Pre-intermediate (pre-threshold level) is a level of English proficiency at which you are able to understand the meaning of familiar expressions, can ask simple questions and know the basic rules of grammar. But it is still difficult for you to speak spontaneously, and your vocabulary is still very small for free speech. The rules of grammar are remembered, but it is not yet possible to apply them accurately in practice. You can check your level on our website by completing.
Let's look specifically at what knowledge and skills a person with a pre-intermediate level of English has.

Grammar at the pre-intermediate level

This, of course, is a very brief summary of the grammar covered. These are the basics of what a student knows at the pre-intermediate level. In fact, there are many more topics related to prepositions, articles, adjectives, compound nouns, etc.

Pre-intermediate level vocabulary

Your vocabulary is approx. 2000 words and expressions. The lessons you have studied contain vocabulary on the following topics: the world aroud us, people, daily life, work, leisure and entertainment, communication and technology, social concerns, tourism …

You can roughly estimate the number of English words you know using the website: www.testyourvocab.com

Speaking at the pre-intermediate level

You are able to talk in English about the weather, about your family, about school or class, about yourself, about what you like to do, a little about your profession, about your favorite animal, about the country, about celebrities and some other similar things. In addition, you are able to express your attitude to the subject of conversation, tell what you like and what you don’t like in connection with the topic raised. You can even carry on a telephone conversation with a native speaker, if, of course, he speaks slowly enough and separately.

Reading

Letter (Writing)

We can write a short pre-intermediate essay on any of the topics listed earlier in the paragraph on conversation. We can also write, or send an email, and also congratulate someone on the holiday.

These were the main points characterizing the so-called pre-threshold level of knowledge of the English language.

So, what are the levels, what level of language proficiency do you personally need (depending on your goals), and how much time will you have to spend to achieve this level? For convenience, we will focus on English, as the most popular language, and in which there is the most developed system of various tests and international exams. Conventionally, we will evaluate the level of English language proficiency on a twelve-point scale. At many English language courses abroad, and at decent courses in our country, the formation of study groups occurs precisely in accordance with these levels.

0 - "zero level" of English

Full Beginner. Many people immediately begin to say: “yes, yes, this is just about me!” I learned something at school, but I don’t remember anything at all! Complete zero!" No! If you learned something at school, then it no longer has anything to do with you. Those who have never learned English and don’t even know the alphabet have a zero level. Well, if, for example, you studied German or French at school, but never encountered English.

1 Elementary. Elementary English level

I have no experience using English. Some simple words and expressions are understandable, while others can be difficult to guess. I have the vaguest idea about grammar. In general, this is a typical level for a graduate of a post-Soviet school, who twice a week pretended to study some “topics”, but in fact copied mathematics under his desk. In case of urgent need, some words still pop up in your head - “passport, taxi, how-to”, but a coherent conversation does not work out. To reach this level from scratch, it is enough to take a decent English course abroad for 3-4 weeks, approximately 80-100 hours of study. By the way, about all the calculations (weeks, hours, etc.) - these are average figures for the bulk of students with normal abilities (which is approximately 80%), ten percent of linguistically gifted students will learn everything much faster, and ten percent will need more time and efforts to achieve the same result. There are no people who are generally incapable of learning languages ​​- I declare this categorically. If you speak Russian, you can speak any other language, you just need to put in some effort and spend some time. So, I wrote, and I myself felt sad: whatever one may say, a month or a month and a half at language courses abroad successfully replaces five years of language study in our regular high school... well, that’s, of course, if it’s a C grade. If you diligently complete your homework for five years, you can achieve much greater success and rise to a higher level.

2 – Upper-Elementary. Highest elementary level

Have knowledge of simple grammatical structures of the English language. It is possible to maintain a conversation on a familiar topic - but, unfortunately, the number of familiar topics is very limited. There is an understanding of simple sentences and speech structures - especially if they speak slowly and clarify what is said with gestures.

We can call this level a “living wage” for a tourist who is relatively independent of guides and translators. Add 80-100 training hours to the previous level. By the way, in most decent language courses in Russia, one level is approximately 80 hours, that is, if you study twice a week for 4 academic hours, then this is about 10 weeks, two to three months. Abroad, you can complete three weeks of intensive training.

