0:00 hello and welcome to this tutorial explaining what the differences are in three different levels of what's considered advanced writing specifically the differences between b2 level c1 level and c2 level b2 is considered intermediate c1 is advanced and c2 is more termed proficiency level okay here we've got three sentences last winter I went to Spain I had a great time there I met really interesting people now clearly the idea that the author is
0:45 communicating in these three sentences is obvious there are no grammatical errors there are no spelling mistakes generally this is clear writing however it's not a native sounding writing what level would you guess this is well that's right you guessed it this is b2 level let's take a look at how we could improve this level of writing to create what's considered advanced level okay there's our standing example as we've seen now how would we go about creating a more c1 level of English more academic sounding English
1:32 more native sounding last winter I went to Spain comma where I had a very enjoyable time I met some truly interesting people now you can see that we've already made one change which is to combine these sentences which is the marker of more advanced and more fluent sounding writing and we've also sort of pimped up up to the level of formality in the vocabulary instead of using the word great we've used enjoyable instead of really truly okay so it's already improved however this isn't what would be considered proficient or c2 level academic writing what would that look like your C to last
2:18 winter I had the distinct pleasure of visiting Spain where I had a truly enjoyable experience as well as an opportunity to meet some extremely interesting people then what you see here is the sentences have been combined into one and in English this is not considered too long the grammar is accurate and the sentence reads fluently and instead of using sort of ordinary vocabulary we've upped the level to see - by using some more exotic vocabulary such as distinct pleasure truly enjoyable extremely interesting and instead of just using the word time
3:04 which is kind of pedestrian kind of ordinary we've used the word experience as well as a synonym opportunity now already in this example you can see that C - level English incorporates a longer more fluent sentences with what are called sub clauses in English as well as more varied sentence structure and more sort of exotic academic vocabulary let's take a look at another example okay this is an example from a reflection report written by a student that student is a teacher of English and this student was writing about something
3:51 that had gone well in her teaching here was the raw writing at b2 level the student wrote I asked around to my colleagues about how they handled teaching to their classes it seemed I was not the only one with a problem they didn't have an answer to my problem but I did feel better because now I knew I wasn't the only one with this problem then I decided to give my pupils a questionnaire with questions on how to make the English lessons more easy and more fun for them okay again the message is clear but there's a lot of repetition in for example we've got three problems here within the space of two sentences that's awfully
4:37 monotonous repetitious sounding we've also got questionnaire questions more easy more fun again there's a way that we can improve the level of English to see one and let's see what that is I asked found to see how my colleagues handled teaching to their students it seemed I was not the only one with a problem they did not have an answer to my problem but I did feel better knowing I was not the only one with this problem I decided to give my pupils a questionnaire with questions focusing on how to make the English lessons easier and more fun for them okay there are some improvements here for example instead of saying they didn't have an
5:23 answer I wasn't the only one we've now upped the level of formality by writing the words separately this is the marker of advanced level academic writing they did not have an answer to my problem I was not the only one okay instead of saying I did feel better because now I knew here we've changed it to I did feel better knowing we've used a gerund an ink form and that helps the fluency I got rid of the word then because it's just unnecessary and I decided to give my pupils a questionnaire with questions focusing on that's a little more specific than this
6:09 language which is a bit vague and we've also used a comparative we've used the word easier instead of more easy and again that's more correct grammar and it's also more varied okay so it's already been improved but we're still missing that c2 element what might that be well let's take a look I inquired amongst my colleagues as to how they managed to succeed in teaching English to their students and it quickly became evident that I was not the only one with this problem unfortunately my colleagues did not have a ready answer to my problem however I did feel better knowing I was not the only one facing this particular difficulty I decided to
6:54 ask my pupils to complete a questionnaire I decide this I designed this myself requesting their input on how to make the English lessons easier and more enjoyable for them now already you can see that we've increased the level of academic sounding language instead of saying I asked around I inquired amongst my colleagues how they handle teaching well it's not just handling it it's how you manage to succeed we've also combined two sentences here again creating a sub clause with a comma it seemed we've changed too it quickly became evident alright unfortunately we've used a nice linker here because again this pulls these two thoughts together and that's missing in this c1
7:41 level example instead of using the word abut however always sounds more academic and more advanced and instead of again writing the word problem we've instead written this particular difficulty so again it's all about varied a vocabulary a more specific language well you didn't simply she didn't simply give her pupils a questionnaire she asked them to complete it and then she designed it herself and she states here requesting their input on how to make the English lessons easier and instead of saying fun we've now written more enjoyable okay let's look at yet another example from
8:27 the same reflection report written by a student here is the raw writing at b2 level I discovered that sometimes the questionnaire is needed in the classroom after I did one in my class and we agreed to change my teaching a little bit so they could learn better I also did some with other classes there were no big changes there Oh No but anyway it is good to ask for the pupils Oh mistake point of view now and again I find that for me it is the best way to know if and how I can make my lessons in my teaching better ok there are a few mistakes unfortunately which need to be improved so we can achieve advanced
