How to measure the speed of learning English?
Do you want to quit studying English? Well, it happens that you go and attend these courses, but the result is still not there! Often the whole thing is that we believe the loud headlines in the style of “English for a week” and plan to talk like Benedict Cumberbatch in a month. And I would like to know exactly the clear formula by which you can easily calculate the terms of training.
Here you have just such calculations! We will describe what key factors influence the speed and duration of training and even derive the average speed of learning words and grammar topics based on the experience of our students and data from our courses.
Already on the basis of these data, we can derive the simplest formula for the speed of learning 1 lexical topic (30 words) and 1 grammatical topic, which we will rely on in this article:
We get the following:
So there are 100 minutes for the study of 30 words and 1 grammar topic. These are almost perfect numbers without considering the main factors affecting learning. Let's list the possible factors and take them into account when calculating the speed of learning 30 words and 1 grammatical topic (according to our formula, this is the same X ).
We will consider the most common goals:
It is with such goals that the student has a clear time frame to achieve them (someone needs to pass an exam in a year or get a promotion in 6 months, and someone just goes on a European tour in a few months).
We will calculate terms on the basis of the most popular training format - this is 2 times a week for 50 minutes to study the general English course of one level (Elementary, Pre-intermediate, and so on).
The statistics of our school says that:
From our experience it is known that students who will take an English course for beginners will spend more time than students at higher levels.
Why is that? Because it is at the initial stage that the acquaintance and study of not only grammar and vocabulary, but also of the new speech system and even of another culture, takes place. This directly affects the duration of training and the total number of minutes for an English level 1 course (in the table this is our Y ).
As a result, the total number of minutes for the level of Beginner or Elementary for 1 course increases by 1 month (+8 lessons of 50 minutes, or +400 minutes to Y ).
According to the rules of our school, a student’s success in learning should be no less than 75%. Otherwise there may be deviations in learning speed. Repeating 1 topic is an additional 2-4 lessons of 50 minutes.
We start calculations
As you can see, in the case of a beginner level, the amount of time spent on 1 course changes. It turns out that the amount of time increases by 1 lexical and 1 grammatical topic, and the number of grammatical and lexical topics does not change.
Instead of the ideal 50 lessons per course, where Y = 2500 minutes , the student may need 58 lessons. So we get Y for our formula: Y = 58 x 50 = 2900 minutes .
In accordance with our formula, we derive such figures for a student of the Beginner or Elementary level:
In the case of a student of the Pre-intermediate level and above, nothing has changed yet:
Why can these numbers be called ideal? Because the sick leave and sick leave, in which the student was not engaged, did not understand and even forgot the previously learned material, were not taken into account:
That is, there is a high probability that the student will need:
additional 16 lessons.
Let us now try to calculate the speed of learning 1 lexical (30 words) and 1 grammatical topic with the corrections made above (we will take the maximum possible time and take into account all factors).
Beginner or Elementary level - now the total amount of time - Y - for the whole course is:
Y = (58 + 16) 50 = 3700 (total number of minutes per course, taking into account possible deviations) .
And the speed of studying 1 lexical and grammatical topics is as follows:
We get 148 minutes of study for a student of Beginner or Elementary level to learn 30 words and 1 grammar topic.
Pre-intermediate level and above:
the total amount of time for the entire course, that is, Y = (50 + 16) 50 = 3300 . We apply it in our simple formula:
It turns out 132 minutes of training for a student at the level of Pre-intermediate and higher for 30 words and 1 grammar topic.
We did not take this factor into account. Because at the beginning of training, the level of motivation of a student is high and lasts for at least 2 months. The task of the teacher is to maintain a high level of motivation so that the regularity of classes remains sufficient, and the student sees the results of his work on a regular basis.
As our statistics show, a student who has begun to lose motivation can spend from 2 to 4 weeks (or up to 8 lessons) in addition to selecting a teacher, changing courses, and so on. In case a student disappears for a longer period, he is forced to go through almost everything from scratch. That is why, by the way, we do not recommend taking long breaks in training.
In this case, if a student of Beginner and Elementary level falls for a month:
Y = (58 + 16 + 8) 50 = 4100 (total number of minutes per course, taking into account possible deviations).
