Why Most Fail in Language Learning and How YOU Can Succeed
This is a hard-hitting look at why most language learners fail despite years of effort, and how you can learn foreign languages effectively with the right method, materials and attitude.
Language Learning: Why Most Fail and How YOU Can Succeed [COMPLETE]
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Copyright © 2010 by John Fotheringham. For more tips, tools, and tech for Mastering ANY Language, go to LanguageMastery.com
Dear John,
I was pleasantly surprised by your presentation. During many years of my own research of the topic “Why language learners usually fail” I met only one other linguist who openly confirmed the fact that the vast majority of language learners fail to reach fluency in their target language even after years and years of study. Robert W. Blair, Creator of the Power-Glide Method wrote: "With few exceptions, language-learning methods have not changed much in the past 50 years. … They are the same old 'uglies' of language learning repackaged to look new. The essence hasn't changed."
I would like to add my own comment to your question: “So if traditional methods are so ineffective, why have they survived soooo long?” I agree with you that the weight of tradition is an important factor – but not the main one. The information revolution resulted in a number of major changes:
•The purpose of learning a foreign language has changed. In the past it was considered as a required subject in school or a prerequisite for those who decided to become linguists. Nowadays knowledge of English can be
the deciding factor in finding a better job or getting a promotion in many countries of the Global economy.
•One billion potential customers in the next 10 years will require a completely new approach in learning English fast and most of them are Digital Learners with new characteristics and requirements which are well defined in this video on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEFKfXiCbLw
•Unfortunately, only 3% of English learners may change their learning habits and become successful; the mass of English learners are stuck within obsolete learning methods. What makes the situation even worth is the fact that the number of English teachers who would agree to change their teaching methods even less than 3%.
•We need a new approach to learning English that will help adults in overcoming cross-translation as the main barrier in acquiring fluency in English and forming in the brain an English language speech center, independent of the native language speech center.
•A no-grammar, no-memorization and zero-translation approach restores the innate language learning ability of any adult. The software prototype of such a method is available for evaluation. Any ESL teacher may obtain the software for free by emailing your request to [email protected].
• I suggest that ESL teachers of the world should unite and create the Ultimate English Teaching Technology for the 21st century. I am working on a Mission Statement for ESL Association and plan to publish it in 4-6 weeks. If you are interested in participating in creation of such Mission Statement and basic requirements for the new ESL teaching technology, send me your email and I will share the draft document with you in Google Docs. Any suggestions and inputs are welcome.
Sincerely,
Arkady Zilberman
After reading your presentation for a second time I decided to add my comments on two other statements in your presentation:
1.To be successful English learners should be: Interested! Disciplined! Patient!
In my opinion they are essential but not sufficient conditions for success. In China currently there are about 300 million English learners who traditionally exhibit the above qualities to a high degree; however the difficulties in acquiring fluency in English are so great that … 20 millions learners use a method called Crazy English. You may understand the essence of this crazy method watching this YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AjRkWm1jAU
Jay Walker calls the current trend in China as English Mania: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jay_walker_on_...
Jay explains why two billion people around the world are trying to learn English. He shares photos and spine-tingling audio of Chinese students rehearsing English — "the world's second language" — by the thousands. They are rehearsing it – not studying it – because there is no valid method on the market that would help them to reach their goal – to acquire fluency in English fast. Chinese and all other Digital Learners nowadays need the method which will allow them training in
the language without learning everything about the language.
Necessity is the Mother of Invention. I think that in this case the invention is on its way. No schools or traditional ESL teachers can meet the current demand in teaching English. The solution would be to develop and implement blended learning using specially designed self-study software in combination with online or offline public classes given by ESL teachers trained in a new no-grammar no-memorization and zero-translation method of learning English. This method should be drastically different to the traditional methods of teaching ESL.
2.“With so much FREE, high quality language learning content available online, there is no excuse to consume boring content. “
In my opinion, the free high quality content on Internet remains wasted to a large extent due to the fact that it should be processed using an innovative learning/teaching technology. As explained above, such technology is on its way.
I have developed and patented in the USA a no-grammar, no-memorization and zero-translation method of learning English, and offer the software prototype based on this invention free to any ESL teacher in the world. This software has a feature of adding any free high quality language learning content available online that will be automatically transformed into a new learning/teaching environment in which English is trained and acquired as a skill. Moreover, this software allows any ESL teacher to recycle their own teaching materials and transfer them into a new environment and start using it within new paradigms.
