Five Learning Strategies for Advanced Students [Updated]

As an advanced student, what are your goals for English? If you simply want to maintain your level and not forget what you've already learned, then you should already know what to do: keep using your English as much as you can!

If your goal is to take your existing skills even further, however, trying some new strategies could be key to unlocking more progress. We have five quick tips to share that can help you move to the next level. 

#1 Find Role Models

Think about the kind of English you want to speak. An easy way to do this is to pick some “role models.” For example:

• If you want to sound more persuasive, watch TED talks.
• If you want to sound more humorous, find a comedian you like and watch their videos.
• If you want to sound more academic, listen to online university lectures and find a professor who speaks English the way you want to. 

Pay attention to the vocabulary, expressions and sentence patterns your role models use, then try them out yourself in your own conversations. 

#2 Expand Your Range

Advanced learners should be able to talk about a wide variety of topics. You don’t need to be equally good at talking about every single thing, but your fluency shouldn’t drop too much when discussing topics you’re less familiar with. 

So ask yourself, “What topics have I struggled with?” If you can’t think of any, think about subjects you're comfortable talking about. Once you've identified your comfort zone, move outside of it! 

An easy way to do this is to use our Daily News materials. If you're not used to talking about, for example, topics related to tech, you can read articles in our “Science & Technology” category and discuss them with a friend or tutor.

Then, once you feel comfortable discussing them, move on to another category. Repeat this process for each category and you'll soon have the advanced vocabulary needed to talk about any topic that comes your way!

#3 Think More Deeply

Sometimes higher-level students wonder how they can speak for longer durations rather than just short bursts. The key to this is having more complex thoughts about what it is you're discussing.

Pearson’s Global Scale of English (GSE) recommends advanced students develop the ability to:

• “Speculate about the causes of an issue or problem”
• “Precisely express the potential consequences of actions or events”
• “Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of various options”

In other words, go deeper. Don’t just say that something happened — try to explain why it happened, what results could come of it and what can be done about it. 

For example, even if you’re just talking about not getting enough sleep, you can follow Pearson’s advice and try to:

• Guess what might be the reasons for your lack of sleep
• Talk about the results of your lack of sleep
• Suggest ways this can be solved in addition to the advantages and disadvantages of each solution

In short, don’t limit what you say to a narrow focus. Instead, expand!

#4 Learn to Ask Questions

Advanced English conversation isn’t just about being able to have a conversation — it’s also about being able to lead a conversation.

As one of our tutors shared, “My advanced students rarely ask questions. They rely on me to come up with all the questions. At lower levels, this is OK, but advanced students should understand that conversations are a two-way street.”

Even the Global Scale of English, mentioned earlier, says advanced skills include the ability to "ask detailed questions in discussions." So you should aim to be an active participant in a discussion, not just a passive one. That means asking questions of your own. Basically, try to lead more and follow less.

#5 Write More

According to the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, highly advanced students should be able to “speak succinctly," comparing the English you speak to the English you would write. 

What does it mean for speaking to sound more like writing? Well, writing gives us more time to think about how we want to say something. When we write, we can carefully choose the correct words to communicate our message. 

This process allows us to be much clearer in writing than we would when speaking. And the more we write, the more practice we get expressing ourselves clearly, which in turn helps us speak more, well, succinctly.

Simply put, write more to speak better!

Wrap-up

If taking your English skills further is your goal, there are plenty of strategies you can use to achieve it. From finding someone to model your English after to taking a more proactive approach to your conversations, following the tips above can help you to reach higher levels of fluency.

If you want feedback on your speaking or writing, or if you'd like practice discussing advanced topics, Engoo has tutors ready to help you any time of day. You also have the option of choosing tutors with the "Advanced" tag, who are better equipped to help higher-level students. Keep pushing! 🧗

• advanced English