The speed of learning 30 words and 1 grammatical subject becomes the following:
If a student of the Pre-intermediate level and above falls for a month:
Y = (50 + 16 + 8) 50 = 3700 (total number of minutes per course)
The speed of learning 30 words and 1 grammar topic becomes the following:
We do not recommend accelerating reference figures of 100 minutes for 30 words and 1 grammatical subject for more comfortable learning, but we can offer to do it more than twice a week, for example, 3. This will help shorten the terms of training.
If earlier we needed 2 lessons per week, and there were only 50 lessons in the course, then we would spend 25 weeks on the course ideally. If there are 3 lessons per week, then it will take about 17 weeks instead of 25.
You can increase the intensity to the limit, but only for short-term goals (interview, presentation, and so on). In the case of more long-term goals, we advise you to follow 2-3 lessons per week in order to study as comfortably as possible.
You will ask why we tortured you with these tables and formulas. Then, in order to understand how much a student can spend on the study of 30 words and 1 grammatical subject, depending on his purpose, regularity of classes, level, academic performance and motivation:
Knowing these numbers, you can plan the right amount of free time per week and calculate the duration of training depending on the regularity of classes and other factors:
And this is so that you understand what piece of your life will be devoted to English when taking an Elementary, Pre-intermediate, Intermediate or Upper-intermediate course. Therefore, give up the idea that learn English when you need it. It is better to clearly plan specific dates - from several months to almost a year.
By the way, we at EnglishDom just wondered how to shorten the training period.
We are going to do this thanks to our smart digital platform. With the help of Big Data, we thoroughly analyze the feedback of students on educational content and teachers, and we understand exactly where students spend the most time working on specific topics or exercises, for what reason, and how to reduce time costs.
Want to help us with this? We just launched the tutorials on the platform and collect feedback. This is the first release and there are still a lot of improvements. But, as they say, it’s better to see once than to hear 100 times. Therefore, we offer you to see everything yourself, test our digital textbook and tell us your opinion.
Apply and test
Online Courses
We give you access for three months to the course of English for self-study "Online course". To access, simply follow the link until December 31, 2017.
Individually by Skype
We invite to English courses for IT-specialists.
Sign up for an introductory lesson and choose a teacher and a training program.
Here you have just such calculations! We will describe what key factors influence the speed and duration of training and even derive the average speed of learning words and grammar topics based on the experience of our students and data from our courses.
| 1st level English course
(Elementary, Pre-intermediate, Intermediate or Upper-intermediate) | |
|---|---|
| 50 lessons of 50 minutes | 25 grammar and
25 lexical topics with 30 words each |
| 50x50 = 2500 minutes | 25x30 = 750 words |
Already on the basis of these data, we can derive the simplest formula for the speed of learning 1 lexical topic (30 words) and 1 grammatical topic, which we will rely on in this article:
| X - learning rate
1 lexical and grammatical topics | Y - total number of minutes
one course (number of lessons multiplied by 50 minutes) | Z is the number of lexical and
grammar topics in the course |
| X = Y ÷ Z | ||
|---|---|---|
We get the following:
| 1st level English course
(Elementary, Pre-intermediate, Intermediate or Upper-intermediate) | ||
|---|---|---|
| X - learning rate
1 lexical and grammatical topics | Y - total number of minutes
one course (number of lessons multiplied by 50 minutes) | Z is the number of lexical and
grammar topics in the course |
| X = Y ÷ Z | ||
| X = 2500 ÷ 25 = 100 | ||
So there are 100 minutes for the study of 30 words and 1 grammar topic. These are almost perfect numbers without considering the main factors affecting learning. Let's list the possible factors and take them into account when calculating the speed of learning 30 words and 1 grammatical topic (according to our formula, this is the same X ).
purpose
We will consider the most common goals:
- Job;
- study;
- travels.
It is with such goals that the student has a clear time frame to achieve them (someone needs to pass an exam in a year or get a promotion in 6 months, and someone just goes on a European tour in a few months).
Regularity
We will calculate terms on the basis of the most popular training format - this is 2 times a week for 50 minutes to study the general English course of one level (Elementary, Pre-intermediate, and so on).