Here is one problem: I am well aware that both learners and teachers are not willing to change their habits. So my offer falls on deaf ears.
How to solve this problem?
We need some organization like, for example, http://www.eteachersacademy.com/ or http://www.esl-educators-unite.com (under construction) where the highly motivated ESL teachers and educators could be converted to the new method of learning ESL.
We need enthusiasts who will start this process and will ignite the chain reaction of preaching to the willing-to-be-converted. You are more than welcome to contribute and become converted!
Sincerely,
Arkady Zilberman
Thank you for your thoughtful comments Arkady. I have checked out your site and like what you are doing. I'd be happy to discuss potential collaberation with you. I'll try you on Skype soon.
I strongly believe that the future is in Online blended learning using self-study software for home drills and online or offline public classes organized in such a way that when 15-20 students are in a class they all speak 80% of the total time of a lesson. I have a prototype of such a system and would gladly discuss with you the potential for collaboration. I will be waiting for you tomorrow on Skype – my id is azlbridge.
Thanks, Arkady
First of all, thank you Arkady for mentioning the E-Teachers Academy and contactng me on Twitter. Looking forward to a talk with you on Skype.
We are on a turning point of education right now. It is all fairly new but for the first time in history teachers or educators, you name them, can start to build something up on their own without being forced into structures.
I would really like to hear about your Mission Statement, Arcady and you both should also check out Jason West of Languaged Out There. I interviewed him for my series EDUKWEST and you can watch the interview over here: http://www.edukwest.com/jason-west-on-the-social-...
And if you like, you could join us at the E-Teachers Conference which is a monthly meeting of leaders in the education 2.0 industry with presentations and a panel discussion. It's free to join. http://etcon.eteachersacademy.com
Have a great sunday and talk soon,
Kirsten
Thanks for the mention Kirsten, I've just seen this now..what is it…63 weeks late, I'm so on the ball!
John, I love the presentation and the discussion here. It all makes perfect sense to me.
I think Arkady's bullet point in his first post describes what I have been up to:
•We need a new approach to learning English that will help adults in overcoming cross-translation as the main barrier in acquiring fluency in English and forming in the brain an English language speech center, independent of the native language speech center.
I did a case study using two randomly chosen learners earlier this year and this is what Stephen Krashen commented on the 'before and after' podcast of a 27 year old Chinese learner called Jane,
"Remarkable. If we had more description of just what lessons Jane did & other exposure to English, and her own view of what caused the improvement, this would be a major contribution to our knowledge about what works. Thanks for posting this."
You can listen to the audio here:
http://languagesoutthere.podomatic.com/entry/2010...
What I did and what Jane did relates directly to your advice about using MP3s of yourself speaking.. The materials Jane used are our materials that we developed from 250,000 hours of teaching and facilitating real practice conversations with strangers in central London over the last 9 years.
We have materials for students and teachers (guides/coaches/mentors) and both students and teachers can earn money from selling the materials. There are a growing number of advocates for what we do and it is very grassroots still after 9 years because it has been tough and we have had a lot of challenges on the way.
I really do think it is time for change and for language learners to get a much better deal and I think that people like you, me, Kirsten and Arkady do need to collaborate to have meaningful effect.
Kirsten, I definitely plan to attend your conference on Thursday.
Here is my mission statement:
http://www.language-bridge.com/index.php?option=c...
Here is my previous interview done by Torsten who planned to complete it but did not have time or interest. May be you would be interested to make your own interview?
http://www.english-test.net/esl-cafe/37/index.htm...
Regards,
Arkady
Sorry John for hijacking your blog
.
Sure Arkady. I would love to do an interview with you. Let us get together on Skype and then talk about the details. Right now I have still some interviews in the pipeline but mid September would be ok. Also I need to learn more about your method.
Talk soon,
Kirsten
Kirsten, I would be happy to participate in an interview with you. I want to remind you that my Language Bridge self-study software for learning ESL by Russian, Chinese or Spanish speakers is free for ESL teachers or educators – simply email your request with a note which version you would like to download. I recommend to discuss some details of this patented approach with me before you start evaluating it to avoid the innate temptation to compare it with your past experience or knowledge.
