{"id":5803,"date":"2013-06-20T20:11:17","date_gmt":"2013-06-20T20:11:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eltchat.org\/wordpress\/?p=5803"},"modified":"2013-06-20T20:11:17","modified_gmt":"2013-06-20T20:11:17","slug":"getting-off-the-intermediate-plateau-elt-chats-summary-22052013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/2013\/06\/20\/getting-off-the-intermediate-plateau-elt-chats-summary-22052013\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting off the Intermediate Plateau – #ELT Chats Summary 22\/05\/2013"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The summaries of both #ELTchats were written by Martin Sketchley – #ELTexperiences and were originally posted on his blog here:\u00a0\u201cGetting off the Intermediate Plateau\u201d: ELT Chat Summary<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Slide 4 from a presentation on slideshare http:\/\/www.slideshare.net\/ThePlateauEffect\/the-plateaueffect<\/p><\/div>\n

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ELT Chat Summary: Part 1<\/b><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n

A few weeks ago, 22 May 2013,\u00a0ELT Chat<\/a>\u00a0discussed the topic about all things related to teaching the Intermediate learner.\u00a0 However, this day was special as both the 1pm and 9pm (GMT) focused solely on the issue of an Intermediate Plateau.\u00a0 It was the first time that I had discovered an ELT Chat discussion on Twitter focus on a particular topic for the whole day.\u00a0 This blog post will summarise the two discussions which occurred during this day and provides some practical advice for teachers facing Intermediate learners who reach that lack of motivation, conviction and interest in their language learning.<\/p>\n

@Marisa_C<\/a>\u00a0started the discussion off by welcoming everyone to the \u201c#ELTChat on intermediate learners stuck on the famous plateau\u201d .\u00a0 However, what could be defined as an Intermediate Learner and how do they get stuck, feeling like they just aren\u2019t making any progress?\u00a0 Most people decided to answer this question by sharing their ideas about the length of period a student may study for until the \u2018famous plateau\u2019 emerges.\u00a0 Some suggestions included:<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve had students in Korea that would love to be intermediate plateau or not after 15 years of study\u201d \u2013@michaelegriffin<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cFor me, my sts reached that intermediate plateau after about 3 years of English (about 320 hours)\u201d \u2013@OUPELTGlobal<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cIn Greece they may have studied for anything between 4-6 yrs – not good huh? but kids\u201d \u2013\u00a0@Marisa_C<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It was clear that the majority of learners, who had been studying English for any great length of period, would ultimately face a \u2018plateau\u2019 of some sorts.\u00a0 Some tweets suggested that this was a natural part of learning, while others viewed a \u2018plateau\u2019 not dependent upon the length a learner had studied English:<\/p>\n

\u201cPerhaps what defines the plateau feeling can’t be measured in language skills proficiency or years but in lack of progress\u201d \u2013\u00a0@AlexandraKouk<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cRight or wrong, I’ve always thought of the plateau as sts needing to USE the English they’ve learned and not being able to\u201d \u2013\u00a0@OUPELTGlobal<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cthe sense that you’ve ‘done it all’ is what can be so frustrating – maybe it’s about starting to see patterns and make connections\u201d \u2013\u00a0@KatySDavies<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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It was very clear that there was some connection that the feeling of a \u2018plateau\u2019 or being \u2018stuck-in-a-rut\u2019 was natural and was related to the feeling of \u2018lacking any progress\u2019, \u2018not applying knowledge\u2019 or \u2018completing everything in class but unable to communicate outside the class\u2019.\u00a0 Therefore, what is the best way of dealing with the possibility of an intermediate plateau?\u00a0 There were a number of suggestions:<\/p>\n

\u201cThey need to improve independent learning skills and not only English lang skills.\u201d \u2013\u00a0@andrea_rivett<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cInterdisciplinary as a key to get off the plateau? Must use the language to learn some other subject.\u201d \u2013@touqo<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cbut sometimes Ss are mistaken about the cause of some of their issues and also a big part of the job is managing expectations\u201d \u2013\u00a0@KatySDavies<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cstudents need to see practical relevance of language to their lives in order to progress – if not, they stay in the same place\u201d \u2013\u00a0@pjgallantry<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cNeeds to be more focus not just on using authentic materials but how language is used authentically\u201d \u2013@KatySDavies<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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From some of the tweets during the discussion that much of the way to deal with a plateau is to develop independent learning skills, using and monitoring language in \u2018real-life\u2019 circumstances, developing a focus away from the \u2018grammar delivery\u2019 of coursebooks and bringing in the \u2018real-world\u2019, as well as an element of authenticity, into the classroom.\u00a0 There was a focus on Task-Based Learning (TBL) for the curbing of possible plateaus and as\u00a0@AlexandraKouk<\/a>mentioned, \u201cusing more TBL or project work may help ss realise how much they can do with the lang they’ve got\u201d.\u00a0 An interesting observation was made by\u00a0@pjgallantry<\/a>\u00a0in reference to extensive reading: \u201cfrom my experience, students who do more reading on their free time seem to make far greater strides\u201d.<\/p>\n

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There was growing emphasis on the use of \u2018learner diaries\u2019, which could also include the use of portfolios, to develop and raise student awareness of language learning and the noting of learning from their day-to-day activities.\u00a0 It is self-evident, these days in the classroom, that there is greater effort for those learners, at an intermediate level of English (or any other level to be honest), which are expected to have developed more autonomous learning skills.\u00a0 Yet, many teachers expect most of their learners to be able to acquire the functions of autonomous learning in a more automatic fashion.\u00a0 At our language school, there is a specific day of the week where adult learners focus on particular study skills: using a dictionary, noticing more authentic material (photos, pamphlets, etc) to bring into class, how to note down newly acquired vocabulary, etc.\u00a0 This is really aimed for learners at any level and to encourage more autonomous learning and developing language development portfolios which can be reviewed or amended whenever necessary as well as focus on learner training.\u00a0 These study skills activities were further considered important during the ELT Chat discussion with many contributors detailing examples of suitable study skill focus:<\/p>\n

\u201cA typical trait of good lang learners is that they like to use diagrams etc to organise their learning\u201d \u2013@Marisa_C<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cdeveloping skills like guessing the meaning of words from context important to give them confidence to read more alone\u201d \u2013\u00a0@KatySDavies<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Nearer the end of the first ELT Chat discussion of the day, some points were raised that learners had to notice their progress and a good indication included:<\/p>\n

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