Best ways to support intermediate students

Robin Walker

This was the title of a recent webinar hosted by Oxford University Press and presented by Robin Walker.  What follows is a summary of what he had to say.

Most students reach a plateau around the intermediate level.  How can we as teachers support them and help them through this difficult stage of their language learning?

Mapping the intermediate plateau

How do our learners perceive the plateau?  They characterise it as:

• frustrating
• not learning new things
• a lack of progress
• having a lack of motivation
• being stuck
• struggling

Typical things students say at this stage:

• 'I've seen this before.'
• 'I need more words.'
• 'I'm losing control.'
• 'I'm making more mistakes than ever.'
• 'I can get by, but...........'
• 'I'm afraid......'

Grammar on the plateau

 

Students are bored with seeing the same grammar structures, but the teacher knows the student doesn't have the right command of the structures.

 

Teachers need to:

• Re-present old grammar in new and engaging ways.  They need to make it challenging and interesting.  When students discover the holes in their own grammar knowledge, it's very motivating for them.
• Extend the known structures - for example, add non-defining relative clauses when students already know about defining ones.
• Activate grammar - at intermediate level, students often see grammar as a system, but they haven't activated it.  They're not using grammar to communicate effectively.  Students learn as much, if not more, by using the language rather than simply studying it.  Output is so important.

Vocabulary on the plateau

• Extend vocabulary through known topic areas - there should be an evolution in the level of vocabulary by introducing synonyms and antonyms and the idea of connotation (positive, negative and neutral). Extend word families and build up networks of words.
• Teach high frequency words and verb phrases and how to use them meaningfully.  With verb phrases, teach the verb and the preposition together.
• Teach lexical chunks and how to use them - e.g. Can you tell me?/Could you tell me? - teach these almost as a single word in order to get the pronunciation right.  Another example - the 'useful language' given in English File books - it's good to put these chunks on cards to be used during discussions.  Leave them on the tables as reminders.
• Teach vocabulary and pronunciation together.

Pronunciation on the plateau

 

IPA is important because it allows students to access a dictionary fully.

 

Pronunciation to teach to get students off the plateau:

• Key consonants - consonants are more important than vowels in being intelligible.  Problem consonants vary depending on where your students are from.
• Clusters/word boundaries - groups of consonants coming together can be a real problem for some learners.
• Linking
• Sentence stress and rhythm - focus on stressed words, not unstressed ones, as this conveys meaning more effectively.
• Vowel length - don't worry so much about the pronunciation of vowel sounds as these vary so much amongst native speakers, but vowel length is important.
• Word stress - this can be given slightly less priority.  It only appears to affect native speaker comprehension and so is not so much of an issue in communication between non-native speakers which makes up most interactions in English.

Learner independence

 

We can't carry our students to the top of the mountain!  We can guide them, but they are the ones who have to do it!

 

We may have to teach our students how to learn independently.  We can show them:

• peer correction/peer learning
• VLEs (Edmodo, for example)
• links to useful websites
• how to find an English penfriend or Skype mate
• authentic materials
• Twitter
• extensive reading
• how to use a dictionary properly
• how to develop a vocabulary notebook
• where to look for English - on the street, on TV, on the internet, etc.
• coursebook support
• how to record their progress off the plateau through learning logs, test results, portfolios, etc.

Psychology for the plateau

• Measuring progress - as students progress it becomes much harder for them to notice real improvements.  Learner diaries are a good way for them to reflect on what they've learned and how they've improved, as are portfolios of their work, including recordings of their speaking.
• Goal setting - students and teachers can't be thinking about the final outcome at the beginning.  We have to set small, achievable goals.  As students succeed in these goals, they're motivated to continue their journey.
• Believing - students must have self-confidence and believe that they can achieve their long-term goals.  As teachers, we must instil this confidence.

 

When Andrea met Michael

First, I must give credit to @sandymillin from whom I nicked the idea for the title of this post!   See here for her recent, memorable interview with @LizziePinard, 'When Sandy met Lizzie'.   Wait, perhaps I should also be giving credit to a much earlier movie which may well have inspired Sandy??!!  But no, let's keep this in the 'ELT' family!

