Intermediate level of knowledge of English. What does intermediate level of English mean?

Thus, the path along this ladder from the level of a graduate of a good special school with English to the level of an applicant to Oxford University takes at least a whole year of study abroad, no matter how offensive it may seem to our graduate. Well, 9 months may be enough for a capable and hardworking graduate. And with intensive training (30 hours a week), perhaps six months.

Some clarifications need to be made here. When we talk about the level of language proficiency of a local resident (native speaker), we mean a decently educated and moderately erudite local resident for whom this language is native. And even then, not every Englishman will be able to pass the Cambridge Proficiency exam. What can we say about the huge number of immigrants from the most different countries world, speaking English in a very specific way. Sometimes students who come to study English at high levels speak it much better than those whom they encounter, say, on the streets of London.

But without studying in the country of the target language, mastering a living language modern language It’s almost impossible - no textbooks have time to track what happens to the language when a variety of jargons, dialects, argot, and foreign borrowings are mixed. You need to find yourself not only in the linguistic, but also in the cultural context, to know what the newspapers write about, what is discussed on TV, what songs are sung, what jokes are told... Only then will it be possible to pass the English exams with the highest score.

So how long does it take to learn English to enter Oxford University (this educational institution has the highest possible requirements for the level of English proficiency of foreign applicants; many universities have much lower requirements)?

According to Western estimates (approximate, average and published solely as information of a recommendatory nature), from zero to passing the IELTS exam at 7.5 you need to study 1000-1200 hours of classroom lessons with a qualified teacher. Hours of self-study, preparation, assignments, etc. must be added to this figure.

Theoretically, you can complete all levels without traveling abroad - this can take approximately 2.5 - 3 years if you take courses a couple of times a week for 4 hours. “Theoretically” because in practice this is quite difficult to achieve, except perhaps to enroll in the philology department of a prestigious university. On regular language courses It is rarely possible to move from level to level without interruptions in classes, and at high levels groups are formed very rarely. At the Advanced level, it is no longer possible to do without a trip to study abroad.

If you study abroad, it will take three times less time - one year is usually enough even for a graduate of a regular high school to reach the required level of proficiency in a foreign language.

Thus, famous formula“time is money” is clearly embodied: you can save money, but you will have to spend a lot more time. You can reach the next level faster, but you will have to pay more. You can learn a language even faster by studying more intensively, in mini-groups or individually, but it will cost even more.

But what doesn’t happen are miracles. No one anywhere can learn a foreign language in a month for any amount of money - no matter what the sellers of all sorts of miracles like “25-frame”, “unique author’s techniques”, “English in 16 lessons” and other nonsense promise. Parents who plan their child’s future career in advance can successfully combine studying in our country with periodic trips to summer language courses abroad - then by the end of our school, in addition to a certificate, the teenager can also receive a certificate of passing an international exam.

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Or in courses, you will definitely come across the concept of “levels in English” or “levels of English proficiency”, as well as with such incomprehensible designations as A1, B2, and more understandable Beginner, Intermediate and so on. From this article you will learn what these formulations mean and what levels of language proficiency are distinguished, as well as how to determine your level of English.

Levels of the English language were invented so that language learners could be divided into groups with approximately similar knowledge and skills in reading, writing, speaking and writing, as well as to simplify testing procedures, examinations, for various purposes related to emigration, study abroad and employment. This classification helps when recruiting students into a group and preparing teaching aids, methods, language teaching programs.

Of course, there is no clear boundary between the levels; this division is quite arbitrary, needed not so much by students as by teachers. In total, there are 6 levels of language proficiency, there are two types of division:

• Levels A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2,
• Levels Beginner, Elementary, Intermediate, Upper Intermediate, Advanced, Proficiency.

Basically it's just two different names for the same thing. These 6 levels are divided into three groups.

Table: English language proficiency levels

The classification was developed in the late eighties - early nineties of the last century, it is completely called the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment (abbr. CERF).

English language levels: detailed description

Beginner level (A1)

At this level you can:

• Understand and use familiar everyday expressions and simple phrases aimed at solving specific problems.
• Introduce yourself, introduce others, ask simple questions of a personal nature, for example, “Where do you live?”, “Where are you from?”, be able to answer such questions.
• Maintain a simple conversation if the other person speaks slowly, clearly and helps you.

Many who studied English at school speak the language at approximately the Beginner level. From vocabulary only basic mother, father, help me, my name is, London is the capital. You can understand well-known words and expressions by ear if they speak very clearly and without accent, as in the audio lessons for the textbook. You understand texts like the “Exit” sign, and in a conversation with the help of gestures, using individual words, you can express the simplest thoughts.

