Languages—including academic English—are learned through intensive and extensive practice. A number of intensive and extensive activities can help you practice each of the four major language skills: writing, reading, listening, and speaking.
Intensive practice involves focusing on a small amount of material with a high level of attention. Completing grammar exercises, for instance, is an intensive writing activity. A grammar exercise will help you develop control over a specific grammatical concept, such as past-tense verbs or the use of prepositions following adjectives. You practice intensive reading when you read difficult material to accomplish a specific purpose, such as analyzing a sample essay or looking for information in your college textbooks. Intensive listening and speaking occur when you focus on the specific use of a grammar form or the pronunciation of a word or when you take notes in a class.
In contrast to intensive practice, extensive practice involves absorbing a larger quantity of information, typically over a longer period of time, and can include activities that you do for entertainment. Extensive practice activities focus less on individual words or forms and more on general comprehension and fluency—your ability to understand, use, and think in English without translating from your native language. Listening to music or audio podcasts, watching television shows or movies, and even having a conversation with friends are extensive speaking and listening practices that can help you develop your speed and your grasp of “natural” English forms in various contexts. Extensive reading activities might include reading books, magazines, blogs, or online news articles in English for your own enjoyment and interest. E-mailing friends, texting, blogging, and keeping a journal are excellent opportunities for extensive writing practice if you do them in English rather than in your native language.
(Section E4-b provides a list of writing prompts that can be used for both intensive and extensive practice.)