So, back to 'When Andrea met Michael'..... If there is such a thing as an EFL groupie, then I'm not ashamed to say that I was one the other day.  Michael Swan, whose book, 'Practical English Usage', has been my constant companion throughout many years of teaching, came to Venice to give a seminar.   As soon as I heard about it, several months ago, I made up my mind to be there.   So it was that I was up at the crack of dawn and less than 40 minutes later, I was at the station berating my colleague for being five minutes late to meet me.   After a half-hour train journey and a 35 minute power walk across the city (allowing my colleague precisely 2 minutes to stop for a coffee and brioche en route!), we arrived at the venue.

We were greeted at the door by a smiling Robert McLarty, who was to be the second speaker on the programme. I'm ashamed to say that I was somewhat curt in my haste to get upstairs and into the seminar room so as not to miss the start of Michael's presentation!

It is often said that you should never meet your heroes as they can disappoint. So, was that the case for me today? No, on the contrary, as I am sure many of the readers of this blog who have met him before would confirm, Michael Swan is an unassuming, knowledgeable, personable, accommodating, thoroughly pleasant man! His presentation was entertaining and informative and the subject of a separate post, Grammar Doesn't Have to be Grey.

When his talk was over, all seminar attendees were given a copy of Michael's latest book, 'Oxford English Grammar Course - Intermediate', which he agreed to sign.   In the queue waiting for my moment with Michael, I heard several people musing on the incongruity of waiting to get a grammar book signed, but no-one walked away!   My (male) colleague chose not to have his copy signed, but he did kindly agree to be my photographer to record my moment for posterity!

After the whole seminar had ended (and Robert's part was equally valuable, as I have written about here), we again had the opportunity to speak with Michael and he wished me luck in my new job in Shanghai (more about that later!) and I left smiling, despite the 35 degree heat and the numerous bridges I had to cross to get back to the station.

To Intermediate and Beyond...... #eltchat Summary

This is a summary of the #eltchat which took place on Twitter at 12 noon BST on Wednesday 4th May, 2011. The topic was:

What stops many adult learners from progressing beyond intermediate level?  Is there a barrier?

(Or, as the question was posed by @pjgallantry, 'Is there some kind of linguistic 'glass ceiling' which some students simply can't get through?') 

As usual, it was a fast & furious chat, but, on this occasion, it separated quite neatly in to two parts:

1. The answer to the original question

2. What can we do to motivate and help   students who want to progress, but who are finding it difficult?

Reasons why students stop at intermediate level

• Intermediate level is simply good enough for most people's needs
• Students run out of time
• There's a realisation that it's just too difficult beyond intermediate level (e.g. the exam expectations for PET & FCE are markedly different) 
• When learners hit intermediate level, they can get by in most situations & sometimes decide they don't need to improve
• Learning English becomes more tricky & time-consuming after this level
• Spiky profiles can be a barrier, e.g. poor writing skills can hold some students back
• A lack of motivation & interest
• Some students are put off by having to do more writing at advanced levels
• Some people have a propensity for languages & some don't 
• It's human nature - we start new things with a lot of interest & gradually the interest wanes
• The jump from intermediate is seen as being too high, especially when using course books
• It is much harder to sense (from the student's point of view) and to measure (from the teacher's viewpoint) progress from intermediate to advanced than it is in the lower levels
• A sense of frustration - of 'getting nowhere fast'
• Government funding for migrant English courses runs out at intermediate level leading to a big drop-out after that (this from @cioccas in Australia)
• Students are learning English for a particular reason (e.g. driving lessons) & this need is met by reaching intermediate level
• Learners have other responsibilities (e.g. work & children) which prevent them from continuing their English studies
• It's difficult for students to progress beyond intermediate level if they don't live in an English-speaking country (this was disputed!)
• Students are unable to afford private language tuition & funded upper-intermediate & advanced courses aren't easy to come by
• Many advanced level courses are exam based & this isn't always relevant/appropriate for students
• Intermediate level is often good enough to get a job, even jobs teaching English in some cases!
• Learners become demotivated due to a focus on grammar rather than on communication
• Real proficiency in a language requires a breadth of knowledge (language & culture) that many adults don't have time to invest in
• The internet is influencing drop out rates - students feel they have learned enough to be able to progress online on their own
• Students don't understand that their learning needs to 'expand' rather than progress in a 'linear' fashion during the upper levels
• Perhaps teachers need to question themselves as to whether they are to blame for students not continuing?
• @englishraven reminded us not to assume that learners just 'stop' - perhaps they stop taking classes and progress well enough without them

