How to improve our language skills properly?

Some people can understand but cannot speak English. On the other side, some people can speak but make lots of mistakes. Sometimes even we can't understand what they say. Also, they can't understand high-level text or speech. Why? Because their learning strategies are incorrect, or incomplete.

Constructivism is one of the most prominent theories about learning, and according to constructivism, learning is an active process in which we construct mental structures. From a constructivist perspective, skill development and muscle building are quite similar. We need food containing high protein and exercise to build muscles. Similarly, we need knowledge and experience to develop skills.

If we just increase our knowledge but don't gain experience, we can understand what we read and listen but we cannot express ourselves. On the other hand, if we just gain a lot of experience but don't improve our knowledge, then we can express ourselves but we would make many mistakes and sometimes we could be misunderstood. Also, we can't understand high-level texts or speeches.

We must learn essential grammar and the most frequent words. At the same time, we must use the target language by listening to music, reading books, writing comments or a journal, and watching films and series. So we can gain experience.

In conclusion, if we want to improve our language skills properly, we need to gain both KNOWLEDGE and EXPERIENCE.