Language Learning Goals: Set SMART Goals

If you’re learning a new language, you probably have language learning goals. I mean, isn’t one of them to become fluent in your target language?

However, not all goals are created equally. Some will help you, while others can frustrate you, make you want to give up, and hinder your progress.

Enter: SMART goals. Keep reading to find out what SMART goals are and how you can set SMART language learning goals to learn a language faster and more effectively.

What are SMART goals?

SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely. The idea is to apply each principle to your goal to create a goal that is actionable. Don’t worry, we’ll tackle each letter and relate it to language learning goals in just a bit.

Why set SMART goals to learn a language?

While having a general goal is a great start, having a SMART goal provides you with extra guidance to ensure you’re really on the right track to reaching it.  It helps keep you organized, sets up a plan of action, and allows you to reach your goal more efficiently.

Because it’s more detailed, it’s more effective and efficient. You aren’t left wondering if your goal is too hard, or when you’ll reach it.

You’ll have done the work to know that you can achieve your goal and can then start to plan a strategy to reach it.

You end up wasting less time and have a higher chance of success because you’re more focused on your gameplan.

This is especially true when learning a language. There are so many moving parts to reaching fluency. To change a vague goal like “I want to learn a new language” to feel more doable, use SMART goals to keep you motivated and on track.

But first, where are you currently? Intro to CEFR levels

You can’t make progress if you don’t really know where you are to begin with. I use CEFR levels to track my language learning progress. I find it helpful when I’m creating my goals. Here’s a brief overview of each level so you can use them yourself when creating your own language learning SMART goal:

Lower Beginner A1

You can understand basic phrases and terms, can do things like introduce yourself, describe where you live, things you own, or people you know at a basic level. Plus, you can interact if the other person speaks slowly and clearly.

Upper Beginner A2

At this level, you can understand basic sentences and phrases. You can also discuss at a basic level things that are immediately relevant to you. Examples would be simple personal and family information, shopping, local geography, and employment.

Lower Intermediate B1

As a B1 learner, you “can describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes & ambitions and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans.” You can also write a simple text on topics that interest you.

Upper Intermediate B2

You can understand texts that cover abstract and concrete topics, can speak with native speakers without too much difficulty, and can write detailed texts on a variety of topics.

To put B2 into perspective, this is the level required to enter many European universities. So even though it’s still considered intermediate, it’s nothing to sneeze at!

Advanced C1

As an advanced C1 learner, you can understand longer, more demanding texts (think scholarly articles and university texts). You can also speak easily with natives in all settings, and can create long, detailed texts on complex subjects. This level generally has a strong control of the language.

Proficient C2

At this level, you can understand everything heard and read.

But wait, how is this much different than B2 level, if that level is high enough to study at a university level?

This level has a very broad vocabulary, including specialized words native speakers wouldn’t even usually see (think: scholarly texts or specialized vocabulary).

What I think is most key with this level, is that C2 learners understand not just the words, but the implied meaning and concepts, too.

Here are more details on CEFR levels if you’re interested!

Language Learning Goals REHAB: Make Them SMART

Now that you have an understanding of your current language proficiency, let’s break down each letter of SMART.

Specific

The S is SMART stands for specific. This is where you get down to the nitty gritty and specify exactly what you’re aiming for.

So instead of saying, “I want to be fluent in Spanish,” something more specific would be “I want to reach B1 level in Spanish” or “I want to have a ten minute conversation with a native speaker.”

Measurable

The M is SMART stands for measurable, and it’s where you decide how you’ll track your progress.

This is part of why just going for fluency isn’t the best idea; how do you measure “fluency?”

If you aim for something specific, like wanting to reach B1 level per our Spanish example, you can look at what qualifies as B1 and track against that.

Other ways to measure can be time spent studying, chapters completed in your textbooks, or conversations had in a specific amount of time.

Attainable

This is keeping your goal realistic. You want your goal to be challenging, but doable.

There’s nothing worse than always feeling like you’re coming up short because you picked a goal that was too big for the present.

If you’re a beginner, shooting for lower intermediate is a great goal because it’s attainable. Just opting for fluency as your main goal when you’re a beginner will lead to frustration.

This is also where you take a look at what resources you’ll need to reach your goal. Will you need a tutor? Do you have the textbooks you need? Do you have enough time to study to reach your goal? These will all factor into how attainable your goal is.

Relevant

This is where you make sure your goal fits into your overall life plan.

For example, if you plan to move to Japan, but your goal is to reach level B1 in Spanish, your Spanish goal may not be the most relevant for your current life plan.

NOTE: This isn’t a deal-breaker, but you’ll want to figure out some other reason why you’re goal is relevant right now. Maybe you have family that speak Spanish that you want to communicate with? Or you listen to a lot of Spanish music.

Having a goal that is relevant helps keep your motivation high. If you can see yourself benefiting from your goal in your day-to-day life, you’re more likely to want to reach it.

Timely

The final letter in SMART stands for timely. Following our Spanish fluency goal, so far your SMART goal would be to reach B1 level in Spanish. You’ve found that it is relevant to your life plan, and you’ve done the work to confirm that reaching B1 is attainable.

But what about the timeframe? The final step is to put a deadline on when you want to achieve your goal.

I don’t know about you, but if I don’t have a deadline, I’ll slack and procrastinate. So if you’re anything like me, having a date when you need to reach your goal keeps you from slacking!

Language Learning Goals: SMART Goal Example

So now that we went through the steps, what would this look like altogether? Well, here’s a sample following our original example goal to become fluent in Spanish:

My goal is to go from A2 in Spanish to B1 level in 6 months because I live in a Spanish-speaking area and want to better communicate with those around me. I have a textbook, 2 apps, and a language exchange partner that I can rely on to help me reach my goal. On top of using the CEFR levels to guide me, I’ll plan on completing 2 chapters in my textbook per month, have one ten-minute conversation with my exchange partner per week, and work with my apps interchangeably for ten minutes each day.

Let’s break this goal down.

S: Specific. This goal specifies a bunch, but the main thing here is that it says exactly what their end goal is: to be B1 level in Spanish.

M: Measurable. It’s laid out that to measure progress, they’ll complete daily app work, one ten-minute language exchange convo a week, and will supplement with apps daily for ten minutes.

A: Attainable. Since this person is already A2 level, it’s very doable to reach B1 level in six months with dedicated study. They also have all the resources they need to reach it, so they won’t get stuck later because they’re lacking an important resource.

R: Relevant. We can see that this goal is extremely relevant to the learner’s life because their motivation is to better communicate with their community. Since they live in an area where Spanish is widely spoken, they’ll be reminded of their lack of understanding each day and will be further motivated to close the communication gap.

NOTE: You don’t have to live in an area where your target language is spoken, or plan to move to an area where they speak it, for your goal to be relevant! Check out more about how to stay motivated to learn a language to learn how.

T: Timely. This goal has a deadline of 6 months; the learner knows exactly how long they have so they can plan accordingly!

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All in all…

Start your language learning off right by preparing SMART language learning goals.

This means having goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. It helps to know where you are now in your language journey, and using CEFR levels as a guide is common for good reason!

If you need help creating your SMART language learning goals, here’s a free worksheet you can fill out to guide you. Print it out or use it digitally on your tablet with Goodnotes or Notability.