You’ve probably set goals for language learning before, but it’s not always easy to keep to them and see the results you were hoping for. So how do you do it? Read on to find out how to set smart goals for language learning.

There’s two things I’m talking about here. Firstly, I’m talking about S.M.A.R.T goals, because everybody loves an accroynm. And secondly, I’m talking about goals that are smart, worthwhile, well thought through.

Let’s clear up what SMART goals are first…

What are SMART goals?

S.M.A.R.T goal setting was first coined in an 80s paper by George T Doran.

Here’s his breakdown of what good goals should be…

S = Specific
M = Measurable
A = Assignable
R = Realistic
T = Time-related

At first glance, this seems pretty obvious that adding these qualities to your goals would make them better and easier to achieve. But these were initially designed for business, so we’ll make a few changes along the way. Don’t worry, there’s already a gazillion and one variations of what these letters stand for.

A lot of websites discussing SMART goals in more detail are business focused, so I’ll go basic for you here and if you want to learn more, here’s the Wikipedia page.

Let’s take a closer look at how we can make each of these qualities work with goals for language learning.

SMART Goals for Language Learning

S = Specific

If you set a goal for language learning like “get better at speaking”, you’re already doing better and halfway there to setting a Specific goal (assuming your initial goal was something like “get better at French”).

However, we can do even better than that. What is it specifically that you wish to improve about speaking?

Is it a boost in your speaking confidence? Your pronunciation? Your pronunciation of a certain letter or letter combination?

Be as specific as you can, and remember you can have multiple goals so don’t worry about being “too specific” and ignoring everything else.

Let’s say our problem is speaking confidence. Our new, more specific goal is: “Improve my speaking confidence”.

Related: How to Overcome Shyness When Speaking a Foreign Language

M = Measurable

Again, seems obvious, right? How can we judge if we’ve improved if our goal is simply “get better at speaking”?

Good goals for language learning are measurable.

In other words, you have a way you can easily confirm you’ve done it.

For our example, this could be “Improve my speaking confidence and measure this by having a 10 minute conversation with my tutor without switching to English or asking her to repeat to fill time!”

A = Assignable Achievable

This one is where things fall apart a little.

The original SMART goals were created for business, not for solo language learners!

That’s why A = Assignable…well, the goal is assigned to us as solo language learners! We can’t pass the task onto anyone else.

There’s many variations here across different versions of SMART goals created since (because, as I said, we all love an accronym and will squeeze ourselves into someone elses).

We’ll go for Achievable, as it’s most relevant to us and goals for language learning.

Our language goals need to be Achievable. In other words, if we say we’re going to have a “10 minute conversation with my tutor without switching to English or asking her to repeat to fill time”, that’s all well and good as long as we’re not starting from zero and expecting to get there tomorrow.

This leads to our next point…

R = Realistic Relevant

Another one from the original we need to switch up a bit.

Realistic goals are great, but it’s kinda doubling up if we’re already switching out to ‘achievable’ for ‘A’.

So here we are swapping ‘realistic’ for ‘relevant’.

Here’s why goals for language learning should be relevant: we learn stuff better when that stuff matters to us.

For Harry Potter fans, adding in to our goal that our “10 minute conversation with my tutor without switching to English or asking her to repeat to fill time” will be a conversation about what Harry Potter kids do before they’re 11 makes sense.

But if we’ve never read a single Harry Potter book or seen one of the films, then that is a completely irrelevant addition, and unlikely to get us the results we’re after.

For argument’s sake, we’ll make our goal relevant for a Harry Potter fan.

Here’s where we’re at now:

“Improve my speaking confidence and measure this by having a 10 minute conversation answering the question ‘What do Harry Potter kids do before they’re 11?’ with my tutor without switching to English or asking her to repeat to fill time!”

Related: The Essential Vocabulary to Learn in Any Language (Your First 200 Words…ish!)

T = Time-related

Our final step of SMART goals for language learning is ‘time-related’. This basically means give it a deadline or it doesn’t happen.

“Improve my speaking confidence and measure this by having a 10 minute conversation in 3 months time answering the question ‘What do Harry Potter kids do before they’re 11?’ with my tutor without switching to English or asking her to repeat to fill time!”

Much better!

Related: How to NOT Waste Time on Instagram When Learning a Language

WHAT ELSE DO WE NEED FOR GOALS FOR LANGUAGE LEARNING?

Through following the SMART method, we’ve ended up with a really great goal to aim for…and a very long sentence.

But if you leave it there, you may as well not have bothered.

There’s one key task that we need to add into our goal setting process to ensure that we actually get this stuff done: focusing on the how.

Seeing as SMARTH sounds like a villain from Harry Potter, or Star Wars, or some other saga, the acronym isn’t as catchy with a ‘H’ for ‘How’ added on. Probably why it’s never caught on.

But don’t let the lack of acronym fool you – figuring out how you’ll reach your SMART goals is really important.

What we have so far is a greta goal, but no direction.

It’s like planning a holiday and saying “I’ll overcome my fear of flying by going to Sicily in 6 months and flying there in economy on my own and booking a helicopter ride and paragliding experience while I’m there to really test my nerves.”

Cool. But how are you going to get on that first plane without any initial prep before then?

That’s the unsexy, unaccronym-able “how”.

Onion Goals

One of the reasons this often doesn’t happen is that it’s not easy to start at the beginning, know where you want to end up but see nothing in the middle.

A better approach is to work backwards – start with your end goal (our SMART goal above).

Put your SMART goal in the centre of a circle and add an outer layer asking “how you’ll do this?”

Imagine a nagging, negative family member or friend squawking in your head “How are you going to do that?”

Do it again and again and again – as many times as you need.

Eventually, you’ll end up with a clear path of tasks for your “how”.

A way to make this easier for SMART goals is to split each circle for each letter in our acronym.

For example…

Ladder Goals

Sometimes, I also like to combine Onion Goals with Ladder Goals. Or Step Goals. I draw them like steps but I prefer the name ladder. What can you do.

These can help to see the bigger picture of what you’d like to achieve and what you need to achieve before then to make that end goal happen.

Each step (or ladder rung!) can then become it’s own Onion Goal.

Learn more about both Onion and Ladder Goals here.

One More Thing…

As you can see by now, the more you think about goal-setting, the easier it becomes, but…and it’s a big but…it can take the fun out of it all if you go to far with your goals for language learning.

If your only focus 100% of the time is #GOALS, then you’ll soon tire of your language studies and your motivation will take a serious dip.

So what’s the answer?

HAVE FUN!

Language learning should be a rewarding part of your life, not a chore bogged down by goals.

Find music you love, allow yourself some relaxing time with a Netflix show, cook a meal using a recipe in that language.

Whatever it is you do for fun, weave in your languages wherever possible so it’s a part of your life you associate with fun as well as structured goals.