How long does it take to learn English?

Nicola Pope
A group of young people sat together smiling

“How long will it take me to learn English?” This is a question we often hear, especially with summer intensive courses just around the corner. Students all over the world want to know how much time and effort it will take them to master a new language.

Teachers know the answer isn’t as simple as it seems. It depends on many things, such as; how different the second language is from their mother tongue, how old they are, whether they can speak other languages, how much time they will have to study outside the classroom, their motivation and ability to practice.

The truth is, it takes A LOT of work to become proficient in a new language – and students need to be aware that they need to study independently if they want to progress rapidly.

Explaining student responsibility

Becoming truly proficient in a language can take many years. In a study carried out by ɫèAV they found that even for fast learners, it can take as much as 760 hours to enter the B2 CEFR level from <A1.

Also, most year-round courses are around 100-120 hours per level, (not including homework). So the reality is that it should take approximately 1000 hours to go from A1 to C2.

However, one of the biggest misconceptions students have is that there is a “fixed route” to language learning and that this is linear – and that time spent studying in class is all that’s required to make the progress they expect. This mistakenly puts the onus on the teacher, rather than the student, which means they may not take responsibility for their own learning.

While most language learners need great course materials, instruction, correction, and mentorship from their teachers, it’s key that they are motivated to become independent learners. Progress and success comes down to regular practice, feedback and the confidence to make and learn from mistakes. Students must understand this from the outset – so make sure this is a conversation you have with your classes from the very first day.

Understanding language goals

It’s also extremely important to understand your students’ language learning goals right away. Some, for example, will want to learn a language for travel purposes and may be happy to reach an elementary or pre-intermediate level of English. Others will want to learn it for work or study purposes and will need to reach a more advanced level. By definition, “learning a new language” will be very different for those two groups of students – and this will affect how you design and deliver your course.

Therefore, it’s key that you discuss individual learning objectives and then form a plan of how students will meet them. You should also explain that not everyone progresses at the same rate, but that is normal and should not be a cause for frustration.

In private language schools (PLSs), which offer English for specific purposes (ESP), business English, CLIL, English for Academic Purposes, intensive summer classes, and a range of other courses, it’s even more important to do this well. Correctly managed expectations, well-selected materials, and tailored courses will keep students motivated and help the business thrive.

Setting and meeting targets

At an institutional level, schools, PLS’s and even government agencies also need to be aware of the pitfalls of rigid target setting.

Not only can mishandled targets directly affect learner motivation when they are held back or moved up too quickly, but they also can force educators to “teach to the test”, rather than planning classes and designing courses that meet their students’ needs.

On the other hand, standardized testing systems help place learners at the right level, set benchmarks and show student progression. Examinations also give students firm objectives to work towards.

So, at the very least, management and governing authorities should consult with educators before setting broad targets.

Handling feedback and adapting to individual needs

Honesty is essential when talking to individual students about their progress (good or bad). It’s hard telling someone that they haven’t achieved the grades they need to move on to the next level, but it’s the right thing to do. Putting a person in a higher level to save their feelings only leads to frustration, demotivation, and self-doubt. Likewise, when a student has done well, praise is good, but you should still be honest about the areas in which they need to improve.

This is what happens at a successful PLS in Japan who run 1000-hour year-round intensive courses. They get results because they consult their learners in order to understand their goals and focus their courses on developing key communicative skills for professionals. At the same time, they track motivation levels and adjust their courses to ensure the student’s progress is on track to meet their expectations. Of course, this is quite a unique setting, with a very intensive, highly personalized approach, and the school has the advantage of tailor-making courses.

Using tools to help

They also used the Global Scale of English (GSE) to help design their curriculum and use the ‘can do’ descriptors to set goals. They then selected Versant assessments (which are mapped to scoring against the GSE) to measure student progress on a monthly basis.

Educators can emulate their approach. By using tools like these, as well as others, such as the GSE Teacher Toolkit, you can design syllabi, plan classes, place students at the right level and measure individual progress, helping you meet your institution’s targets while supporting your learners to achieve their goals.

An additional benefit from using the GSE, is that this granular framework breaks down what needs to be learned within a CEFR level. Our courseware, Placement, Progress and high-stakes assessments, like PTE Academic, are already aligned to the GSE. To help accelerate the learner journey, our courseware now features three new levels – A2+, B1+ and B2+. By moving to eight-level courses, it ensures students are able to master the content at a more achievable rate.

Explore our posts: 'What are the most spoken languages in the world?' and 'What is the hardest language to learn?'.

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    Five ways to apply startup thinking in your classroom

    By Nicole Kyriacou
    Reading time: 3 minutes

    Startups are generally considered to be new, technology-focused companies that are less than five years old. For the most part, they aim to disrupt industry with innovations, grow in terms of users and revenues and provide value to customers and shareholders.

    It may not appear that startups have much in common with English Language Teaching (ELT), but there is, in fact, plenty to learn from startups and the way they work.