At the end of the first 'half' of the chat, the question was asked as to whether teachers were superfluous beyond intermediate level.  Having established that we still had a role to play (thanks, @theteacherjames!), we went on to discuss:

What can we do to help students to progress?

• Motivation is the key! (@Thamesville told us about the samurai students in Japan who truly want to master the language!)
• Perhaps our intermediate courses should inspire students to continue to the upper levels
• Aim for fluency rather than communicative ability to excite students who have reached a plateau
• One-to-one attention is important as all learners have different 'plateaus' (clearly, this is easier when teaching individuals rather than  groups
• Make an effort to make students realise that they are progressing, despite how it feels to them
• Offer non-exam based upper level courses using authentic materials rather than course books
• Compare students' work at the beginning & the end of their course to show them their progress, through a written task, a presentation, or by recording them
• Use language in as realistic scenarios & settings as possible
• Move beyond the coursebook (back to dogme again!)
• Encourage students to see English as the medium through which things are learned, rather than as a subject to be learned.  We can do this through offering courses in art, cookery, English literature, history, etc in English (CLIL in action?) As @sandymillin told us, 'What helps me is an interest in the cultural side of things... language is secondary - the way I find out more about the culture'
• Encourage students to use their English outside the classroom
• More portfolio work so that students see an improvement & can go back & mark their own work
• Give learners more say in developing materials & lesson ideas 
• Encourage self-directed & reflective learning with the classroom acting as much more of a meeting place
• Develop extensive reading or a love of music or film to motivate students to go further (the extensive reading idea proved very popular & might well be the topic of a future #eltchat!)
• Take more of a task-based, experiential approach with upper levels
• Get students to teach each other a lot more by rotating leadership in class
• Suggest that students set up their own 'English club' where they can meet & chat in English, preferably over a glass or two - we all agreed that most students' levels improve after a drop of the hard stuff!

Other points

• From @hartle - some learners are happy with intermediate level and want to maintain it (@rliberni 'if you don't use it, you'll surely lose it!'), so then we need to look at maintenance courses focusing on discussion groups with skills & some language work, but with a greater social element
• @englishraven pointed out that coursebook sales taper off sharply after intermediate level 
• It's difficult to get good teachers for upper levels - many don't do well under the spotlight & are afraid of getting caught out by difficult questions. Also, with ELT Taylorism & wage structures, the good & experienced professionals have disincentives to hang about
• @englishraven suggested that coursebooks for upper levels should be more like magazines with more content & fewer exercises. @rliberni proposed an adaptable print on demand book.
• @legyened reminded us that we should also celebrate the fact that so many students manage to get to intermediate level unscathed & with their love for English intact!
• The move from intermediate to upper levels was expressed in a metaphor by @LizziePinard - 'rather than being like a river, it becomes more like an expanding lake .... and with no current moving them along, they get sluggish to keep swimming!' I think quite a few of us enjoyed this analogy!!

In conclusion, the consensus was that many students stop at intermediate level simply because they don't need to go on and we, as teachers, need to accept this and to be there for them if and when they have a need for higher level English.  For those learners who want to continue to improve, but are finding it difficult for whatever reason, we have to be needs aware and be in a position to offer alternative learning strategies to enable them to reach their goals.

Links:

Via @cioccas 'Moving Beyond the Plateau' by Jack C. Richards - video and PDF

Via @theteacherjames - Some practical ideas to help students in this situation
Via @cybraryman1 - My motivating students page

Via @rliberni - A post about language propensity

Via @sandymillin - My attitude to learning languages

Via @pjgallantry - Research into students moving from intermediate to upper