I’m quite often asked this question. There are really three “best” ways:
Self-study by computer.
- 1. Arranging to be born in an English-speaking country. 2. Moving to in English speaking country and integrating yourself into the culture. 3. Finding an English-speaking wife or girlfriend.
Unfortunately as
- waiting for a potential reincarnation is a bit too long-term for most people; as most students don’t have the resources to integrate themselves into foreign cultures; and as people are generally unwilling to base their love-lives on linguistic competence
Very funny Bob. What about something practical?
OK, so let’s rephrase the question to: “What’s the best way of learning English for people with limited time and resources who don’t want to go and live in a foreign country?”
This is a much better question but now we still need to refine it further. You need to ask questions like:
What is my real objective? What do I really need to do with the language? At what level of ability would I be reasonably satisfied? How much time effort and money am I prepared to invest?
Possible objectives include, but are not limited to: I want to pass a specific exam. I want to speak English well enough to travel to English-speaking countries. I want to be able to attend conferences and understand what is being said. I want to be able to read English fluently. I need to be able to write scientific papers. I need to be able to speak English well enough to operate within my particular field, I just like languages and so on.
Really you need to think about which mixture of the five primary skills – speaking, listening, reading and writing - is best for you, along with whether you want an academic qualification.
Options
Once you have decided what your real objective are you need to consider your possible options are for achieving those objectives. All of your options have advantages and disadvantages. Basically they are:
- Attending a school a school, self-study and having a private teacher.
Obviously one could mix and match these but I’ll consider then separately.
Attending a school.
Advantages.Attending a school it probably the most common solution. One of the advantages of attending a school is social contact and reinforcement. You get to know a group of people who are all studying the same thing and will have similar problems and ideas. If, for example, the classes are every Tuesday and Thursday at 7:00 pm then there is social pressure to attend and this is very important for some people.
Schools are usually good at teaching you how to pass exams. And they are reasonably good at teaching you how to read and write. Depending on the importance they place on the subject they can be good at teaching you to listen.
Disadvantages.
While classes in schools can be good for imparting information and teaching some skills they are not particularly good at giving students the opportunity to speak. This is because while reading writing and listening are activities which the whole class can carry out simultaneously speaking is an activity which people carry out individually.
I'm afraid that I need a few paragraphs to explain the problem.
Imagine that a particular class lasts an hour and that equal time is spent on the four primary skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing. Let us further assume that there are only six students in the class and that class time is split equally amongst these activities. In such a case each student would spend 15 minutes reading writing and listening.
But the 15 minutes for speaking would have to be shared. Assuming that the teacher spends five of those “talking” minutes explaining or introducing an activity then each individual has only a little less than two minutes of personal speaking time.
Some will argue that I am being unrealistic and that more time can be spent or that there are other solutions. So let’s imagine that the entire hour is given over to speaking and then make a further series of generous assumptions. Let’s imagine that it is a full 60 minute class with no time for setting up or finishing, that nobody arrives late and that teacher speaks for a maximum of ten minutes. All these are quite unreasonable assumptions but I’m trying to be generous. (The reality is that people arrive up to ten minutes or more late, that setting up and closing can take five minutes each and that most teachers would speak for more than ten minutes.)
But sticking with our initial generous assumptions the students are now left with fifty minuets. Even in this case the students only have a little over eight minutes each in which to speak. (And of course this is an average – if a couple of students speak for ten minutes then somebody else may only speak for four.) Nevertheless an average of eight is better than an average of two - but it’s still not a lot out of an hour.
Of course the solution schools have come up with is to have the students talk to each other. A case can be made for this based on claims that: students are more relaxed talking to each other; that weak students can learn from strong students and that students can learn from each other’s mistakes.
However, the fact that students are more relaxed, even if it’s the case, doesn’t mean they are learning; even if it’s true that strong students learn from weak ones then this is unfair to strong students who are simply unpaid teachers; and while students may identify each other’s mistakes they are just as likely to reinforce them or, even worse, copy them.
In reality, having students talk to each other is simply a second best solution to the problem that the teacher can’t talk to each one individually.
Advantages.
In self-study students work alone, usually with a computer, in order to learn the language.
This is a great advantage for people who don’t have a regular schedule and want to study when it’s convenient for them.
It is very good for doing grammar exercises and tests and also for practising vocabulary. If you are studying for an exam which requires you to memorize certain facts then it can be a good way of memorizing them.
If your program has audio it can be a good way of practising listening.
Disadvantages.
Self-study by itself does little to help you with your writing skills as you really need a human being to tell you how to improve.
Another problem with computerized learning is that the lack of the social contact which schools or private teachers provide means that it’s very easy to stop. It has been suggested that the majority of students give up self-study programs after a couple of weeks.
Finally, by itself, self-study is even worse than traditional schools for learning conversational skills. If you want to learn how to talk to real people then you must talk to real people.
Private teacher.
Advantages
Private teachers are usually flexible and able to respond individually to the needs of the student. Very often a private teacher will come to the students’ home or place of work.
If a listening or text is used in class the teacher can ensure that it matches what they know of the student’s interests.
Additionally, private teachers are undoubtedly the best way to practice conversational skills. In a class centred on conversation, for instance, the entirety of the class is spent with the student actively participating in either listening or speaking for the entire period.
Disadvantages
As the teacher is only teaching one student and not a class, and as the teacher has to match his or her schedule to the needs of the student, they are more expensive than classes in a school. (At least they are in respect of good teachers – students should beware of private teachers who offer what seem to be very inexpensive classes.)
Such classes are also quite hard work for the student. Unlike classes in a school - where a student can spend time looking out of the window, surreptitiously chatting to a friend or sneaking a look at a mobile phone – private classes require sustained concentration. Of course this also means they offer better value for money as no time is wasted.
So what’s the best system for me then Bob?
You’ve really got to think about what you want to achieve, and where your priorities are.
Schools are good for exams, grammar, reading, writing and – sometimes - listening. They are not very good for learning to speak - at least in my experience.
Computerized systems are good for people who want to study grammar, but students need to be exceptionally highly motivated to overcome the social isolation continue more than a few weeks.
Personal teachers are good for everything, but are especially good for people who want to really use the language to communicate with other people - though good teachers are not cheap.
So you need to have clear objectives and decide what would be the best system to help you meet those objectives. It's really your decision.
