In Is my English getting better? I described several things that English students can do informally to get an idea of how much their English has improved. Today I’d like to describe My English Journey, a more formal way to do the same thing.
A language rubric
A rubric is a set of written statements that describe different levels of accomplishment. Sometimes they are used to help students understand what teachers expect from them. Other times they are used to assign scores. The speaking and independent and integrated writing sections of the TOEFL are scored using rubrics. A language rubric is a set of statements that describe levels of language accomplishment: they describe what a student can do with a language.
The European Union has been working to create a common way for people who live in Europe to evaluate and communicate their language ability. One of the tools they have created is called the Europass. And part of the Europass is a rubric that people can use to assess, or evaluate, their own language skills.
Several years ago, I used the Europass to create a language rubric called My English Journey for my adult ESL students. I want to describe it for you so you can use the link at the end of this article to download, print, and use My English Journey to evaluate your own English.
My English Journey
As I suggested in Is my English getting better? I don’t believe it’s healthy to focus on mistakes and how to avoid them. It’s much better to become aware of what you can do with the English you are acquiring and notice how much more you can do every year.
I like to think of language development as a journey that begins at some point and continues until we reach our goal. All of us – including me – want our English to continue to improve, so the journey never really ends. But we all have a level of proficiency, or ability, that we want or need to reach. Here’s how the journey looks:
As you can see, the journey is divided into three parts, or stages:
- Basic User – someone whose English is emerging, or beginning to appear. A Basic User can use English to talk about themselves, where they live, and other simple things they are familiar with.
- Independent User – someone who can use English well enough to “get around” and do what they need to do: shop at the supermarket, talk to the doctor, etc.
- Proficient User – someone who can use English comfortably and confidently in most situations.
Using My English Journey
It’s easy to use My English Journey. When you download it and print it, you will see a series of statements about Understanding (listening and reading), Speaking (spoken interaction and spoken production), and Writing English.
Next to each statement is a short line. I suggest that you take some time to sit down and carefully and honestly identify the statements that best describe your English. Look at all the statements in each section, decide which one best describes you, and write the date on the line at the beginning of the statement. When you have finished all five sections, you will have a description of your current English proficiency, or ability.
I have an idea that many of you will be pleasantly surprised at how much you can already do!
Now, put your copy of My English Journey somewhere safe, somewhere where you’ll be able to find it again. Six or 12 months from now, take it out again and repeat the process. Don’t do it too often! It’s not healthy to be obsessed (think too much; be too concerned) about your progress.
If you use My English Journey, it’s important to remember one thing: improvement – in any area of language – depends on the power of reading and listening!
Warren Ediger
Hi, tutor Warren,
I like this idea, I did the evaluation, and you were right. I was surprised by the result. Before this test I considered myself a basic user of english. It is not much what I accomplished, but I feel pleased with the result. Now, I’m in the battle between BLUE and GREEN, and my powerful weapons are reading and listening. Thanks
Hi, Warren,
This is a great tool to evaluate English status. However, when I try to gauage English level or fluency with English Tests such as TOEFL, it does not necessarily represent where I am.
Many people are trying to improve their English on certain purposes. Of course, their final goal will definitely be to communicate with people in English. However, some people focus on only the scores without improving their real English. Surprisingly, some get very high scores, and they are appreciated as “Good English Users”. As for myself, I need also high TOEFL scores on certain reasons, and I feel bad about it. Because real Engligh did not always coincide with the test scores.
However, I’m not really worried about it, because I’m sure that I’m on the right track by the guidance of you.
Most of all, we have the greatest English teacher in the world, Warren !!!
I know you will help, encourage us, and be with us whenever we need help !!!
Thank you always, and Good Luck to eveybody !!!
Thanks for your comments, Bryan. They give me a good reason to clarify some important points:
The methods I described in Is my English getting better? and this article – My English Journey – will give you a reasonable estimate of your English ability. I say estimate because they are not scientific tools for measurement and they require you to make a personal judgment about your own English. So, there’s a possibility that you might over- or under-estimate your ability. And that’s okay, because the goal is to answer one question – “Am I making progress?” – and all the methods I described will help you answer that question.
The TOEFL is a scientific measure of academic English; it has a different purpose and measures more than the methods I described. I would expect someone who is near the “end” of My English Journey to do well on the TOEFL, but maybe not. Why not? As I wrote in Rethinking the TOEFL, there are three requirements for success on the TOEFL: first, academic vocabulary – good overall vocabulary + the “toolkit” words that are used almost every class or subject area.
Second, success on the TOEFL requires good academic skills, or the ability to do a large variety of language-related tasks using reading, listening, writing, and speaking skills. The academic skills we expect in the U.S. are different than in some other countries. I have had students come from universities that only required them to memorize facts from the textbook and the professor’s lectures so they can repeat the facts on an exam. We expect students to do much more than that.
Third, success on the TOEFL requires good test-taking skills. Looking at this another way, your have to be able to perform under pressure, and that often happens in the classroom as well as on the TOEFL.
I have taught both graduate and undergraduate classes here in the U.S. The TOEFL is a good test of the kind of academic language skills I’d want my students to have, and the score I’d want them to have is relatively high.
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