Over the course of many years of practical training, you have been training your English, during which you have delved into work on vocabulary, mastering the basics of oral and written speech. And now you want to check if your English is good.
What is the Upper-Intermediate level
In general, the result of your training should have been an adequate perception of the original, including spontaneous, emotionally colored, dialogic and monologue oral speech of a native English speaker, teacher or interlocutor in recording or direct communication. We list in more detail the skills that testify to the level of Upper-Intermediate, below:
- possession of dialogic and monologue speech in situations of official and informal communication on various topics (will be indicated below);
- expressive speaking, demonstrative presentation of thought using a variety of grammar and vocabulary;
- the ability to compose an oral message, report, conduct interviews;
– discussion of read and listened to original texts (including journalistic texts);
- conducting a conversation or dialogue of a problematic nature using adequate speech formulas;
- active participation in the discussion, conversation, confident defense of one's point of view;
– evaluation of other people's statements in terms of correctness and content of the language form.
The above skills can be achieved by studying, for example, the textbook “New English File Upper-Intermediate”.
As for reading, your skills and abilities should be manifested in the improvement of all types of reading (introductory, studying, searching and viewing). And on their basis, you must extract from the material the emotional, ideological, aesthetic and semantic information contained in it on the basis of meaningful and linguistic analysis.
You must also punctuate, spell and graphically correctly write various written works; express their ideas and thoughts in written speech of various kinds (essay, letter, summary, annotation, literary review); explain and correct lexical, spelling, stylistic and grammatical errors in the written text presented to you.
When studying well-known publications, for example, "Opportunities Upper-Intermediate", your vocabulary should be at least 3000 units, close to the list below with situational-thematic characteristics of topics. The above includes the subject content of acceptable communication, various situations of a social nature, speech metalinguistic means and tasks for adequate speech presented in the form of a monologue or dialogue.
List of topics studied
An exemplary subject-thematic list mastered while studying the most famous methodological complexes, for example, "Headway Upper-Intermediate".
Sphere of personal and social communication:
1. Human appearance.
2. The character of a person, mood, manners, behavior. Psychological types of people, character traits of a person (positive and negative), types of a person's emotional state, manners, norms of good behavior.
3. Relationships. Love. Family life.
4. Phobias and manias. Faith and superstition. Ways to overcome fears.
5. Crime and Punishment. Types of crimes. Reasons for the increase in crime. Prison as a form of punishment. Juvenile delinquency.
Sphere of household and social communication:
1. Our house. Home repairs. Buying a house. Homeless.
2. He alth. Diseases. Medical assistance.
Sphere of social and cognitive communication:
1. Animal world. Problems of conservation of endangered species of animals. Environment and civilization, sources of environmental pollution. Environmental issues.
Sphere of professional communication. Occupation:
1. Job. The right choice of profession. Representatives of atypical professions. The personality of the teacher, his human and professional qualities.
Sphere of political and public life:
1. News.
2. Politics. Pros and cons of a political career. Political parties. Personalitypolicy.
3. Developing countries and their problems. Need, poverty. Charities.
Sphere of socio-cognitive and socio-cultural communication:
1. TV and radio advertising, commercial video production.
Sphere of social and cultural communication:
1. Music. Music in our life: classical, popular, folk, jazz. Youth and pop music.
English Upper-Intermediate, in turn, has its own classification. Let's take a look at the different stages related to this level.
About speaking. Superior Skill Stat
Let's start with the highest requirements, which are mastered by the student in the course of studying any quality textbook of this level (for example, New English File Upper-Intermediate).
Complete and adequate implementation of communicative intentions within a wide range of diverse situations is mandatory. Fluent, well-organized speech. No pronounced accent. Appropriate and correct use of vocabulary and grammatical structures.
Excellent level characteristic
The next level of Upper-Intermediate is the full realization of communicative intentions. Fluent speech with small hesitation pauses and compositional deviations. Rich vocabulary. The correct use of various grammatical formulas. Rare and minor reservations and errors that do not reduce the effectiveness of speech. Emphasis on a minor level.
Characteristic onabove average
Confident implementation of communicative intentions in the above situations. Good fluent speech with very slight hesitation pauses and compositional deviations, which are caused by difficulty in the correct formation of the content of speech and / or the choice of means of expression. The presence of reservations, errors in the use of grammatical structures and / or in word usage, which in general do not interfere with the achievement of communicative goals. Noticeable accent.
Upper-Intermediate characteristics: what is it
Quite adequate implementation of the communication process in the above situations. Satisfactory fluent speech. Minor violations of the compositional structure of the text. The presence of hesitation pauses. The presence of noticeable reservations and errors in the use of grammatical structures and words. Violation of pronunciation norms that may make it difficult to understand.
Below average performance
Inability to fully realize the communicative intention. Limitation of the scope of the statement. Quite frequent compositional and logical breaks in the narrative. Insufficient fluent speech and the presence of a large number of hesitation pauses. Common errors and reservations in the use of grammatical structures and vocabulary. Violation of pronunciation rules that make it difficult to understand.
About the letter. Excellent writing skills
Let's start with the highest Upper-Intermediate skills. What this level includes, its features and characteristics, considerbelow.
Rich idiomatic and phraseological vocabulary, corresponding to the norms of modern English. There are no spelling errors. Absolutely appropriate and correct use of grammatical formulas. Exact compliance with the set communication tasks. Absolutely reasoned and complete narrative, description of events, objects or presentation of ideas, points of view. Consistent and logical development of the plot and ideas. Full compliance with the style and genre of the written work. Accurate and appropriate use of various artistic means of expression.
Only high-quality teaching materials (for example, "English File Upper-Intermediate") can provide this level of language proficiency.
Excellent writing skills
A rich idiomatic vocabulary that is quite consistent with the norms of the modern language. Less than one spelling, grammatical or lexical error per hundred word forms. Some deviations in the use of grammatical constructions. Correspondence to the set communicative task. A reasoned and complete narrative, a description of events, objects, or a statement of one's vision of an object. Logical development of the plot and ideas. Compliance with the style and genre of the written work. Means of expression are used correctly.
Good writing skills
Good vocabulary, used in an appropriate way, generally literate English. Upper-Intermediate of a good level does not allow committingmore than one spelling, grammatical or lexical error per 100 word forms. Some deviations are observed in the use of grammatical constructions. Correspondence to communicative tasks is quite accurate. In general, a convincing and complete narrative, a description of events, objects, and an easy-to-understand presentation of one's own thoughts and ideas. Some logical deviations and lack of sequence in the development of the plot. Separate moments of inconsistency with style and genre.
Intermediate written language
In general, the vocabulary set is satisfactory. However, the vocabulary is limited, there are errors in the selection of a suitable word. No more than two grammatical, spelling or lexical errors per 100 word forms. Some cases of using grammatical constructions make it difficult to understand the meaning of what is written. The letter corresponds to the communicative task. There are deviations from the sequence and logic of the development of the plot and ideas. Limited choice of means of artistic expression. The genre and style are not up to par.
Pre-intermediate writing
This Upper-Intermediate level has limited vocabulary. There are significant errors in the use and choice of words. No more than three spelling, grammatical or lexical errors per 100 word forms. Quite serious violations observed in the use of grammatical constructions. The idea presented in the communicative task is reflected, but not fully implemented, due to the lack of clarity of presentation and convincing argumentsin favor of one point of view or the other. There are inconsistencies in the sequence and logic of presentation, genres and styles are mixed.
After reaching your goal, set yourself new, even more difficult tasks. The Advanced level is the next peak, which can only be conquered by those who are able to overcome themselves and embark on the endless expanses of language.