Level
The statistics of our school says that:
- 38% of the whole mass of our students is the initial or basic level , that is, Beginner or Elementary .
- 32% are students with an average or below average level (Intermediate or Pre-intermediate).
- 15% - students with a level above average or advanced level ( upper -intermediate or advanced).
- 15% are distributed between students who have more short-term goals or specific training needs, so we will do the calculations using previous categories of students (beginner-advanced).
From our experience it is known that students who will take an English course for beginners will spend more time than students at higher levels.
Why is that? Because it is at the initial stage that the acquaintance and study of not only grammar and vocabulary, but also of the new speech system and even of another culture, takes place. This directly affects the duration of training and the total number of minutes for an English level 1 course (in the table this is our Y ).
As a result, the total number of minutes for the level of Beginner or Elementary for 1 course increases by 1 month (+8 lessons of 50 minutes, or +400 minutes to Y ).
Performance
According to the rules of our school, a student’s success in learning should be no less than 75%. Otherwise there may be deviations in learning speed. Repeating 1 topic is an additional 2-4 lessons of 50 minutes.
We start calculations
As you can see, in the case of a beginner level, the amount of time spent on 1 course changes. It turns out that the amount of time increases by 1 lexical and 1 grammatical topic, and the number of grammatical and lexical topics does not change.
Instead of the ideal 50 lessons per course, where Y = 2500 minutes , the student may need 58 lessons. So we get Y for our formula: Y = 58 x 50 = 2900 minutes .
In accordance with our formula, we derive such figures for a student of the Beginner or Elementary level:
| 1st level English course
(Elementary, Pre-intermediate, Intermediate or Upper-intermediate) | ||
|---|---|---|
| X - learning rate
1 lexical and grammatical topics | Y - total number of minutes
one course (number of lessons multiplied by 50 minutes) | Z is the number of lexical and
grammar topics in the course |
| X = Y ÷ Z | ||
| X = 2900 ÷ 25 = 116 | ||
In the case of a student of the Pre-intermediate level and above, nothing has changed yet:
- 116 minutes of study for a student of Beginner or Elementary level for 30 words, 1 grammar topic ;
- 100 minutes of training for a student at the level of Pre-intermediate and higher could study 30 words, 1 grammar topic .
Why can these numbers be called ideal? Because the sick leave and sick leave, in which the student was not engaged, did not understand and even forgot the previously learned material, were not taken into account:
| forgot the stuff | did not understand the topic | did not pass the topic | holidays |
| plus 2-4 classes | plus 2-4 classes | plus 2-4 classes | plus 3-4 classes |
| 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 = 16 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
That is, there is a high probability that the student will need:
additional 16 lessons.
Let us now try to calculate the speed of learning 1 lexical (30 words) and 1 grammatical topic with the corrections made above (we will take the maximum possible time and take into account all factors).
Beginner or Elementary level - now the total amount of time - Y - for the whole course is:
Y = (58 + 16) 50 = 3700 (total number of minutes per course, taking into account possible deviations) .
And the speed of studying 1 lexical and grammatical topics is as follows:
| 1st level English course
(Elementary, Pre-intermediate, Intermediate or Upper-intermediate) | ||
|---|---|---|
| X - learning rate
1 lexical and grammatical topics | Y - total number of minutes
one course (number of lessons multiplied by 50 minutes) | Z is the number of lexical and
grammar topics in the course |
| X = Y ÷ Z | ||
| X = 3700 ÷ 25 = 148 | ||
We get 148 minutes of study for a student of Beginner or Elementary level to learn 30 words and 1 grammar topic.
Pre-intermediate level and above:
the total amount of time for the entire course, that is, Y = (50 + 16) 50 = 3300 . We apply it in our simple formula:
| English level 1 course (Elementary, Pre-intermediate, Intermediate or Upper-intermediate) | ||
|---|---|---|
| X - learning rate
1 lexical and grammatical topics | Y - total number of minutes
one course (number of lessons multiplied by 50 minutes) | Z is the number of lexical and
grammar topics in the course |
| X = Y ÷ Z | ||
| X = 3300 ÷ 25 = 132 | ||
It turns out 132 minutes of training for a student at the level of Pre-intermediate and higher for 30 words and 1 grammar topic.