    By understanding how startups think and looking at their best attributes, we can bring more creativity to our classrooms. Not only can we find new ways for our students to learn, collaborate and grow together, but we can also help our students develop much-needed leadership and critical thinking skills.

    What is startup thinking?

    At its core, startup thinking is about problem-solving and growth. User-focused and data-driven, startup teams theorize, research, plan and test their products on new markets. Their strength is in their agility, being able to "pivot" quickly: change products, services and technology based on feedback from their customers.

    They also operate on a number of key principles, all of which can be applied in the classroom:

    1. Be entrepreneurial

    Startups are entrepreneurial by definition. Their staff work in teams, but also have no problem going it alone, finding solutions and taking responsibility for new projects and initiatives. These are all excellent traits to encourage in the classroom as they will not only help your learners in an educational context, but in their professional lives too.

    By learning to be accountable to themselves, measuring their own progress and seeing their achievements, autonomous learners develop self-confidence and progress faster as a result.

    It’s therefore important to encourage students to take responsibility for their own learning. Rather than being solely reliant on their teacher, autonomous learners seek out ways to practice and improve their language skills in ways that appeal to them.

    To do this, brainstorm strategies with your students to help them find ways to use English outside the classroom. They could, for example, keep a journal in English, watch English language films and take notes, read short stories or news articles, or even set their technology and social media language settings to English.

    2. Collaborate and learn from each other

    Startups have a common goal: to establish a business model and achieve a product-market fit. This goal focuses people’s attention and develops rapport among team members. As an additional benefit of working together, startuppers learn their own strengths and weaknesses and begin to collaborate with team members with complementary skills.

    By learning about your students’ interests, objectives and needs, you can find inspiration to design relevant class projects. These give your students a common goal and the chance to collaborate effectively. What’s more, project work is rich in language learning opportunities and makes students accountable to one another. This in turn increases motivation and provides a genuine context for language learning.

    3. Reward effort

    Startups are not afraid to get things wrong. In fact, all entrepreneurs embrace mistakes, as they are part of coming to the right solution. As Thomas Edison once said "I have not failed 10,000 times – I’ve successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work." Some startups go as far as to reward and celebrate failure – saying that it’s a sign that a person is trying to succeed.

    Encourage students to see mistakes as learning opportunities. Creating a safe space in the classroom where everyone is treated with respect and mistakes are viewed as natural learning experiences. This will help your students learn the language at their own pace, without fear of ridicule.

    4. Foster a growth mindset

    Startups are famous for focusing on growth and believing in improving their products. They see both negative and positive feedback as opportunities to grow. By always seeking to optimize their products and services, they improve the user experience and earn loyalty.

    Similarly, it’s key to foster a growth mindset in your learners. A growth mindset perceives intelligence and ability as attributes to be developed, whereas a fixed mindset sees intelligence and ability as innate and unchanging.

    Students with a growth mindset will therefore believe they can improve, be more motivated and see more progress as a result.

    5. Mentor and support

    Startup founders mentor and support their team members when they face challenges, when they need to grow and when they are not reaching their potential. This increases the value of the workforce and enables them to be more productive.

    Teachers are often already naturals at this. We know how important it is to offer support to our students, especially when they are feeling frustrated or disappointed with their progress. With our encouragement and support, our students can achieve things they never thought possible. So perhaps, in this final point, startup leaders could learn a thing or two from us.

  • A teacher stood in front of her class with her students raising their hands

    What is rapid prototyping and how can it apply to the ELT classroom?

    By Nicole Kyriacou
    Reading time: 5 minutes

    Tom Chi is an internet veteran with quite a resumé. His roles have been many and varied – from astrophysical researcher to Fortune 500 consultant and corporate executive, developing new hardware and software products and services.

    He worked on Microsoft Outlook when it was in its infancy, was a major influence in taking Yahoo Search from 0 to 90 million users and is now Head of Product Experience at Google X – Alphabet’s secretive division focused on creating technological innovations for the future. It has produced the self-driving car and Google Glass, and its Project Loon aims to provide internet to every square inch of the earth.

    At Google X, Tom was in a unique position – always having to think five, ten or even more years ahead in order to conceptualize and build the technology of the future. As you might imagine, this is far from an easy task; not only do the ideas have to be original, but they have to meet people’s future needs – something that is not easy to predict.

    So, how does Tom and the others at Google X deliver their vision for the future using today's materials and technology?

    That’s where Rapid Prototyping comes in. It’s a concept that allows teams to experiment, learn and adjust prototypes quickly and cheaply, so that projects (and products) get off the ground. Failure is seen as a starting block and an inevitable part of the learning process. Following his workshop, we are going to look further at rapid prototyping and how it can relate to the ELT classroom.

  • three teachers sat at a table discussing

    4 career moves for enthusiastic teachers

    By Nicole Kyriacou

    Have you been teaching for a number of years and are looking for ways to challenge yourself and share your experience and passion with others?

    Many would love the opportunity to progress in their careers and try new things but have no idea how to get started.

