At ASC English, we believe that learning English is a step-by-step journey. To help students, families, and sponsors clearly understand progress, ASC uses a six-level Achievement Scale, ranging from beginner to advanced, along with specialized courses in TOEFL Preparation and Business English.

ASC English is a Boston-based language school offering comprehensive English language programs tailored for international students. Established in 1993, the school has built a strong community by providing high-quality instruction and support to learners at various proficiency levels.

ASC English is a Boston-based language school offering comprehensive English language programs tailored for international students. Established in 1993, the school has built a strong community by providing high-quality instruction and support to learners at various proficiency levels.

ASC English Achievement Scale

This scale describes what students can do at each level in reading, writing, listening, speaking, grammar, and pronunciation. Each level has measurable Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs), so students know exactly how their skills are developing and what they will be able to achieve by the time they complete the level.

How the Scale Works

  • Levels 1–2 (Beginner/High Beginner): Students learn to recognize the English alphabet, high-frequency words, and basic conversations, and express basic ideas clearly.

  • Levels 3–4 (Intermediate/High Intermediate): Students expand their vocabulary and grammar, allowing them to engage in more complex communication. They can understand longer texts, write structured paragraphs, and participate in social and academic discussions.

  • Levels 5–6 (Advanced/High Advanced): Students achieve fluency and flexibility in English for academic, professional, and real-world settings. At this stage, learners can write detailed essays, comprehend demanding texts and lectures, and communicate effectively at near-native proficiency.

Specialized Tracks

  • TOEFL Preparation: Focuses on strategies and practice for the Reading, Listening, Speaking, and Writing sections of the TOEFL exam, helping students achieve the test scores required for university admission.

  • Business English: Builds advanced communication skills for professional contexts, including presentations, meetings, and written reports, with emphasis on fluency, accuracy, and clarity in workplace settings.

Why This Matters

The Achievement Scale ensures that progress is transparent and meaningful. Students, parents, and sponsors can see how each level builds toward the next, with clear benchmarks along the way. Whether the goal is university admission, professional advancement, or daily communication, ASC’s scale provides a roadmap for success.

ASC Achievement Scale: Levels One - Six

Skill/Level

Level One

Level Two

Level Three

Level Four

Level Five

Level Six

Reading

At this level, learners can recognize the English alphabet and high frequency vocabulary words, enabling them to correctly extract overall meaning from common, everyday, textual sources

At this level, learners can recognize daily vocabulary and common sentence structures, enabling them to correctly extract meaning from textual sources.

At this level, learners can understand common written vocabulary and simple structures, enabling them to correctly extract overall meaning from simple, affirmative and negative statements as well as questions in textual sources.

At this level, learners can understand a range of written texts and recognize implicit meaning, allowing them to extract meaning from textual sources for social and academic purposes.

At this level, learners can understand a wide range of demanding, longer written texts and recognize implicit meaning, allowing them to effectively and flexibly extract meaning from textual sources for social, academic, and professional purposes.

At this level, learners can understand, with ease, most general and academic written texts on familiar, unfamiliar, and abstract topics, allowing them to successfully comprehend information from different written sources in academic and professional settings. 

Writing

At this level, learners can form the English alphabet and use/spell high frequency vocabulary words, enabling them to meaningfully express basic ideas by correctly using common, everyday words and expressions in writing.

At this level, learners can write using daily vocabulary and common sentence structures, enabling them to meaningfully express ideas by correctly using common words and phrases to form simple and some slightly more complex sentences in writing

At this level, learners can write using common vocabulary and simple structures, enabling them to meaningfully express ideas by correctly constructing simple, affirmative and negative statements as well as questions in writing.

At this level, learners can  express themselves in writing using idioms, enabling them to produce well-structured written responses on a variety of social and academic topics.  

At this level, learners can produce clear, well-structured, detailed texts on complex topics and show controlled use of organizational patterns and cohesive devices, allowing them to flexibly and effectively express themselves in writing for social, academic, and professional purposes.

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Listening

At this level, learners can recognize the English alphabet and high frequency vocabulary words, enabling them to correctly extract overall meaning from common, everyday, spoken sources.

At this level, learners can understand daily vocabulary and common sentence structures, enabling them to correctly extract meaning from spoken sources.

At this level, learners can understand common vocabulary and simple structures, enabling them to correctly extract overall meaning from simple, affirmative and negative statements as well as questions in spoken sources.

At this level, learners can understand a range of texts and recognize their implicit meaning, allowing them to extract meaning from spoken sources for social and academic purposes.

At this level, learners can understand a wide range of demanding, longer spoken texts and recognize implicit meaning, allowing them to effectively and flexibly extract meaning from spoken sources for social, academic, and professional purposes.

At this level, learners can understand with ease most general and academic spoken texts on familiar, unfamiliar, and abstract topics and differentiating finer shades of meaning even in more complex situations, allowing them to successfully comprehend information from varying spoken sources in academic and professional settings. 

Speaking

At this level, learners can say the English alphabet and high frequency vocabulary words, enabling them to meaningfully express basic ideas by correctly producing common, everyday words and expressions in speech.

At this level, learners can speak using daily vocabulary and common sentence structures, enabling them to meaningfully express ideas by correctly using common words and phrases to form simple and some slightly more complex sentences in speech.

At this level, learners can speak using common vocabulary and simple structures, enabling them to meaningfully express level-appropriate ideas by correctly constructing simple, affirmative and negative statements as well as questions in speech. 

At this level, learners can spontaneously express themselves using idioms, enabling them to produce well-structured spoken responses on a variety of social and academic topics.