I will be on vacation from September 4th till September 15th in California so my email and Skype will still be operational, however discussing the details of the Interview is better to do after I return home.
Thanks, Arkady
No worries Kirsten. I am happy to have you both here and am excited to participate in the conference on Thursday (though it looks like I'll have to get up at 6:00 am here in Seattle to take part! I better make sure I have a nice big cup of coffee ready!)
Arkady, I had to watch my nephew today and wasn't able to get online until now. I'll try you on Skype again soon. And I, too, might be interested in doing an interview with you for my podcast series. I have a few interviews lined up already, but we should be able to record something in mid to late September.
John, I am looking forward to talking to you about LB fundamentals and our cooperation. Together we may create the foundation for the ultimate method for Online learning that would be based on the concept: "Learning ESL is a physical skill and should be trained or learned and not taught with account of new characteristics of Digital Learners who appeared recently on the Global market."
I want to repeat: Language Bridge self-study software for learning ESL by Russian, Chinese or Spanish speakers is free for ESL teachers or educators – simply email your request with a note which version you would like to download. I recommend to discuss some details of this patented approach with me before you start evaluating it to avoid the innate temptation to compare it with your past experience or knowledge.
Dear John,
You expanded your presentation from 29 to 95 slides – and I have raised the value of your presentation from excellent to outstanding! I was reading it twice with a kind of excitement that I usually observe while reading a brilliant thriller. It was thought provoking too, and here are some thoughts that came to my mind when reading your presentation.
“Traditional language education doesn't work. But why? One major reason is that … learning a language is a subconscious process.”
I suggest adding a few other reasons:
•Traditional method of learning a language results in addition of a foreign language to the native language as additional information. You observed such learners: they can read, write and even speak slowly in the target language (by translating from their native language to the learned language), but they don’t understand natural speech. In other words, they are talking slowly and consciously by using cross-translation. Very few people can be successful in this strenuous process of speaking by applying fast translation in their head.
•They need a new method which should be drastically different from the traditional methods of learning/teaching ESL which are notoriously ineffective. This new no-grammar no-memorization and zero-translation method of teaching/learning English should incorporate a special tool for turning off subconscious translation into/from the native language, which is the main barrier to acquiring fluency in English.
•The new method will be instrumental in formation of the new English language speech center in the brain in addition to the established native language speech center.
•Written English and spoken English are, in fact, quite different. Most students learn written English. Traditional Textbooks teach written English– even most "English Conversation" Textbooks. But the new generation of Digital Learners needs to learn spoken English to become more successful in the Global economy. So, the main objective of the non-traditional method should be adjusted to the new demand.
•The non-traditional method will blend different teaching methods: self-training online and off-line, face-to-face and group lessons online and offline, and possibility to select the training lessons according to the students’ needs and objectives. Students will have unprecedented control of their learning environment that will include electronic dictionary in their native language, self-testing and testing by teachers and peers, and option of adding new lessons of their choice.
•The non-traditional method will allow Digital Learners to use the new technology anytime, anywhere. Another advantage – in any type of activity according to the new method learners will speak four times more than in any other traditional school.
Arkady Zilberman
Dear John,
I would like to comment on your advice: “Use a spaced repetition system. If you review material at certain intervals, you can better control what gets into long-term memory.”
Paul Pimsleur pioneered the practical application of spaced repetition theory to language learning in 1967. In his research, Dr. Pimsleur discovered how long students remembered new information and at what intervals they needed to be reminded of it. The long history of application is related to memorization of vocabulary. In the framework of traditional methods when learning a foreign language was considered as a subject and information that you should put into long-term memory this theory was excellent: it helped learners to remember words.
Nowadays this theory is obsolete:
•In the new method we don’t learn separate words; we learn phrases instead and do it by simultaneous repetition. A learner performs three actions at the same time – listening, reading and repeating. Simultaneous repetition turns off cross-translation (the main barrier in learning a language) and is instrumental in formation of a new language speech center in the brain. In other words, we train the skill of speaking subconsciously without memorization. That is why spaced repetition is not needed anymore.