3 – Pre-Intermediate. Lower intermediate level

You can carry on a conversation on a familiar topic. Knowledge of English grammar is quite good, although vocabulary is limited. You can pronounce fairly coherent sentences with virtually no errors if you covered this topic in class. This sometimes leads to a paradoxical situation if you have to communicate with foreigners - it seems to them that you speak English quite well, and they happily begin to explain something to you at a normal pace, excitedly waving their hands. But you, having laid out everything you knew, realize that you no longer understand a damn thing, and you feel out of place.

At this level, you can already try to pass some kind of language test, although there will be no practical benefit from this. This level approximately corresponds to the result of 3-4 when passing the IELTS exam, 39-56 points when passing the TOEFL iBT, you can try to pass the Cambridge PET exam (Preliminary English Test).

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Or during courses, you will definitely come across the concept of “levels of English” or “levels of English proficiency”, as well as such incomprehensible designations as A1, B2, and the 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 in recruiting students into a group and preparing teaching aids, methods, and 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.

Essentially they are 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 other people, ask simple personal questions, 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 the vocabulary only elementary 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 on general topics such as family, shopping, work, etc.
• Talk about simple everyday topics using 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 knowledge of grammar are 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 pretext (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.
• Compose clear, detailed text on various topics, explain points of view, give arguments for and against various points of view on the 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 recorded by the speaker like “London is the capital”, but short excerpts from films (Puzzle English specializes in learning English from films and TV series). In English-language films, the characters' speech is close to how people speak in real life, so the test can 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 test will not test your speech like a human, but the test developers have come up with an 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 a complete list of questions with the correct answers, and 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, there may be a language school in your city that offers free language testing 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 a detailed description of the 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.

Pre Intermediate is the third of six levels of foreign language proficiency according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages ​​- - and is designated B1. It can be translated into Russian as “pre-threshold” or simply “below average”.

General characteristics of the level

Proficiency in English Pre Intermediate assumes that the student has already mastered the two previous levels: Beginner and Elementary. At the first level, he learned the alphabet, became acquainted with the basics of phonetics, learned basic vocabulary and learned how to write simple sentences - this level is basic. At the Elementary level, he had to start speaking, continue to expand his vocabulary, get acquainted with the basics of grammar, understand word formation and tenses of the Simple group: , and .

After this, you can move on to Pre Intermediate. This level assumes that the student will have to master more complex aspects of grammar, take the first step towards getting rid of an accent, learn to read and understand long articles and adapted English literature, and much more interesting things.

Level competencies

At the Pre Intermediate level, the student already communicates quite fluently, albeit with errors, in English, including with foreigners; perceives English speech, constructs complex and complex sentences, reads, watches videos and listens to songs in English.

Free lesson on the topic:

Irregular English verbs: table, rules and examples

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Reading and translation

At the Pre Intermediate level, the student can read and understand, occasionally using a dictionary:

• newspaper, magazine, entertainment articles;
• children's and teenage books, fairy tales, song lyrics;
• literature adapted for English language learners.

Letter

If you speak English at a pre-threshold level, you will be able to:

• write a short story about yourself, your hobbies and plans;
• conduct friendly or any informal correspondence;
• write a short essay on a simple everyday topic;
• communicate on social networks, meet English-speaking foreigners;
• Congratulate someone on their birthday, anniversary, and other holidays in writing.

Listening

At the Pre Intermediate level, speaking English no longer seems as difficult as before. The only difficulties that arise are numerals, geographical names, homophones and other complex words. So, the student, although not completely, already understands:

• newscasters speaking slowly and clearly;
• colloquial speech without regional accents;
• simple films and TV series: comedies, sitcoms, melodramas;
• video blogs and podcasts.

Speech

The pre-threshold level implies that you know about 1500 words and can:

• clearly pronounce all English sounds, speak without long pauses or hesitations;
• talk about yourself, your hobbies, family and other general topics;
• ask a foreigner for help;
• make purchases, book a hotel room, use public transport.