At this level, learners can express themselves fluently and spontaneously without much effort searching for expressions, allowing them to flexibly and effectively use spoken English for social, academic, and professional purposes.

At this level, learners can  reconstruct arguments and accounts in a coherent presentation and express themselves spontaneously, fluently, and precisely, allowing them to communicate in classroom and professional settings regarding presentation skills and conveying opinions at a near-native level.

Grammar

At this level, learners can understand the basic structures of English in the context of simple grammar based on models, ways to express routine activities, formulaic interactions, and describing experiences.

At this level, learners can use and understand slightly more complex grammatical structures including diverse sentence structures, topics, and tense grammar at a range of formality.

At this level, learners can use and understand how to formulate intermediate grammatical constructions to indicate a range of level-appropriate modality, conditionality, clausal structure, or cohesive devices.

At this level, learners can use and understand a range of pragmatic devices to express not only directness, politeness, voice, more information or detail but also do so through correct use of regular and irregular forms. 

At this level, learners can use and navigate advanced concepts of grammar such as all verb tenses (present, past, future), aspects (simple, continuous, perfect), and voice (active and passive), to relate complex concepts using every level of formality, conditionality, and syntactic constructions to convey high-level meaning.

Pronunciation

At this level, learners can understand and produce the various sounds, vowels and consonants, that exist in English as well as the variations that occur, productively and receptively, in stress, rhythm, intonation, or lack thereof in basic interaction.

At this level, learners can break down the intricacies of how different speech types (interrogative, imperative, declarative, and exclamatory) are produced in English, how sounds change based on the surrounding letters, and how to derive linguistic information from tone and pace.

At this level, learners can recognize, produce, and adapt to various sounds in English based on a range of factors such as placement, surroundings, and exceptions to such rules.

At this level, learners can understand and produce the variability in stress, rhythm, reduction, silencing, and intonation based on a multitude of factors, such as, verbal tense, sentence type, connected speech, and part of speech.

At this level, learners can  recognize, produce, and adapt to real-world communication tasks derived from learners’ needs and goals by expanding perception or listening based pronunciation practice to include a variety of L2 accents.

At this level, learners can recognize, produce, and investigate advanced concepts in pronunciation and to utilize critical thinking to make predictions about the usage and production of English sounds, words, and phrases. 

ASC Achievement Scale: TOEFL Preparation and Business English

Skill/Level

TOEFL Preparation

Business English

Reading

At this level, learners can become familiar with the Reading section of the TOEFL exam and develop skills for reading and comprehending academic materials in

English, in order to help them predict what is required and the best way to achieve

their desired TOEFL reading section score.

At this level, learners can understand, with ease, varying sources of business-focused written production in English, to work toward near-native English reading

comprehension ability in business-related settings.

Writing

At this level, learners can become familiar with the Writing section of the TOEFL exam and develop skills for producing academic writing that clearly conveys well-organized ideas in English, in order to help them predict what is required and the best way to achieve their desired TOEFL writing section score.

At this level, learners can develop skills for effective writing in English, including coherently composing informational summaries and reconstructed arguments and accounts, to work toward achieving near-native English writing ability in business-related settings.

Listening

At this level, learners can become familiar with the Listening section of the TOEFL exam and develop skills for comprehending academic conversations and lectures in English and mastering note-taking strategies for all listening passages throughout the test, in order to help them predict what is required and the best way to achieve their desired TOEFL listening section score.

At this level, learners can understand, with ease, varying sources of business-focused spoken production in English and to differentiate finer shades of meaning even in complex situations, to work toward near-native English listening comprehension ability in business-related settings.

Speaking

At this level, learners can become familiar with the Speaking section of the TOEFL exam and develop skills for speaking English effectively in academic settings, including expressing and explaining preferences and verbally demonstrating understanding of academic and university-related topics, in order to help them predict what is required and the best way to achieve their desired TOEFL speaking section score.

At this level, learners can develop skills for effective speaking in English, including coherently communicating informational summaries and effectively presenting reconstructed arguments and accounts while expressing themselves spontaneously, fluently, and precisely, to work toward achieving near-native English speaking ability in business-related and workplace settings.

Grammar

At this level, learners can access a range of pragmatic devices to express not only directness, politeness, voice, more information or detail but also do so through correct use of regular and irregular forms of English grammar.

At this level, learners can access a range of pragmatic devices to express not only directness, politeness, voice, more information or detail but also do so through correct use of regular and irregular forms of English grammar.

Pronunciation

At this level, learners can focus on real-world communication tasks derived from learners’ needs and goals by expanding perception or listening based pronunciation practice to include a variety of English accents.

At this level, learners can focus on real-world communication tasks derived from learners’ needs and goals by expanding perception or listening based pronunciation practice to include a variety of English accents.

2. Get A Customized Academic Plan

Your Path to College, Simplified

We'll assess your English skills and goals to create a plan that takes you to your dream college, all without taking the TOEFL.

It's all about your goals and the easiest way to achieve them with our help.

3. Skip the TOEFL, Prepare for College

Your Journey with Perks

Start your journey without the TOEFL and enjoy a special three-month discount of

$375 off with ASC English.

Completing our program puts you on the fast track to your dream college through our college partnerships.

Contact & Enroll

Main (Allston): 1106 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02215 — Tel: 617‑730‑3705

Downtown/Chinatown: 65 Harrison Ave, 6th Floor, Boston, MA 02111 — Tel:

617‑338‑5288

Apply: via online forms on the website, email or in person.

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WhatsApp at 781-2140839).