Digital Learners need emotional involvement, interesting texts and unwavering teacher’s support and guidance in changing the learning habits. They need a multimedia, multisensory, constant interactivity, and personalized online learning environment that could be used by millions if not dozen millions of adult learners 24/7. The new learning environment would be phenomenally adaptable allowing online or offline use along with self-training, face to face, group study or combination of the above. It could be supplemented with a concise version of the program on any PDA, Smartphone or MP3 player.
The patented Language Bridge software and methodology, which I offer to you and all your students free of charge, could be considered as a prototype of the new method. It is fully functional and ready for use; however, I am fully aware that bringing it to the marketing stage will require complete redesigning. Together we can accomplish this task in a short time.
I have a crazy idea: to donate to you 1000 copies of Language Bridge software to learn ESL, which is localized for Chinese speakers, for free distribution through your school in Taipei. It should serve as an alternative to those 20 million followers who learn English by Crazy Method, founded by Li Yang Cliz, as described by Jay Walker: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jay_walker_on_...
What you think?
Sincerely yours,
Arkady Zilberman
Unfortunately, only 3% of English learners may change their learning habits and become successful; the mass of English learners are stuck within obsolete learning methods. What makes the situation even worth is the fact that the number of English teachers who would agree to change their teaching methods and help learners to move to non-traditional method is even less than 3%.
Any suggestions how to change this "catch 22" situation?
We need to:
1) Find and collaborate with more people like us spreading the good word
2) Tap into social media more
3) Raise more capital to put towards stronger marketing campaigns
4) Attractive, well designed web sites and software based on sound linguistic theory (it seems that those doing things right put virtually no money or time into design and usability, while those with the funds just repackage antiquated methodologies into pretty packages.)
I have completed the draft of The Ultimate ESL Teaching/Learning Technology and published it in Google Docs. You are welcome to edit it and spread among your friends and ESL teachers: send me your email and I will add you to the Share list. Together should we win and bring to life the new ESL Technology – it is a clear necessity of our time.
Together we can improve the design and usability and withstand those with the funds who just repackage antiquated methodologies into pretty modern looking packages.
I've read the document and updated the URL link to this presentation. I think this is a great start. Would you like to publish a link to the Document here?
Also, I cannot download the Language Bridge product since I use a Mac. Do you have any online screencasts that show the product in action? I previewed the product a while back on a PC, but I'd really like to go through it in more detail.
Of course you can publish the link to the document here.
Screenshots would not show the product in action because you have to unlearn first most what you were doing in the past – before I can demonstrate and explain how to use the software. I even consider now to take off the Demo version from my web site because a traditional learner would always apply his old learning habits and will not reveal the novelty of the learning methodology.
Applying the traditional method of learning to Language Bridge software would produce the same negative result. So, find a PC and I will demonstrate how the software could help your students to learn ESL four times faster.
We can use Skype and InnerPass to create a conference room or we can schedule a class on Wiziq. Let me know what is more convenient for you.
Sounds good, Arkady. I am swamped this week so let's shoot for sometime this coming week. What days and times work best for you?
Applying the traditional method of learning to Language Bridge software would produce the traditional (negative) result. Let me to explain my methodology first and then I will provide the software for free.
Great tips John,
I have to say that I have started learning a language for the first time off my own back and because I want too. I have learnt more in two months than I did in 5 years attempting to learn French.
People often say to me, 'I am rubbish at learning languages…' When I ask them if they want to start learning Mandarin with me. I always thought I was too. But motivation and bringing lessons that suit me, to me with the elp of the internet etc has been massively helpful.
I do think too much is attached to a learner being able to speak straight away in the forieng language, I wonder why you suggest such a long period of no talking though. I fully support it is necasary to listen to learn, but surely trying out what you hear as you listen is not a problem?… Just so long as your not rudimentally tested on it like in schooling systems.
I think it's good to start mouthing out what you hear once you have a good handle on the sounds of the language. Ears first, then mouth. I find that trying to pronounce words too soon leads to fossilized pronunciation problems that are quite hard to undo.
John,
What concerns your advice – “start mouthing out what you hear once you have a good handle on the sounds of the language” – my opinion is different. It would not hurt but in many cases it would not help either. Here is why.
The great proponent of the approach “ears first, mouth later” is Steve Kaufmann who fluently speaks 11 languages. Here what he writes: “Speaking fluently requires memorization of vocabulary and knowing how to say them correctly at the correct tone. In addition, one needs to learn how to use the words in a sentence structure. So far in my studies, I have forced 5000 or so words into my brain through massive listening of repeated audio in under 1 year. My study regime is 90% listening and 10% speaking.”