Level Elementary (A2)

At this level you can:

• Understand common expressions in common topics, such as: family, shopping, work, etc.
• Talk about simple everyday topics, expressing yourself in simple phrases.
• Talk about yourself in simple terms, describe simple situations.

If you got a 4 or 5 in English at school, but after that you didn’t use English for some time, then most likely you speak the language at the Elementary level. TV programs in English will not be understandable, except for individual words, but the interlocutor, if he speaks clearly, in simple phrases of 2-3 words, will generally understand. You can also incoherently and with long pauses for reflection tell the simplest information about yourself, say that the sky is blue and the weather is clear, express a simple wish, place an order at McDonald's.

The Beginner – Elementary levels can be called a “survival level”, Survival English. It is enough to “survive” during a trip to a country where the main language is English.

Intermediate level (B1)

At this level you can:

• Understand the general meaning of clear speech on common, familiar topics related to everyday life(work, study, etc.)
• Cope with the most typical situations while traveling (at the airport, in a hotel, etc.)
• Compose simple, coherent text on general or personally familiar topics.
• Retell events, describe hopes, dreams, ambitions, be able to briefly talk about plans and explain your point of view.

Vocabulary and grammar knowledge is enough to write simple essays about yourself, describe incidents from life, write a letter to a friend. But in most cases, oral speech lags behind written speech, you confuse tenses, think about a phrase, pause to find a preposition (to or for?), but you can communicate more or less, especially if there is no shyness or fear of making mistakes.

Understanding your interlocutor is much more difficult, and if it is a native speaker, and even with fast speech and a bizarre accent, then it is almost impossible. However, simple, clear speech is understandable well, provided the words and expressions are familiar. You generally understand if the text is not very complex, and with some difficulty you understand the general meaning without subtitles.

Upper Intermediate level (B2)

At this level you can:

• Understand the general meaning of complex text on concrete and abstract topics, including technical (specialized) topics in your profile.
• Speak quickly enough so that communication with a native speaker occurs without long pauses.
• Write clear, detailed text on different topics, explain a point of view, give arguments for and against various points of view on a topic.

Upper Intermediate is already a good, solid, confident command of the language. If you are talking on a well-known topic with a person whose pronunciation you understand well, then the conversation will go quickly, easily, naturally. An outside observer will say that you are fluent in English. However, you may be confused by words and expressions related to topics that you do not understand well, all sorts of jokes, sarcasm, hints, slang.

You are asked to answer 36 questions to test your listening, writing, speaking and grammar skills.

It is noteworthy that to test listening comprehension, they do not use phrases like “London is the capital” recorded by the announcer, but short excerpts from films (Puzzle English specializes in learning English from films and TV series). In English-language films, the speech of the characters is close to the way people speak in real life, so the test may seem harsh.

Chandler from Friends doesn't have the best pronunciation.

To check a letter, you need to translate several phrases from English into Russian and from Russian into English. The program provides several translation options for each phrase. To test your knowledge of grammar, a completely ordinary test is used, where you need to choose one option from several proposed ones.

But you're probably wondering how the program can test your speaking skills? Of course, an online English proficiency test will not test your speech like a human, but the test developers came up with original solution. In the task you need to listen to a phrase from the film and choose a line suitable for continuing the dialogue.

Talking is not enough, you also need to understand your interlocutor!

The ability to speak English consists of two skills: listening to the speech of your interlocutor and expressing your thoughts. This task, although in a simplified form, tests how you cope with both tasks.

At the end of the test you will be shown full list questions with correct answers, you will find out where you made mistakes. And of course, you will see a chart with an assessment of your level on a scale from Beginner to Upper Intermediate.

2. Test to determine the level of English with a teacher

To get a professional, “live” (and not automated, as in tests) assessment of the level of the English language, you need English teacher, which will test you with tasks and an interview in English.

This consultation can be done free of charge. Firstly, in your city there may be Language school, in which they offer to go free testing for language knowledge and even a trial lesson. This is now a common practice.

In short, I signed up for a trial lesson-test, got in touch on Skype at the appointed time, and teacher Alexandra and I had a lesson during which she “tortured” me in every possible way with various tasks. All communication was in English.

My trial lesson on SkyEng. We check your knowledge of grammar.

At the end of the lesson, the teacher explained to me in detail in which direction I should develop my English, what problems I have, and a little later she sent me a letter with detailed description level of language skills (with ratings on a 5-point scale) and methodological recommendations.

This method took some time: three days passed from submitting the application to the lesson, and the lesson itself lasted about 40 minutes. But this is much more interesting than any online test.

