I met Aimee when she came in as a beginning student. She couldn’t understand a lot of what I said, and she had to sit and think anytime she wanted to say something. For the first semester of English classes, she did her homework, studied hard, and saw some improvement in her language skills. But when Aimee came back from summer break, I knew something was different. She spoke with confidence, with a smile on her face, and with a little bit of American slang! Her language skills had definitely improved over the summer.

I wondered what had caused this change, so I asked her one day why her language skills skyrocketed in such a short amount of time. 

She smirked and replied, “Matt helps me.” 

“Who’s Matt?” I asked. I thought perhaps this was a new tutor, and we should start recommending him to some of our other students since he had done so much with Aimee.

Aimee blushed and said, “Matt is my boyfriend. He’s American, so he helps me with my homework.” 

Aha! The magic English improvement plan was a boyfriend! The more I thought about it, the more logical it all became to me. I know from my studies in language acquisition that motivation is a key factor in language learning. The more someone wants to learn a language, the more likely they are to learn it.

If a student is forced into English classes because their parents are making them, that student doesn’t normally flourish. However, if a student is internally motivated because they have a strong desire to use that language in a specific context, that student usually does well. 

The truth is that Matt helping Aimee with her homework did help grow her English skills. However, I think that the stronger reason for growth was not the homework help, but rather it was the fact that Aimee’s motivation to learn English exploded! 

According to research done by Kaplan International, 63% of EFL speakers have dated someone who speaks a different native language. Does dating improve your English? If you’re an English language learner, have you ever dated someone who is a native English speaker? Did it help improve your English?

And since love is in the air, check out this romantic infographic about language and love!

Happy (and romantic) learning! 

Love learning English with Kaplan