This advice may be useful for language-capable people – less than one in ten.
I used this advice myself in learning German. But the majority of people were turned into language-incapable because of many years of using traditional methods. For this people this advice is not productive because memorization of vocabulary (the main component of traditional methods which failed) and should not be recommended nowadays. In the Language Bridge method we don’t learn separate words and never use flashcards; we do learn words only in sentences.
Antonio Graceffo in his article about ALG approach writes (about listening first): “…only if you already have a sufficient basis to understand 55-70% of what you are hearing. If you are a complete beginner, it won’t work. The TV would just become more noise.” I agree with Antonio’s concept and think that advice “ears first, mouth later” is not helpful for most of adult learners.
Language Bridge uses simultaneous repetition instead of consecutive repetition and recommends starting speaking immediately from the very first lessons. The difference between consecutive (traditional) repetition and simultaneous one is similar to the difference between Newtonian physics and the Theory of Relativity.
In my opinion, majority of adults suffer from cross-translation (subconscious translation into/from their native language) due to application of the traditional methods of learning ESL, when learning a language is considered as a subject and not a physical skill. The majority of adult learners consider themselves as language-incapable; their innate ability to learn a language was turned off by applying a wrong method for years.
Linguists ignore this fact and try to force the traditional methods which were developed for the minority – for linguists to be. If a teacher is not aware of this and does not know how to mitigate or eliminate the cross-translation – s/he would not be able to show great results with the majority of the Digital Learners.
That is my opinion and a foundation of the LB approach. The problem is that you can't stop cross-translation by explaining the problem; you should develop a tool that will do it automatically. The first (linguist) who did it in the past was Robin Callan who introduced double speed of speech. The second (entrepreneur) Li Yang introduced the "Crazy English" method that achieves the same goal of stopping cross-translation by shouting English sentences in a crowd. Unfortunately both Callan and Crazy English methods are obsolete and not suitable for Digital Learners.
Do you agree that we should start developing the Ultimate Language Learning Technology and educate and empower ESL teachers by giving them innovative tools and methods?
I consider my document as a blue print only:
http://hubpages.com/hub/ESL-educators-unite
I would like to explain to you the fundamentals of the LB approach and offer the link where you can download the complete versions of the software for free. If you like what you will see, you may have unlimited number of copies and share them with your students or colleagues.
I am looking forward to discuss the above issues with you using Skype. Let me know what date and time is convenient for you.
Sincerely,
Arkady
Thank you again for your in-depth comment.
I don't agree that only 1 in 10 people are "language capable." The problem is not ability but attitude. As Steve Kaufmann says, "In language learning, it's attitude, not aptitude, that determines success." Interestingly, you mention that him as an example of someone who has many languages because he is "language capable." I disagree; I think he has learned languages well for the same reason every other successful adult language learner does:
1) They believe they can do it
2) They get lots of interesting input at an appropriate level of difficulty
3) They use the language when they are ready as much as possible
Every healthy human being learns their first language, so every one of us is fundamentally "language capable." I think it would be more accurate to say that 9 out of 10 adults "don't believe they can learn a language well," a pessimistic belief that is reinforced by failure after failure using traditional, and altogether terrible, learning methods such as grammar-translation, rote memorization, and formal, test and grade-based learning environments.
I agree with you that 9 out of 10 adults "don't believe they can learn a language well".
In essence I have expressed the same idea: "The majority of adult learners consider themselves as language-incapable; their innate ability to learn a language was turned off by applying a wrong method for years."
Our objective is to create a new method of learning ESL that will restore the innate ability to learn a language. Probably we should start by explaining to our learners that "pessimistic belief that is reinforced by failure after failure using traditional methods" is not valid anymore. The new method of learning ESL makes every adult a language prodigy.
[...] Why Most Fail in Language Learning and How You Can Succeed [...]
