How to learn to Speak English

Introduction Several people have recently emailed me with a simple question, "How can I learn to speak English?" They mean, "How can I really learn to speak English, not just prepare for the IELTS Speaking test?"

This thinking is an intelligent way to approach the IELTS Speaking test because the test really does assess your true speaking ability – it's not a test that you should approach by "preparing for the test" as if it were a high school physics or history test. Yes, some of that kind of preparation is a good idea but, on average, only about 15% to 25% of your Speaking test score is influenced by your specific "preparation for the test" – most of your score will reflect your "real" or overall speaking ability. It's a very accurate test and IELTS examiners are not fools.

This page is just a quick summary of my suggestions for improving your overall speaking ability. You might notice that some of the ideas I write here are the same as on this page: http://ielts-yasi.englishlab.net/Three_months_to_go.htm. Actually, there are some things on that page that I want to rewrite but the basic ideas are similar to what I have written below.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Attitudes  First, you should find some genuine reasons to be interested in English, besides just doing the IELTS test. With little or no genuine interest in the language, you will find it much harder to improve your English.

 Second, you should move beyond the idea that studying English, especially learning how to speak, is similar to studying academic subjects in school. A language is a tool for communication. You have to recognize that you must practice using this tool in situations of genuine communication if you expect to make progress.

 Third, you need to recognize that making big progress in English takes time. Most recent high school graduates in China are at the Band 5.0 or 5.5 level, and recent university graduates are, on average, only a little better. They need at least 6 months and even up to 1 year of (more or less) full-time English study and practice before they can reach Band 6.0 or 6.5 standard. (This is the total time spent on all the four basic skills; reading, listening, speaking and writing.) If you try to do it in a big hurry, you won't improve very much.

Many people in China have an attitude similar to this: "I don't have much time to study English because I have to go to England three months from now to start my Master's degree in Business Management. As well as that, I'm not really interested in English; I'm more focused on my career." With these attitudes, you will probably (= 很可能) neither do very well in the IELTS test nor succeed in getting to England to study for your Master's degree!  The last point is this: Not only do you need to give yourself time, you also should try to progress one step at a time, not two steps at a time. If you are Band 5.0 or 5.5 now, you should not begin by trying to study materials that are at the Band 6.5 or 7.0 (or 9.0!) level.

What to Do 1. Make Grammatically Correct Written Sentences The first thing you need to do is learn to make sentences using correct grammar. Find a good quality book that teaches you this. (See Booklist.) The best quality books are those books that were originally written overseas by native English-speaking experts. On the other hand, books written by Chinese authors have easy-to-understand explanations for you and translations, especially translations of new vocabulary. So, use both but understand that books written in China tend to approach English as an academic subject, not as a communication tool. As well as that, the English is sometimes overly formal because the books are for writing, not speaking. A good grammar book should also include some new vocabulary but, at the same time, a grammar book should not overwhelm you with a large amount of new vocabulary in every 'lesson'.

I know studying grammar is a bit boring but it is necessary, just like learning the correct way to do mathematics. 2. Make Grammatically Correct Sentences in Spoken Dialogues For speaking, using a book to learn to make sentences is just the beginning. You also need to make and speak grammatically correct sentences in dialogue situations. For this, you should use 'Side by Side', starting with Book 1. (Only those students who know they are at Band 6.5 level now but are aiming for a 7.0 for speaking should skip Book 1.) Of course, you must use the recordings with the Side by Side books – it's impossible to correctly use the books for self-study without the recordings.