Learning English
Methods, tips, and tool comparisons for learning English: extensive reading, listening practice, building vocabulary, and choosing an app for your level.
24 posts
- Word lists teach English words fast, reading teaches them deeply. What the research on graded readers, novels, and 10+ encounters says, and how to combine both.The Dobi Apps Team11 min read
- A 669,498-person study found grammar learning stays strong until about 17. Why start age matters less than input in school settings, and what to do at each age.The Dobi Apps Team9 min read
- Cambridge English puts B2 at about 500 to 600 guided learning hours and C2 at 1,000 to 1,200. What that means in months if you study 30 or 60 minutes a day.The Dobi Apps Team10 min read
- The hardest English sounds are th, r and l, v and w, ship and sheep vowels, and final consonants. Why your first language decides which, and how to practice.The Dobi Apps Team15 min read
- Native speakers link, drop, and shrink sounds at nearly 200 words a minute. Why that breaks your listening, and the decoding practice research says fixes it.The Dobi Apps Team10 min read
- Ready-made phrases make up about half of English, and learners who use more of them get higher fluency ratings. Colorful idioms matter less, and here is why.The Dobi Apps Team9 min read
- Nation's corpus study puts unaided reading at 8,000 to 9,000 word families and speech at 6,000 to 7,000. What that means per CEFR level, and how to get there.The Dobi Apps Team11 min read
- Learners mix up affect and effect, make and do, or borrow and lend because of first-language transfer, one-to-many translations, and look-alike word forms.The Dobi Apps Team7 min read
- A 2019 study found children read to daily hear 1.4 million more words by age 5. Dialogic reading, timing, and audio choices make bedtime stories teach English.The Dobi Apps Team7 min read
- EF SET's own validation study found its free CEFR test correlates moderately strongly with TOEFL iBT scores. How to test or self-assess your English level.The Dobi Apps Team11 min read
- Self-determination theory research on autonomy, competence, and relatedness explains why English learners quit, and what keeps motivation going instead.The Dobi Apps Team10 min read
- A 2022 meta-analysis of 29 studies found game-based English vocabulary learning works short-term, but most of its edge over non-game study fades within weeks.The Dobi Apps Team8 min read
- A 1997 study found slowing audio down improved L2 listening comprehension, and a 2024 study of 168 learners found speed interacts with proficiency level.The Dobi Apps Team11 min read
- A National Reading Panel review found repeated reading raises fluency, and a 2025 study found narrow reading raised L2 vocabulary scores with a large effect.The Dobi Apps Team9 min read
- A 186-learner EFL study found text-audio produced the largest listening gains and text-picture the largest reading gains, but all three combined added nothing.The Dobi Apps Team5 min read
- A 332-learner study found high schoolers scored 91% higher with bilingual subtitles than with none, but subtitles did not help young beginners at all.The Dobi Apps Team5 min read
- A landmark study found new habits take 66 days to feel automatic on average. Here is what that means for building a daily English learning routine that lasts.The Dobi Apps Team5 min read
- Comics pair pictures with text, and research on that combination found EFL learners scored 45% higher after multimodal study than after text-only study.The Dobi Apps Team5 min read
- Shadowing means speaking along with audio in real time. A 2025 study found it raised EFL listening scores 32% in 8 weeks and linked it to pronunciation gains.The Dobi Apps Team6 min read
- Comprehensible input means text you can almost fully understand. A landmark 2000 study found 98% word coverage is the threshold, and how to test your own level.The Dobi Apps Team6 min read
- Duolingo builds a daily habit, Storybook teaches through stories, ELSA Speak fixes pronunciation, HelloTalk finds native speakers, and Anki locks in vocabulary.The Dobi Apps Team6 min read
- Spaced repetition beats cramming for English vocabulary. A 2022 meta-analysis of 48 experiments found a medium-to-large effect on retention over massed study.The Dobi Apps Team5 min read
- A 26-week EFL study found reading while listening to audiobooks lifted English listening scores and produced 4x the vocabulary gain of a control group.The Dobi Apps Team5 min read
- Learning English through stories works through extensive reading: meeting words again in real context. How to pick the right level, plus 5 apps to try.The Dobi Apps Team5 min read