Grammar

At this level the student knows:

• adverbs;
• comparative and superlative degrees;
• general and special issues;
• conditional sentences of the second and third types;
• tenses of the groups Present/Past/Future Continuous and Present/Past/Future Perfect;
• modal verbs;
• phrasal verbs;
• indirect and direct speech.

What it takes to get to the next level

When you realize that you can and know everything listed above, the main thing is not to stop there. If you want the English language to help you build a career, get an education, learn something new and move freely around the world, then the Pre Intermediate level is only the middle of the road, and you still have a lot of work to do. To keep your progress in learning English from slowing down, follow these five tips:

1. Develop the habit of studying English every day. Yes, even on weekends and holidays.


2. Explore different topics. Are you only interested in English cinema and comics? This is great, but in order to grow to the Intermediate level, not to mention Advanced, you need to know vocabulary from many other topics: from politics to mathematics.


3. Communicate with native speakers. Communicating with an English-speaking foreigner is the best practice of speaking.


4. Practice your pronunciation. Try to copy the speech of TV presenters, politicians and audiobook actors to develop clear pronunciation.


5. Think in English. The English language has a peculiar logic in the construction of sentences, which is not similar to Russian. If you translate sentences in Russian word for word, it will be difficult for your foreign interlocutor to understand you.

Video about pre intermediate level:

What does English grammar look like by level?

In this post we will discuss in detail what grammar is covered at different levels of learning English - from beginner to advanced. Let's see examples of this grammar and do a little test.

Just in case, let me remind you that grammar is just one aspect of language learning. Necessary, useful, yes. But far from the only one.

How nice it would be if I learned grammar and, consider myself, mastered English))

English grammar by level

You will see that the same grammar is often repeated at different levels. Read more about why this happens. In short:

• not all grammatical structures are learned the first time (repetition is the mother of learning)))
• at low levels phenomena are considered separately from each other, and at higher levels they are compared with each other
• As the level of English improves, it turns out that each grammatical structure has nuances and subtleties, which insidious teachers are silent about for the time being, so as not to create confusion

English grammar by level - in different textbooks - looks approximately the same. Therefore, I will take as a basis one of the most popular textbooks - English File.

By the way, this English grammar by levels can be a kind of test. Look at any section and see if you understand sentences with grammar examples? But - more importantly - do you use such constructions in your speech? If not, it may not be your level yet. If yes, go to the next level and do the same.

English grammar by level - a short way to the desired section:

Beginner/Starter level grammar

The Beginner level covers the basics - the simplest constructions. At the same time, they are also the most important, because all the complex grammar of higher levels will be based on them.

At this level, a lot of attention is paid to forms - again, to achieve a certain automaticity in simple things, like I am, you are, he is. Grammatical constructions at the Beginner level are mainly treated separately from each other to avoid confusion of comparisons and nuances.

Elementary level grammar

The Elementary level is very similar to the previous level. I will say more, often instead of Beginner, my students and I take on Elementary right away, we just go through it a little more thoroughly.

The Elementary grammar is almost identical to the grammar of the previous level.

Pre-intermediate level grammar

At the Pre-intermediate level they are already beginning to compare different designs with each other and find out the nuances. Why is it better to say somewhere I study economics, and somewhere - I"m studying economics.

Intermediate Grammar

At the Intermediate level, they also compare already familiar phenomena with each other and, of course, study new ones.

Upper-intermediate grammar

By the advanced Upper-intermediate level, enlightenment usually sets in; the basics have already been covered. All that remains is to repeat them a little and move on to the interesting and subtleties of grammar.

Advanced Grammar

That's all English grammar by levels.

Does English grammar really end after the Advanced level? No, of course)) If you look at the levels, there is also the Proficiency level, but the line of conversation courses really ends at the Advanced level.

Perhaps this is because:

• even an ambitious user of English rarely needs a level higher than Advanced (not to mention the average learner who stays in the Intermediate area)
• at high levels, people already know how to find the necessary authentic materials on their own and independently organize their training
• at high levels, many people think about a more practical and targeted use of English - for example, preparation for international exams (IELTS, TOEFL and others) or specialized courses in the profession

And there are still a lot of subtleties left even after the Advanced level!

How do you like English grammar by levels?

Did you manage to determine your level with its help? Share in the comments!