A question if I may? I have started to learn Japanese on my own, and largely agree with all of your discussion. I'm basically using the input method vis AJATT. I noted that you said that if you comprehend 80% or so of what you're listening to you're at the right level. As a beginner, however, there is a low probability that you will comprehend 80% of the input due to severely limited vocabulary and understanding of the language in general. So, it seems we should be utilizing simpler material, or improving SOMETHING such that we can reach 80% comprehension of even simple material. So, my questions are: How does one find simplistic AUDIO material to listen to (in my case in Japanese) that can be comprehended at the appropriate level, and how does one go about improving one's ability to comprehend if not by memorizing vocab and grammar? I should mention that I'm also doing Heisig RTK at this point, can read both Katakana and Hirigana easily, and am listening to all the audio I can. However, as far as comprehension, my current audio input would fall much lower than 80% in my ability to comprehend.
Thanks, and great site!
Excellent questions. The 80% rule is a general rule of thumb I developed while teaching adult professionals in Taiwan and Japan (most of whom had been studying English for 10 years or more). When meeting a new student, I noticed that nearly all of them were reading and listening to materials far too difficult for their level of comprehension. Once I got them to use the 80% rule, they began enjoying their studies much more and making far faster progress.
As you mention, however, it is difficult to find materials that fit the 80% rule for those just starting out in a language. Using highly contextual scenarios, carefully crafted audio/visual content, and step-by-step induction to new words and phrases, I believe it would be possible to create beginner level foreign language materials that are at least somewhat interesting and comprehensible without overtly explaining grammatical structures or translating vocabulary into one's native language. To my knowledge, however, such materials do not yet exist for most languages. (I actually have plans to develop such a product someday, but it will require a fairly large pool of capital…)
In the meantime, the best thing we can do is use tools like LingQ.com to make traditional audio/textual materials comprehensible. As you go through material on LingQ (you can use their lessons or import your own), you can look up and save new words to the point where you have a basic grasp of a passage. You then re-listen and re-read passages again and again and again, and use their spaced repetition system (they will email you the "LingQs" you saved in progressively longer periods of time.) The system is not perfect and the quality of materials varies widely, but it is one of the most effective "freemium" language learning sites I have found to date.
Hope this helps. Good luck with your Japanese studies (AJATT is a great way to go!) and please share any other questions you may have.
jf,
Thanks for the answers! I eagerly await your acquisition of capital! I think some good beginner type material would be very well received. In any case, what you have suggested helps a lot, and confirms what I have begun to do. Listen to passages from my various audio sources (in general, my Shadowing CD, Bleach anime in Japanese, ID4 in Japanese, and various podcasts (including the Yomiuri News Podcasts)) over and over for what I CAN understand, then take each passage apart slowly to improve my understanding of the vocabulary of that passage, then re-listen. I very carefully try to understand the Japanese from Japanese to meaning, avoiding translation to English at all cost (although I find that this takes quite a bit of effort…when memorizing vocabulary I try to see an image of what the word means, rather than translate, and "feel" the word as though I were "feeling" and English word).
I'll give LinQ a go, and see what I can do. In the mean time, I'm adding as much reading of Manga and Children's Books to my input as possible. This really helps cement the kana, and with furigana I don't have to worry about the fact that I'm only 300 kanji into RTK (trying to do 25/day or so).
Thanks again!
John
I came here with the objective of finding an optimal strategy for acquisition of a second language. This presentation frustrated and disappointed me. I love the effort and attention that you express towards SLA, I am just not sure how any methodology based on flawed logic and misguided observations can accomplish the task. I want to address the logic of the presentation, mostly because I am frustrated and hope it helps me find my way.
The silent period theory has many contextual problems. The first, although children and beginning adult language learners have no knowledge of the target language, they have vast differences in ability and knowledge, which seems to be discarded in developing a strategy. Second, the silent period, and the language is a physical skill theory can not both be true. If you can get dramatically better by observing it is not a physical skill, and if you have to do it to get better it is. Basically I would find it hard to believe that if language is a physical skill, like basketball, it would help development by keeping from speaking practice for any extended period of time. You learn to shoot by shooting.
That aside, I have an objective to acquire a language in a short period of time, to become practically fluent (being able to converse with natives, and fully understand media in that language). I am currently at zero. Do you have any knowledge of studies or people who have studied the strategies of exceptional adult language learners? I believe this would be much more helpful in our shared goal of building a better system for SLA..
Thanks
Jeff
I am sorry that you found the presentation frustrating and find my advice “flawed and misguided”.