    So, let's look at several potential jobs for English language teachers, find out what they involve and how you can improve your chances of getting a foot in the door.

    1. Materials Writing

    For those with a passion for writing and an eye for detail, ELT materials development could be for you. While writing can be hard to get into, there are several ways to get involved - especially if you are persistent and build a portfolio.

    Here are some of our top tips for aspiring materials writers:

    • Create your own materials in class and think of ways of adapting the current materials you use for different ages or levels.
    • Share the materials you make with other teachers and get them to give you feedback.
    • Review materials for a publisher. Not only will you start to think more critically, but if you do a good job they might commission you to do some writing for them. One way to discover these opportunities is by signing up for their newsletters or following them on Facebook or .
    • Start a blog and share lesson tips, advice and activities with other teachers. If it becomes popular enough someone from a publisher might spot you and invite you along for an interview.
    • Join the , where you can create an account and publishers can contact you directly if they are interested in your profile.
    • Finally, write as much as possible - and get people to read your work. Listen to their feedback and take steps to constantly improve your output. You get better and faster at it at the same time.

    2. Examining

    If you like teaching exam classes, there's a good chance you'll enjoy examining too. Training to be a speaking examiner is a great way to earn some extra money and can also help you better understand test formats and mark schemes. This will certainly also benefit your students in the future too.

    Specific requirements for examiners vary depending on the exam board. However, as a rule of thumb, you need a lot of experience teaching the level you wish to examine at. Here is an from ɫèAV outlining the expertise and competencies required to be a PTE General Examiner.

    You can also check out the recruitment sites from , and to get more of an idea if you are eligible.

    Like materials writing, examining can be very competitive, so here is some advice to help you get started:

    • Teach more exam classes. The more variety and levels you do, the more opportunities you'll have.
    • Familiarize yourself with the mark schemes to give you a deeper understanding of how examiners think. Most of this information can be found in teacher handbooks like this one for .
    • Help organize mock exams at your school. This will give you valuable experience examining as well as organizing students and materials.
    • Start as an invigilator for written exams. If you do a good job, it'll show that you are competent and you'll learn more about how exam days are structured.
    • Contact your local exam center and introduce yourself. And who knows? They might even be recruiting.

    3. Academic Management

    Another common career goal for long-term English teachers is to become an Academic Manager or Director of Studies (DoS). A successful DoS assumes many roles; often having to organize teachers' schedules, deal with students' concerns, develop new courses, and find cover (or teach) classes at the last minute. They may also need to help with the school's marketing and business side, too.

    Many academic managers are employed internally, so get involved with what is going on at your school and apply for smaller coordination positions to see if it's something you enjoy.

    You can also try:

    • Offering to help with placement testing of new students. This will help you get to know the type of students at your school and the objectives they have, and also learn more about the levels and courses on offer.
    • Not limiting yourself to teaching one kind of course. If you work at an academy that offers courses for young learners, teens, adults, exam preparation, business etc., try them all. A good DoS should be able to offer advice to all the teachers.
    • Taking a course - most academic managers will be expected to have an advanced TEFL qualification like a DELTA, an MA TESOL or something similar. Specific leadership and management courses are available for those who want to specialize in this area, such as Leadership in ELT.
    • Offering creative ideas or constructive criticism to the current management team about how the school runs and what you think could be even better.
    • Organizing an event for teachers and students to show you are interested and have the type of skills that are needed.
    • Apply for academic management positions in summer schools to give you a taste of what's to come.

    4. Teacher Training

    If you are interested in teaching methodologies and sharing your knowledge with others but not keen on the admin side, then teacher training might be for you.

    As a teacher trainer, you may be required to run workshops on various topics, observe teachers and offer feedback and help with lesson planning. This means it's vital that you can listen to others carefully and clearly explain things.

    Here are some ideas to give you a better chance of finding work as a teacher trainer:

    • Organize informal workshops at your school. Encourage teachers to share ideas that have worked well for them with the rest of the staff.
    • Try team teaching where you and a colleague teach a class together. It's a great way to learn from each other and give your students a new experience.
    • Practice giving feedback by doing peer observations with other teachers.
    • Submit a proposal for a conference to see if you enjoy presenting.
    • Mentor a new teacher at your school.
    • Take an advanced teaching qualification to boost your knowledge.
    • Find teaching work in a school that also run their own initial teaching qualifications like the CELTA or Trinity CertTESOL. If you impress the DoS with your teaching skills - they may recommend you get involved with the teacher training department.

    Where to apply for jobs

    The best place to look for new opportunities is often at the school where you currently work. Start by trying new things and showing an interest in the day-to-day running of the organization. Once you've got the attention of the management it will be easier to negotiate a new position. However, if you work at a small school with fewer chances to grow professionally, think about moving to a new school.

    Other good places to look for new positions include:

    • Linkedin (don't forget to update your profile and ask for recommendations from colleagues)
    • Local teaching Facebook groups