Knowledge of English different people will vary. Thus, native speakers speak it perfectly, foreigners who have studied the language for a sufficient amount of time can freely explain everyday topics in it, and those who have just started learning or have been learning English for a long time know the language in entry level. Figuring out what level a person speaks a language is not so easy. For this purpose, there are numerous tests on the Internet; they really help determine language proficiency. But they mainly check the student’s vocabulary and grammar, but knowledge of the language is not only vocabulary and the ability to understand the rules. Therefore, in foreign language courses you will be offered not only a written test, but also will talk a little with each potential student in a foreign language, ask him various questions and invite him to speak out. Only after the student has demonstrated his knowledge in oral and written speech, in grammar and vocabulary, can one declare his level of language proficiency.

What levels of language proficiency are there?

Intermediate is an average level of English proficiency. There are 6 or 7 such levels in total, depending on different approaches to determining the level of language competence: Beginner, Elementary, Pre-Intermediate, Intermediate, Upper-Intermediate, Advanced, Proficiency. Sometimes during courses foreign languages Some of these levels are broken down into sublevels to more accurately determine which group to enroll a student in.

What do you need to know at the Intermediate level?

At the Intermediate level, he is expected to have a good knowledge of the basic tenses of the English language and be able to use them in writing and speaking. The volume of his vocabulary is about 3-5 thousand words, which allows the student to speak well enough on everyday topics, understand English, and compose written texts of normal complexity. At the same time, such a student may make mistakes in speech, speak not too fluently, stammer a little, or take a long time to find words. He understands well enough complex texts- stories, novels written literary language, popular science articles, can read the news, but does not always perceive them well by ear. A person with an Intermediate level is unlikely to be able to correctly maintain a conversation on specific and complex topics; he does not speak business vocabulary unless he has been specifically trained in words and expressions with a certain specificity.

In general, the Intermediate level is a fairly good level of knowledge of the English language. It may include those who are not fluent in oral speech, but are excellent at reading books in English, as well as those who speak well, but are not very well versed in the written features of the language. This level may be sufficient for employment with the requirement of mandatory knowledge of the English language. This level of proficiency is shown good graduates regular schools or students of grades 8-9 of specialized schools and gymnasiums with in-depth study of the English language.

Since 2001, Europe has moved to fundamentally new language standards, so classic British textbooks are now also being republished in accordance with the new levels. Has anything changed significantly with the introduction of levels? No, but strict classification put an end to heterogeneous self-made divisions into groups in language schools. And the tendency was obvious - firstly, to create more levels than necessary (this is to take more money), and secondly, to inflate your level for self-esteem. This is when A2 was given for the intermediate level of English, which can only be called intermediate given its position between levels A1 and B1.

In total, the new language knowledge standards are 6 (well, or 7 - if you take into account zero). So, language is not one, but two levels according to the modern classification - B1 and B2. People who possess it to this degree are also called Independent Users, especially those occupying column B2 in the classification deserve this title. And in new system It is recommended to move away from the old name “intermediate level of English” and either call B1 and B2 Lower and Upper Intermediate, respectively, or generally use other, very specific terms - Threshold and Vantage levels. In other words, old terms will not help you navigate the modern sea of ​​textbooks.

Knowledge of English at the intermediate level, if the language school did not deceive you, most likely corresponds to level B1. What does this mean practically? A person understands clearly spoken speech well when the vocabulary is frequently used or related to him. professional activity. Can cope with almost any situation that arises when it comes to traveling around the country of the language being studied (hence the term “independent”, as we discussed above). Can deliver coherent speech on topics related to work or personal interests. Briefly justify your opinion, present evidence or plan of action. That is, an intermediate level of English, even at the lowest level, is good

How is someone described as a B2 user? He understands a wider range of texts and is capable of perceiving the main ideas of even complex scientific texts, while B1 is a level for everyday interaction. Speech is fluent, with a large amount of spontaneity, which makes conversations with speakers stress-free for both parties.

Able to create clear and detailed text on a large number of topics, not only workers and households. Able to clearly communicate advantages and disadvantages various kinds opinions. Such a language user is rightfully called independent. Level B2 allows you to start studying at the university level. It is found among the brightest graduates of the strongest specialized schools or among graduates of good non-linguistic universities.

These two levels are intermediate, there are two more above them - C1 and C2, and everyone who already has an intermediate level of English should strive for them. After all, higher categories provide the opportunity for professional immigration or work in expensive language courses for English teachers. In general, level C1 is average for good and excellent students at language universities. But not all carriers can get C2.