The silent period is definitely a hotly contested issue, and there are compelling arguments on both sides of the argument. If you want to start speaking right away, by all means go for it. But my own experience as both a language learner and teacher across the globe has shown time and time again that forcing oneself to speak (or being forced) before one has received adequate input is a recipe for frustration, anxiety, fossilized errors, and for most, eventual failure.
"Basically I would find it hard to believe that if language is a physical skill, like basketball, it would help development by keeping from speaking practice for any extended period of time. You learn to shoot by shooting."
Perhaps it is overly simplistic of me to call languages a physical skill, though it certainly has physical components. My point was that language is not an academic endeavor, despite how it is typically taught and studied. Most learners spend far too much time and effort on "declarative memory" tasks, when fluency in a language is largely based on "procedural memory". The human brain will automatically figure out these "procedures" (i.e. the grammatical syntax of the language) if, and only if, it gets enough input. Most adult learners' brains never get enough, and therefore, never figure out (or are able to use) these patterns despite years of study.
Moving one's lips, tongue and larynx in the right way certainly is a physical feat, and in this way, yes, one indeed does learn to "shoot by shooting." As I have said many times, one needs to speak a lot after a minimal period in which you get used to the language.
“I have an objective to acquire a language in a short period of time, to become practically fluent (being able to converse with natives, and fully understand media in that language). I am currently at zero.”
That has been my goal as well, a goal which I have achieved twice so far (Japanese and Mandarin Chinese) by doing exactly what I suggest. Since you are “at zero”, I suggest that you actually give my advice a try before shooting it down.
"Do you have any knowledge of studies or people who have studied the strategies of exceptional adult language learners?"
The tips on this site are informed by just that; exceptional adult language learners: Steve Kaufmann, Khatzumoto, Tim Ferriss, Randy the Yearlyglot, Antonio Graceffo, etc.
My positions are also heavily influenced by the world's top linguists:
Stephen Krashen (http://www.sdkrashen.com/index.php?cat=6)
Beniko Mason (http://www.benikomason.net)
Steven Pinker (http://pinker.wjh.harvard.edu/books/index.html).
Hi John and Jeff,
Your answer and comment are very interesting and I decided to add my 2 cents.
The great proponent of the approach “ears first, mouth later” is Steve Kaufmann who fluently speaks 11 languages. Here what he writes: “Speaking fluently requires memorization of vocabulary and knowing how to say them correctly at the correct tone. In addition, one needs to learn how to use the words in a sentence structure. So far in my studies, I have forced 5000 or so words into my brain through massive listening of repeated audio in under 1 year. My study regime is 90% listening and 10% speaking.”
This advice may be useful for language-capable people – less than one in ten.
I used this advice myself in learning German. But the majority of people were turned into language-incapable because of many years of using traditional methods. For this people this advice is not productive because memorization of vocabulary (the main component of traditional methods which failed) and should not be recommended nowadays.
Antonio Graceffo in his article about ALG approach writes (about listening first): “…only if you already have a sufficient basis to understand 55-70% of what you are hearing. If you are a complete beginner, it won’t work. The TV would just become more noise.” I agree with Antonio’s concept and think that advice “ears first, mouth later” is not helpful for most of adult learners.
My method is called Language Bridge and it uses simultaneous repetition instead of consecutive repetition and recommends starting speaking immediately from the very first lessons. The difference between consecutive (traditional) repetition and simultaneous one is similar to the difference between Newtonian physics and the Theory of Relativity.
In my opinion, majority of adults suffer from cross-translation (subconscious translation into/from their native language) due to application of the traditional methods of learning ESL, when learning a language is considered as a subject and not a physical skill. The majority of adult learners consider themselves as language-incapable; their innate ability to learn a language was turned off by applying a wrong method for years.
Linguists ignore this fact and try to force the traditional methods which were developed for the minority – for linguists to be. If a teacher is not aware of this and does not know how to mitigate or eliminate the cross-translation – s/he would not be able to show great results with the majority of the Digital Learners.
That is my opinion and a foundation of the LB approach. The problem is that you can't stop cross-translation by explaining the problem; you should develop a tool that will do it automatically. The first (linguist) who did it in the past was Robin Callan who introduced double speed of speech. The second (entrepreneur) Li Yang introduced the "Crazy English" method that achieves the same goal of stopping cross-translation by shouting English sentences in a crowd. Unfortunately both Callan and Crazy English methods are obsolete nowadays because they could not be used by Digital Learners.
