subject: Effective Way To Learn English [print this page] To learn English most effectively, students must focus first on English conversation. In other words, students should first master the spoken language before they attempt to master the written language.
All over the world, many students attempt to do the opposite. They make a mistake and learn English with their eyes. Their learning is based on classroom lectures, grammar books and textbooks.
To master the spoken language, learners must spend most of their time listening to easy and understandable English conversation. That is the key to fluency, the key to speaking like a native speaker, the key to developing a clear accent. Listening activities should form 80% or more of an English learners study time.
In order to learn effectively students must listen to specific materials. They should concentrate on "easy" English and use materials that they mostly understand. To get most from their learning students should understand about 95% of the material they are learning from.
Understanding is not enough. Students must also have a lot of repetitions. If they hear a new word only once, they will soon forget it. If they hear it 5 times, they will still probably forget it! They must hear new words and new grammar many times before they will understand them instantly and absorbs the language into his or her subconscious. In most cases two hours a day of listening is sufficient to achieve English fluency in short time.
Finally, students should first focus on casual "real English conversation" before attempting formal speech or written English. This kind of English is full of slang, idioms, filler words, sentence fragments, and interruptions. Sadly, textbooks and classrooms never teach these vital components of real English speech. Yet, they are common and absolutely vital for understanding real native speakers and for having real conversations with them.
To sum up, English students must concentrate on natural English conversation to develop complete mastery of the English language.
