Clarity and English learning

Why is it so important to define what you really want as a result of improving your English?

Because then you have clarity, and as Tony Buzan so rightly says, clarity is the guide to your goals. If you say you want to speak more fluently, what does this mean for you? What does it feel like? How will you know when you are speaking more fluently? What will change for you?

If you say you want to be yourself in English. What does this mean? How do you know that you are being yourself in your native language? What aspects of you are important when you speak to someone in whatever language? This is your identity. How do want it to show up in English?

If you say you want to feel more at ease when you speak English, what does feeling more at ease mean for you? In what situations do you want to feel most at ease? Is it always a good thing to feel at ease? Think back to a situation when you experienced that ease in English. What helped you feel like that? What are already doing in English with ease?

This is the process of defining what you want so that you can have clarity. Then and only then can you measure your progress. Awareness of your progress is essential so as not to lose motivation. What progress do you want for yourself? In what situations particularly is it important for you to progress? How will you measure it? By the reactions of those around you, by your level of personal satisfaction and confidence, by a measurable reduction in the number of mistakes you make a minute? Write down what you want and what you are actively doing to move towards that goal.

These and other questions we explore at Cambridge Express so that you can have clarity around your English learning.