Motivation
We did not take this factor into account. Because at the beginning of training, the level of motivation of a student is high and lasts for at least 2 months. The task of the teacher is to maintain a high level of motivation so that the regularity of classes remains sufficient, and the student sees the results of his work on a regular basis.
As our statistics show, a student who has begun to lose motivation can spend from 2 to 4 weeks (or up to 8 lessons) in addition to selecting a teacher, changing courses, and so on. In case a student disappears for a longer period, he is forced to go through almost everything from scratch. That is why, by the way, we do not recommend taking long breaks in training.
In this case, if a student of Beginner and Elementary level falls for a month:
Y = (58 + 16 + 8) 50 = 4100 (total number of minutes per course, taking into account possible deviations).
The speed of learning 30 words and 1 grammatical subject becomes the following:
| 1st level English course
(Elementary, Pre-intermediate, Intermediate or Upper-intermediate) | ||
|---|---|---|
| X - learning rate
1 lexical and grammatical topics | Y - total number of minutes
one course (number of lessons multiplied by 50 minutes) | Z is the number of lexical and
grammar topics in the course |
| X = Y ÷ Z | ||
| X = 4100 ÷ 25 = 164 | ||
If a student of the Pre-intermediate level and above falls for a month:
Y = (50 + 16 + 8) 50 = 3700 (total number of minutes per course)
The speed of learning 30 words and 1 grammar topic becomes the following:
| 1st level English course
(Elementary, Pre-intermediate, Intermediate or Upper-intermediate) | ||
|---|---|---|
| X - learning rate
1 lexical and grammatical topics | Y - total number of minutes
one course (number of lessons multiplied by 50 minutes) | Z is the number of lexical and
grammar topics in the course |
| X = Y ÷ Z | ||
| X = 3700 ÷ 25 = 148 | ||
How to speed up learning
We do not recommend accelerating reference figures of 100 minutes for 30 words and 1 grammatical subject for more comfortable learning, but we can offer to do it more than twice a week, for example, 3. This will help shorten the terms of training.
If earlier we needed 2 lessons per week, and there were only 50 lessons in the course, then we would spend 25 weeks on the course ideally. If there are 3 lessons per week, then it will take about 17 weeks instead of 25.
You can increase the intensity to the limit, but only for short-term goals (interview, presentation, and so on). In the case of more long-term goals, we advise you to follow 2-3 lessons per week in order to study as comfortably as possible.
Eventually
You will ask why we tortured you with these tables and formulas. Then, in order to understand how much a student can spend on the study of 30 words and 1 grammatical subject, depending on his purpose, regularity of classes, level, academic performance and motivation:
- from 100 to as much as 164 minutes.
Knowing these numbers, you can plan the right amount of free time per week and calculate the duration of training depending on the regularity of classes and other factors:
- 50-74 lessons;
- 17-37 weeks;
- 4-9.5 months for 1 course of English.
And this is so that you understand what piece of your life will be devoted to English when taking an Elementary, Pre-intermediate, Intermediate or Upper-intermediate course. Therefore, give up the idea that learn English when you need it. It is better to clearly plan specific dates - from several months to almost a year.
By the way, we at EnglishDom just wondered how to shorten the training period.
We are going to do this thanks to our smart digital platform. With the help of Big Data, we thoroughly analyze the feedback of students on educational content and teachers, and we understand exactly where students spend the most time working on specific topics or exercises, for what reason, and how to reduce time costs.
Want to help us with this? We just launched the tutorials on the platform and collect feedback. This is the first release and there are still a lot of improvements. But, as they say, it’s better to see once than to hear 100 times. Therefore, we offer you to see everything yourself, test our digital textbook and tell us your opinion.
Apply and test
Reader Bonuses
Online Courses
We give you access for three months to the course of English for self-study "Online course". To access, simply follow the link until December 31, 2017.
Individually by Skype
We invite to English courses for IT-specialists.
Sign up for an introductory lesson and choose a teacher and a training program.
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