Ok, you may say, I know I should learn some English no matter how much I like it or dislike it. Now I want to know how YOU learn it.

Yes, it is time to touch the topic now. As a collage student, you must have already learned the basic vocabulary, syntax, and grammar. You also can use some English. Here I won’t discuss these things. What I want to tell you are four abilities required in the English language learning: listening, speaking, reading and writing. There is no Grammar because it does not belong to the language ability, although it is the rule of the language.

First, think for a while of your weaknesses in the four abilities. Rank it and the one on the top of the list is the one you should work first. Then I will give you two rules, which illustrates the relationship between the four abilities through the point view of integrating them. The rules are: “Speak through Listening and Write through Reading.” It’s easy to remember, isn’t?  Next I’ll explain the way to improve the ability.

Listening

Listening is the first step to learn the language. A new-born baby use the same way to learn any language. While you are practice listening, except the meaning of the words, you should focus on the words’ pronunciations and how the words are used in the context. There are a lot of rules about pronunciations; however, you only need the very basic ones like vowels and consonants. For the rest, you depend on your ears to learn. Listen carefully how the English native speaker’s pronouncing. Mimic them and you will develop your sense. The second step is more advanced. While you are listening, try to figure out how you can use the word. If you can’t use the word, the word is not yours.

Speaking

Speaking is easy once you listen carefully and accurately. The difficult part of speaking is how to express your own idea in an English idiomatic way. One way to tackle this part is to remember the whole sentences and practice them with your partners. It’s better to have a fixed partner who is at your level or higher than yours so that every time you can discuss deep into the topic, use some advanced words and learn from each other.

Reading

There is no need to spend much time explain this part because most of Chinese students have strong reading ability. None the less I suggest reading the original English novel so that you can develop a sense of truly English expression and expand your vocabulary. Usually, reading is the best way to learn a new word. Since you see how this particular word is used in the context, you can learn to use it in your expression. This is much effective method than rote remembering the vocabulary.

Writing

Writing can be the most difficult ability to develop. The problem is not how you write but how you think. The advice for me is to read and practice as much as you can. If possible have some English native speakers to give you some advice. But remember: practice makes perfect.  

Except for the four abilities you should target, you should also develop the “language alert” ability. What is that? You may ask. It is the ability to be alert to all the new words or the old words with new meanings. This ability is more advanced than the four I previously described. However, it is very much helpful to link that word with your own word chain. It’s always easier said than done. Here I give you an example. When you are speaking with the native speakers, you will have a topic. Suddenly this person speaks some words you haven’t heard of or confused. But according to the context you may have a vague understand of that word. You can politely ask him/her to repeat or explain that word to you. Moreover, when you get home, look up the word in an English-English dictionary to learn more about that word. In this way, you gradually absorb that word in your word chain. This is one way to be alert to the new words. Likewise, you can learn more words through reading original English novels.

The ways to improve the four English abilities and the language alert ability are very effective to LEARN the language and improve your language ability. However, I strongly disagree with you to use that to cram for exams and tests. They will be useless to you and you will get quite bored.

Before I put an end to this article, I would very much like to remind you that mere learning English in class is not adequate. It takes very small part of your learning English journey. Try to listen and read more out of class and I assure you that you will have a better life with the help of a good English ability.