Jeff, you should not be frustrated by John's presentation because you could not find an answer what is the best method of second language acquisition. Nobody can answer that question with great certainty. The world is looking for an answer to that question. The necessity is the mother of invention; we have a great need for the new and best method of learning a foreign language – and it would be invented soon!
It's a generational problem.
Growing up with the "there's an app for that" culture has made us decidedly impatient and greedy. No problem with high standards from my vantage point. I just wish I could find some real world answers to problems, instead of conceptions and theories about what is going on. My perspective creates numerous problems.
Bruce lee talked about acquiring knowledge in this way. He said everyone wanted to know what he knew. The problem was that what he knew was like a bottle full of water, and what they knew was like a bottle of coke. The traditional perspective, the only way to get this knowledge was to pour out the coke, and pour in the water. Traditions are great for some things, preserving culture and history, and terrible for everything else. Yes the traditional way works, just not at the speed of today..
My perspective is this, and I am a minority. Most every adult in any community, can read, speak, and write in a language. They have acquired a language before. How do we use what we have to get where we want to go?
I am not signing up to use, antiquated time tested techniques to learn, in the same way, I would not dry my clothing on the line, when I have access to a dryer. I guess no one has caught up, or there is not enough demand for language learning for anyone to come up with something truly incorporating technology and techniques. Thanks for your response, I will incorporate it into my studies.
It's interesting that you mentioned Bruce Lee. In addition to learning languages, I am also extremely passionate about martial arts, and I have come to see a lot of similarities between the two. Mastering either skill requires time, effort, dedication, consistency, a positive attitude, self-reflection, feedback on one's performance, and lots and lots of time practicing with other people.
And just as in martial arts, there is no silver bullet for mastering a language. There certainly are countless modern tools and methods that make language learning a faster, cheaper, and more enjoyable process (e.g. Skype, social media, community language learning sites, smart phones / media players, apps, podcasts, online video, blogs, spaced repetition systems, cheap video/audio recording tools, and on and on), but there is no substitute for spending the requisite time on task.
Until the we can implant a chip in our brains or develop a universal translator a la Star Trek, we simply need to give our brains the time and input they need to (subconsciously and automatically) figure out the patterns of a new language, and give our mouths the time and output they need to get used to the sounds of a new language.
"How do we use what we have to get where we want to go?"
Translating too and from one's native language definitely feels more comfortable in the beginning, and for some, can lead to eventual fluency. But the goal is to create a direct link between concepts and sounds/letters. And adults do indeed have a huge advantage here over children. While a child has to both learn new words and develop the mental concepts behind them ("mentalese" as MIT linguist and psychologist Steven Pinker calls it), adults already have the concepts down pat. They need simply connect them with the arbitrary sound combination counterparts found in their target language.
"I am not signing up to use, antiquated time tested techniques to learn, in the same way, I would not dry my clothing on the line, when I have access to a dryer."
Absolutely. Traditional methods simply don't work for the vast majority of learners, which was, in fact, the very inspiration for this site! If you spend any time looking at my other articles you will see that I am very anti-classroom, anti-textbook, and anti-grammar rule memorization, all hallmarks of traditional, antiquated, ineffectual language learning methods.
"I guess no one has caught up, or there is not enough demand for language learning for anyone to come up with something truly incorporating technology and techniques."
There have been many efforts to apply technological solutions to language learning, but I do agree there is plenty of room left for improvement. As I see it, there are 3 impediments to progress:
1) Those who know the technology tend not to understand how the brain acquires languages.
2) Those who have a firm grasp on effective second language acquisition tend not to understand the technology.
3) The rare few who grasp both 1 and 2 don't tend not to have access to the necessary capital to develop a good product, or lack the business and marketing savvy to build a profitable, widespread business.
.`: I am very thankful to this topic because it really gives up to date information “*~
I think to add to the three ideas of interest, motivation and goal orientation we may need to add a fourth category – knowledge. Most learners are unprepared to be self-directed and need to be educated/trained to the idea. Many like the idea of a class because they don't know where else to start. The everyday language learner needs to be trained to go out and get what they need. And you are doing a good job of doing just that with your writing. Thanks.