Learning a language can often feel like climbing a mountain, with students making steady progress at first, only to hit a “flat spot” where improvement slows down. This is commonly referred to as a learning plateau—a stage where students get comfortable with their current abilities but struggle to push beyond. In ESL, this typically happens at the intermediate to advanced levels, where students can communicate but often find it difficult to incorporate more complex grammar structures, advanced vocabulary, or fluent expressions.
Let’s explore why this happens and, most importantly, how to help your students break through the plateau and keep improving.
Why Do Students Get Stuck?
By the time students reach an intermediate level, they’ve often developed the skills to communicate adequately in everyday situations. This creates a sense of comfort—using basic grammar structures, familiar vocabulary, and expressions that “work.” But this comfort zone often prevents further progress.
Here are some key reasons why students get stuck:
- Mastery of basic grammar but avoidance of advanced structures: They rely on simpler forms because they feel more confident using them.
- Familiar vocabulary: They understand higher-level words but hesitate to use them.
- Communication over accuracy: As they can get their message across, they’re less motivated to refine it.
This leads to stagnation, where they aren’t challenged enough to improve fluency, accuracy, or range.
How to Help Your Students Break Through the Plateau
1️⃣ Create a “Challenge Jar”
- What it is: A fun way to introduce advanced grammar and vocabulary.
- How it works: Each student pulls out a slip of paper with a specific challenge for the class, such as using future perfect tense or a new advanced phrase during their conversation.
- Example: In a debate, students could be tasked with using modal verbs for speculation, e.g., “We might have completed the project by then, but only if we start now.”
2️⃣ Engage Students in Authentic Tasks
- What it is: Contextualise advanced language in real-life situations that require deeper thinking and expression.
- How it works: Assign tasks that push them to use complex grammar and vocabulary naturally.
- Example: Ask students to plan a detailed holiday itinerary, including descriptions of activities and reasons using advanced tenses. Encourage sentences like: “By the second day, we’ll have visited the museum, so we can explore the city in the afternoon.”
3️⃣ Use Error Journals for Continuous Improvement
- What it is: An “error journal” helps both students and teachers track progress and focus on recurring mistakes.
- How it works: After each lesson, note the student’s mistakes, then review these errors regularly. Encourage students to write them down too, which reinforces active learning.
- Example: If a student consistently struggles with articles (“a” vs. “the”), note it down, and revisit this concept weekly.
4️⃣ Play Vocabulary Swap Games
- What it is: A simple but effective game to replace common words with advanced synonyms.
- How it works: Give students a passage with basic vocabulary and ask them to upgrade it. This helps them actively apply higher-level language.
- Example: Ask students to change “good” to “exceptional” or “interesting” to “captivating” in a review of a book or movie.
5️⃣ Shift Focus to Fluency Through Discussion
- What it is: Move away from repetitive drills and create opportunities for free-flowing conversations that require students to dig deeper into their language use.
- How it works: Organise debates, role-plays, or discussions on complex or thought-provoking topics. Encourage students to explore abstract ideas, challenge each other’s views, or explain difficult concepts in English.
- Example: In a discussion on technology and society, students could be encouraged to use advanced connectors like “nevertheless” and modal verbs like “could have” or “should have.”
6️⃣ Introduce New Vocabulary and Test Memory
- What it is: Gradually introduce new words to encourage their use in context.
- How it works: After teaching 5-7 advanced words (e.g., «meticulous,» «alleviate,» «oblivious»), reinforce them in the next class with sentence completion exercises or encourage students to create short stories using the words.
- Example: In the next session, challenge them to create a story where they have to use those words or to have a group discussion where each student must use a word from the previous lesson.
Encouraging Long-Term Improvement
As teachers, it’s essential to remind students that overcoming the plateau is a natural part of language learning and not a sign of failure. The key is to consistently challenge them and provide opportunities to go beyond their comfort zone. By introducing creative tasks, advanced vocabulary, and a focus on fluency, students can regain momentum and feel motivated to keep improving.
For more resources and specific activities to help students break through the intermediate plateau, explore our dedicated Advanced ESL Resources section in our TPT store.