9:14 level and again we see that sentences should be combined and perhaps we should use some more advanced vocabulary well let's do it I discovered that sometimes the questionnaire is needed in the classroom after I did one in class ok just got rid of my and we mutually agreed that's a nice what's called a collocation those words go nicely together in English you often see them together and we mutually agreed on changing my teaching a little bit to accommodate their learning needs that's a much more advanced sounding way of saying so they could learn better a little bit to accommodate their learning needs I also did some with my other
9:59 classes there were no big changes aha and we've also improved here we have there were no big changes there and that's the incorrect form of there that's not correct here we fixed it there were no big changes necessary there but nevertheless it's much more formal sounding way of saying but anyway but nevertheless it is good to ask for the point of view of students now and again this was a mistake if you're if you're talking about something that is of the pupils that is their point of view you would need an apostrophe here to show that it's possessive however it gets a bit tricky where do you put the apostrophe well what we've done here is tried to avoid it by saying the point of
10:47 view of students that sounds a bit clunky in English in a moment we'll take a look at an improvement I found that for me it is the best way to know if and how I can improve on my lessons and teaching instead of how I can make my lessons better how I can improve on again more see one level writing we've used some lovely combinations of words that native speakers would use okay but let's same for c2 shall we I discovered that occasionally a questionnaire requesting input from learners themselves is the best course of action indeed it can be extremely beneficial to ask students directly what
11:32 they think would be most effective as this creates a democratic and egalitarian method of learning doing so can also enable youngsters to take a greater level of control of their own learning process we've used some more specific vocabulary here and in fact we've written a bit less but said more with more specific wording so instead of saying sometimes we've upped it to occasionally and here this is rather vague I would say desks are needed in a classroom a whiteboard is needed in a classroom here you've just you've used a questionnaire requesting input because
12:19 that is the best course of action it's a teaching strategy it's a methodology again more specific language and actually here we've left this out entirely why because it's kind of unnecessary she the author explains that she went on to do this sort of questionnaire with other groups but it wasn't actually useful or it didn't yield anything well let's just leave that out then that's rather unnecessary and redundant and then we can use the space to say something more specific and relevant and then we get to use words and vocabulary such as extremely beneficial most effective democratic
13:07 egalitarian and then in our last sentence doing so or in doing so the can enable youngsters so we've used a nice word here and able to take a greater level of control and again we've made this more specific language you also see that we've used different words synonyms students youngsters there are lots of synonyms in English use them let's look at one more example this is an example from a student of aviation who was writing US curriculum vitae a resume here is the original at b2 level
13:56 unfortunately it is rife with mistakes that are not acceptable at advanced and proficiency level I have learned a lot on my present job at this company in the world of aviation it is important to stay accurate and do not make any mistake which could lead to an unsatisfied customer I take care of the little details which are easy to miss I focus on customer service and go beyond the basic service expectation now again it is clear what the author is attempting to say but there are some mistakes in the sentence namely one here one here one here and there's definitely
14:46 some vocabulary to be improved alright let's take a look advanced level I have learned a lot at my present job at this company in the world of aviation it is important to stay accurate and not make any mistakes which could lead to customers customers in general being unsatisfied rather than this sounds like it's one customer in the world of aviation and unsatisfied here we've talked about customers in general in English you do not take care of details you take care of your children your pets your relatives your hair your skin in English you attention to details which are easy to
15:35 overlook or dismiss as insignificant again upping the level of vocabulary are easy to miss well let's use more specific language easy to overlook or dismiss as insignificant unimportant it's all about synonyms okay now shall we take a look at the c2 level improvement here it is I have learned a great deal that sounds much nicer than a lot I've learned a great deal in my current position already that's an improvement over my present job my current position at this company for instance here's a nice linker these
16:23 sentences are examples of what the person has learned thus for instance I now know that in the aviation sector it sounds a bit more professional than the world of aviation it is vital nice to maintain a high degree of accuracy so instead of saying it's important to stay accurate this is much more specific and appropriate language for a curriculum vitae in addition one should not make mistakes which could lead to customer dissatisfaction it's a much more advanced sounding way of saying customers being unsatisfied I endeavor I
17:11 try I strive to pay attention to small details which are often easy to overlook or dismiss as insignificant additionally I am customer service orientated and always strive to provide more than just the basics in quality service ok so again let's recap what are the markers the indicators of more advanced level academic right first off using linking words and linking phrases to connect ideas this will help writing to read fluently and smoothly and more importantly this
17:58 is how natives write at an advanced level at advanced level in academic writing especially accurate grammar punctuation and spelling are of paramount importance they are crucial using more academic or formal vocabulary words that you might not come across every day this is the marker of higher level writing okay overall readability one bit of advice might be once you've written a piece read it out loud to yourself now in an exam setting you might want to whisper or do this silently in your head but you need to
18:43 read the piece again so that you as a reader can see if it's readable does it flow smoothly and lastly try to aim for less repetition in sentence structure so varying the structure of your sentences using commas and sub-clauses to create longer more fluent sentences is key and indeed word choice thus synonyms instead of using the word then you could say therefore instead of writing that is why or that is the reason why use a word like therefore thus hence instead of always using the word important vary
19:30 your word choice using words such as crucial vital significant hopefully this tutorial has helped to indicate to all of you what advanced level writing and tales good luck
