What are your goals?

You are learning a second or foreign language. You are therefore pursuing one or more personal or professional goals. What are they?  When I ask someone who is learning a language, I often hear these answers: “I want to be better”, or “I want to speak better”.

I understand what this means: the person wants to feel competent and improve their ability to speak French. However, the objectives thus formulated are too vague and therefore difficult to achieve since they are impossible to measure.

What is a SMART goal?

A good goal is specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound (SMART). A SMART  objective is clearly stated.

So let’s try to reformulate one of the previously mentioned objectives to make it SMART: “I want to be better in French”.  The first question to ask is the definition that the learner assigns to “better”.   What aspect of the language does he want to  improve? In what context?

Make a goal SMART 

To make the goal “I want to be better” SMART, we could state this: at the next annual meeting of my organization, in 8 weeks, I want to communicate my ideas to my colleagues effectively and confidently.  This new objective is specific since it aims at the ability to speak effectively and confidently, two parameters that will be easily evaluated  at the end of a meeting.  It is measurable since the learner can measure the achievement in a real situation. It is achievable if the learner already communicates with the colleagues as part of the duties, but more or less effectively and with limited confidence. It is realistic because eight weeks is a realistic period of time to work on the elements necessary to achieve the goal. Finally, it is temporally defined since at the time of formulating it, a determined period is established.

SMART is for life

Setting SMART goals allows us to move towards achieving more global goals, whether they are related to the professional field or the personal sphere.  For example, if you plan to travel to a country where you will have to use a foreign language in various contexts, both orally and in writing, it is better to prepare yourself adequately to feel ready when the time comes.