OP3 : What are the different stages of English proficiency and how might you describe each?

Hi Se-young,

Thanks for putting your effort into this task. I am very happy to say that it is an excellent example of a basic categorization essay. The introduction has a wonderful 'hook' and your categorization for the topic is made very clearly. Each paragraph is then clearly targeted to one of those categories and explored with sufficient and relevant detail. I can also see some thoughtful originality in the way you have wrapped things up in your conclusion. So all in all, I am extremely please to see how well you have come to grips with the essentials of this writing style.

Where you need to pay more attention now is in terms of your language use. Don't be disappointed by that, because I actually feel you are progressing in the correct fashion: first, master the essentials of the essay at text, purpose and organizational levels; then move on to improving your written expression at sentence level.

I've included some suggestions for language development below:

Seyoung Yoon wrote: As a second language learner, it is natural that using English is not as comfortable as one’s using mother tongue. Although the boundaries among each stages are quite difficult to classify, simply speaking, there are three stages of English proficiency-beginner, intermediate, advanced.

The learner in the first stage called beginner is able to figure out Alphabet and read it. However they barely know the meaning. In addition, beginners can start a short conversation which consists of simple, basic words and grammar but cannot lead talks more than 3 minutes. The beginner’s conversation is quite similar to the segments of thinking with plain vocabularies rather than real talk. Therefore beginners are usually in trouble faced with foreigners because they cannot express clearly what they want to deliver.

In the second stage, intermediate, it goes easier to express opinion. The learner in this stage shows more improved integrated language abilities than beginner. Proper vocabulary according to the situation and better sentence structure are the proofs. To express feelings and thoughts is not an obstacle to them any more. However they also have problems to understand and use terminological vocabulary, which is usually shown in the class-in college or university level. Still they have enough ability to communicate and live with the English-speaking peoples.

The final and highest stage is advanced. The ability of the people in this stage is close to that of native speaker. They articulate their thoughts very well and they are even good at technical terms. They can speak English automatically without delay or pause, and understand instinctively. Moreover, contextualized understanding is also one of their distinct characteristics. As they have lived for years with English, a certain circumstance or surrounding help them to make unknown words sense. It would be the chief ability we can tell advanced learner from other stage's learner.

Overall, the stages of English ability is hard to judge one another. Because as I said above, a language is an integrated-skill which needs to be harmonized and balanced. In conclusion, even though each of the beginner, intermediate, and advanced stage would be a standard of classification, it won't be the perfect pattern.

As a second language learner, it is natural that using English is not as comfortable as using one’s mother tongue

In the second stage -- intermediate -- it becomes easier to express one's opinion

As they have lived for years with English, certain circumstances or surroundings can help them to make sense of unknown words


This was a fine effort, and I am very happy with your progress to date in this course. Keep up the excellent work.

See you in class soon,

~ Jason


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Whenever I read your article, I feel you really think a lot comparing your age.