DIY: learning English

Phil Selby, the rut, English

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Earlier this week I stumbled across NPR's Goats and Soda, a blog with the byline "stories of life in a changing world." In the New Stuff section there are titles like "Help Wanted: Unlikely Geniuses To Solve Public Health Problems," "A $1 Microscope Folds From Paper With A Drop Of Glue," and "Don't Pop That Bubble Wrap! Scientists Turn Trash Into Test Tubes." All of them are about innovation and well worth reading.

But the one that really caught my attention was one about learning English: Take A New Test Aimed At The World's English-Language Learners. In an increasingly global world communication is more and more important, and English, in many cases, is becoming the default language.

Why English, you may ask. This excerpt from Wikipedia's article on world language touches on the reason why English is so widely spoken and approximates how many people speak it:

A world language is a language spoken internationally and which is learned by many people as a second language. A world language is not only characterized by the number of speakers (native or second language speakers), but also by its geographical distribution, international organizations and in diplomatic relations. In this respect, major world languages are dominated by languages of European origin. The historical reason for this is the period of expansionist European imperialism and colonialism.

The world's most widely used language is English which has over 1.8 billion users world wide...

The test NPR writes about is sponsored by Education First. You can access the test is at EF Standard English Test. It's free, can be taken over and over to assess your progress, is standardized, gives you an official score on the EF scale, and you can "post your EFSET results on your online profile as proof of your English skills to school admission officers, employers and friends." There are two types of EF tests: the quick one that take about an hour and the comprehensive one that takes about 2 hours. Both are free.


-- Marge