourself while focusing on the improvements.

Oral Language is Primary, Written Language Builds on It

Oral language is about communicating with other people and connected with written language because by it we can utilizing our thinking, knowledge, and skills in order to express everything effectively. The point is oral language develops language concepts as people gain information about word meanings and pronunciation from it. The oral language that being said is listening and speaking, and written language includes reading and writing. The key to improving and acquire in the English language is assessing those 4 skills early on and focusing on building a foundation of those skills. Building the foundation of those skills can begin whenever as long as there is motivation in you. Simple but it involves a huge amount of time and commitment from yourself.

Practice, Practice, Practice

Practice makes perfect. Improve our English by practicing effectively. The solution for effective practice is through repetition. Repetition, however, does not mean repeating a new vocabulary word the same way every time. It means repeating the word while using it in different contexts or situations which is a conversation. We also need to continually ask for feedback in regards vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar. Demonstrating to the lecturer or friends regarding what we have already learned is one of the ways to get feedback for better learning. Now, what are some common reasons that we always try to skip on English practice? Don't just say, "I don’t know, I’m too embarrassed and too lazy to do that." That's a cop out and we won't improve anything from this. Of course, it is hard, and it's embarrassing, and it takes effort. That's why most people only study the easy way, just reading a book cover to cover, not improve.

The proverb “slowly but surely” is the perfect applies to language learning. There is no pressure to master everything we’ve learned in our first few lessons immediately. Remember, we are a learner and we’ll need to get things wrong quite a few times and understand why we're making mistakes before the correct forms begin to stick. When learning how to improve English, there’s no harm in making mistakes, as this is the best way to learn and progress so there's no need to rush in being perfect right from the scratch. Notice that I didn't actually help you with guaranteed strategies. I didn't point to any tips and tricks that we need to know or specific grammar rules that will instantly improve our English. That's because each person has the different style of learning so there will always be exceptions to any list like this, but my goal here is to share key ideas that would help you become a better English learner. ♥