/version-3023/images/image-g37bb.png)
When you learn new skills, like improving your English fluency, or preparing for the TOEFL or IELTS exams, it's important to practice. A lot. I think most people accept this.
However, some people believe that the QUANTITY of practice time is more important than the QUALITY of their practice.
They spend hours doing the same things over and over again, without improving. Then, they get frustrated because they don't make any progress and their scores are stuck.
🌟 What if you could spend less time studying for your English proficiency exams but do it in such a way that you improve? 🌟
🌟 Or what if you could find a method that would consistently help you as you work to correct your fossilized errors and improve your fluency in English? 🌟
It's absolutely possible to do both these things (and many more!) using DELIBERATE PRACTICE.
Deliberate Practice was explained some years ago in an article on the BBC's website but now, if you search, you'll find many explanations of the same subject. The link takes you to the original article, which is worth reading for extra details and information.
Professor Anders Ericsson of Florida State University explains:
"Sixty minutes spent doing the 'right thing' is better than any amount of time spent learning in an unfocussed way.
Identifying areas that need work, then devising a purposeful plan to correct them is crucial. This process is called Deliberate Practice."
This means you should:
🟢 Identify your weaknesses and make a plan to improve them.
🟢 Be focused on your final goal.
You shouldn't:
🟠 practice without focus or direction.
🌟 How you practice is more important than how much time you spend practicing. 🌟
Remember you can use Deliberate Practice for any kind of skill building, but let's look specifically at how it can be applied to the speaking section of the TOEFL or IELTS exam.
Perhaps you've identified that you keep missing the final /s/ sound on verbs. This is a very common error for many language groups but one which must be overcome to sound natural and fluent in English.
Let's look at the differences between unfocussed practice and Deliberate Practice for this language error.
🟠 You practice lots of different speaking questions.
🟠 You do as many as you can BUT you don't review them or listen to your recordings.
🟠 You don't redo any of the questions.
🟠 You get frustrated because you run out of practice questions.
If this is how you practice, then you should STOP NOW. It's not helping you at all.
🟢 You choose one speaking question to practice.
🟢 You focus only on that question.
🟢 You speak your response concentrating on correctly adding the final /s/ sounds to third person singular verbs.
🟢 When you've made a few attempts at practicing, you record your response so you can hear how it sounds.
🟢 Then you listen to your response carefully to see if you can identify a place where you've missed an /s/ sound.
🟢 If you have, then you repeat the sentence in isolation for extra practice.
🟢 Then you repeat the same response, once again concentrating on final /s/ sounds.
🟢 Again you review your response listening out for those /s/ sounds.
🟢 If you're still making the error, perhaps you'll attempt the question a third time.
🟢 You may count your errors from the first response, and compare them to your third response to track your improvement.
🟢 Maybe you'll practice just one or two speaking questions.
🟢 And perhaps you'll practice for 30 minutes rather than two hours.
The point is that your practice will be MORE FOCUSSED and therefore MUCH MORE EFFECTIVE.
You'll be able to DEMONSTRATE IMPROVEMENT.
As with all skill-building, and especially with correcting fossilized errors, It's important to note that you're probably not going to be able to correct everything in just one study session.
Keep your overall goal in mind as you study. Think of each study session as a series of small steps to reach your goal. Keep taking these small steps, and you will reach it.
Professor Ericsson explains:
"It's not about the total time spent practicing. It needs to be matched with the commitment of the student. Are they correcting? Are they changing what they do?
It's not clear why some people think that making more of the same mistakes will make you better."
So how you practice becomes much more important than how much time you spend practicing.
I've summarized the other main points from the original article in the table below. However, I encourage you to do your own reading about this subject. It'll change the way you study.
The left-hand column shows the main points summarized from the BBC article.
The right-hand column shows how they can be applied to studying for English language learners.
Header photo by Moises Alex on Unsplash