In this article, we will help you overcome learning plateaus in English. But what are they?
Learning plateaus are those periods when you continue to study and practice the language but stop noticing progress in your skills.
Entering a learning plateau can be frustrating: first because you enter a vicious circle in which you see how you waste time and money, and also because it gives you the feeling that you have reached the limits of your mental capabilities, but that is not true in any case.
When you enter a learning plateau, what is failing is the methodology with which you are learning English. In other words, the method that served you at the beginning has already exhausted its possibilities in you.
Of course, not all methods expire, taking you to a learning plateau: just as there are some that are only good in the first levels, there are also others that mold and adapt to your reality.
Below, we will give you some tips on how to overcome learning plateaus in English, but first, we will tell you how to identify them.
How to identify learning plateaus in English
As we told you above, you enter a learning plateau when you stop learning even if you keep studying and practicing something. In the case of English, to know when you’re stuck in one, just identify something you couldn’t do a month ago, and see if you’re able to do it now.
A clear example can be found in a song. Can you understand all the lyrics? No? Listen to it again in a month and give it a try. Would you like to sing it? No? Then you still need…
It’s simple. You can also try dialogue from a series or movie; and if you have the opportunity to be in an English-speaking country, try real conversations.
The only way to identify a learning plateau is through before-and-after comparisons.
Tips for overcoming learning plateaus in English
But if it is already an accepted and proven fact that you have entered a learning plateau, you should redouble your actions immediately…
Imagine you train in a gym and you lift 60 kilos in bench press. If a month later, you’re still lifting the same 60 kilos, there’s something you’re doing wrong: it could be your diet, your rest days, your sleep hours, or that your trainer’s method isn’t working. But in no case can you assume that 60 kilograms is your limit, because there are no limits. The same goes for learning English…
The human brain does not have a maximum storage capacity, it is always possible to learn more: you just have to do it the right way.
Methodology
Make sure that the English language institute or academy where you study has a proven method, that people graduate knowing real English. At Lingua Language Center, we have our own patented methodology: EnterTraining, which mixes the best of practical classes with entertainment.
Increases limits
Just as in a gym you must add weight to your workout to move to the next level, the same goes for learning English. Look for increasingly complex challenges: try to understand longer and longer dialogues, translate more difficult texts, multiply the number of words and use them in new sentences.
Motivation
Another factor that can influence you to enter a learning plateau is motivation. Sometimes, just not really wanting to do something is enough to make everything go wrong. And where can we get motivation to learn English? Of the possibilities you will have in your life if you do. But also from the prior establishment of clear goals. Whenever you set your mind to something, you will keep your focus.
At Lingua Language Center we have been avoiding learning plateaus among our students since 1998, and today we are true experts in keeping English learners moving forward even when they graduate.
We know that a language is learned every day, and that there are many factors that influence its purpose.Write to us! At Lingua Language Center we will make sure that you really learn English.