Frequency

Rapid English applies the Pareto principle – 80% of results come from 20% of input – to language teaching. Focusing initially on the 20% of language with the highest frequency of use allows students to meet and practise language with a high communicative value. This language is also the simplest. Because it gives the greatest benefit in the shortest time, students are often amazed by how much they can communicate, clearly, simply and correctly within a short time of starting Rapid English. With a firm grounding in this language they get it right every time, and this allows them to progress confidently and successfully to more complex and infrequent language at a later stage. By contrast, students with learning difficulties who are exposed to complex and infrequent language from the outset fail to master basic communication, and without that cannot proceed to mastery of more complex language.

The Rapid English method is based on:

• detailed in-house research into the frequency of different elements of language, such as vocabulary, tenses, punctuation, sentence types and sound forms, and the frequency of different types of language error
• careful structuring of lessons to ensure that students master the simple language most frequently used before moving on to the less frequent structures.

The principle of teaching language based on frequency is becoming more widely recognised and accepted. This new approach is the main reason Rapid English provides such a different experience from traditional language teaching.