10 Things Your Language School Doesn’t Want You to Know
1. You don’t need a teacher or school to learn a foreign language
There is an important distinction to be made between learning and schooling. Those who believe they need formal training in a language are making the false assumption that the two are one and the same. To reach fluency in a language, you need to acquire a great deal of tacit knowledge, that special kind of internalized, experience-based information that you may not be conscious of. The sad truth is that most teachers focus on explicit knowledge (e.g. facts about the language such as grammar rules), which has very little to do with one’s ability to speak a language. Explicit knowledge is easier to teach and test, however, which probably explains why it makes up the bulk of school curricula.
2. You don’t need to learn grammar rules
At some point in history, the education establishment convinced society that they needed to be “taught” languages. This was quite an amazing feat considering that all human beings are endowed by evolution (or God if you prefer) with the ability to automatically acquire any language they hear in adequate quantities. The problem for most learners (and the reason they buy into the “I need more schooling!” mentality) is that they never get an “adequate quantity” of language input. The irony is that this input deficiency is often caused by the very classes that are supposed to provide it. With a focus on memorizing grammar rules, most learners end up spending the vast majority of their time learning about a language instead of the language itself.
3. Tests and grades do more harm than good
Ideally, formalized testing and grading systems motivate students by providing competition and objective feedback. In reality, however, most grading is far from objective (teachers tend to reward students they like and penalize those they don’t), and tests do little more than demonstrate one’s ability to memorize facts. Feedback is important, but it needn’t be in the form of traditional testing or grades. Ask your teachers to evaluate your performance by giving specific examples of things you said right or wrong, not with multiple choice tests.
4. Classes go as fast as the slowest person
The bigger the class, the wider the range of abilities, and the slower the class will have to go. Schools know that students are more likely to stick with something too easy but will quickly throw in the towel if something is too difficult. And despite placement tests and numerous class levels, it can be very difficult to appropriately group students by their actual skill in the language. With finite time slots mutually convenient for all students in a given group, some students will inevitably be placed in classes that are above or below their actual ability level. Also, placement tests come with the same problems mentioned in # 3: they test one’s memory and knowledge (especially of the written word).
5. Reading out loud does not improve your pronunciation or speaking ability
Teachers often have students read out loud to allegedly “practice pronunciation.” The truth is that your pronunciation improves only from massive amounts of listening input and then massive amounts of speaking when you’re ready. Reading aloud does little more than show what words you are unfamiliar with and often reinforces mispronunciations instead of fixing them. While some teachers genuinely believe in the read aloud method, others just use it as a zero prep activity to count down the clock.
6. Oral drills do not help you learn how to speak; they only demonstrate your ability to do so
Just as reading aloud does not improve your pronunciation or reading skills, oral drills do little for your speaking fluency. We improve our speaking ability through increasing the quantity and quality of listening input (e.g. podcasts about your favorite topics), and then applying what we have heard in natural, contextualized conversations.
7. You will be encouraged to move up to the next level even if you aren’t ready
This is all about business. Schools make more money when you buy new books, take level tests and re-enroll in more classes.
8. Your progress reports are meaningless
Teachers hate writing progress reports. They are usually an exercise in creative writing, not meaningful feedback on your actual performance and progress in the language. Not knowing what to say (and not wanting to waste time on a task they don’t get paid for!), many teachers will just cut and paste canned comments, or come up with general, vague statements and overly technical descriptions of your grammar and pronunciation problems.
9. You should be the one who chooses the material
Despite being widely used, standardized textbooks are bad tools for a number of reasons. They build on the myth that schooling equals learning, as discussed in # 1 above. They lull students into a false sense of accomplishment, where completion of chapters is confused with actual internalization of the content. And with content written not to entertain but to avoid offending anyone, they are typically boring and sterile. Interest in the material is essential for effective language learning, so make sure to choose schools or teachers that allow you to choose materials that float your boat.
10. It doesn’t take years to learn a foreign language well if you do it right
If you like the language you are learning, believe you can learn it, and get as much listening and reading input as possible, you will learn the language well enough to communicate in a matter of 6 months to a year. Most students, however, end up paying tuition for years and years despite a lack of progress. Students blame themselves (backed up by the bogus comments found in their progress reports), not realizing that the problem lies not in them, but with their school’s materials and methodologies.
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Sppot on! Why not add some phonetics to no.5
And while drills will certainly not improve your speaking skills what about free production??
Yes, "phonics" (not to be confused with "phonetics") is a huge waste of time. I always feel bad for kids who are forced (and adults who actually pay!) to sit in pronunciation classes where they learn all sorts of rules that the teachers themselves often confuse. As Stephen Krashen said at a talk I watched in Taipei, "If you have to look it up, don't teach it!"
I do think that "phonetics" (the linguistic study of human speech sounds) is interesting, but like phonics, it is not a necessary part of language learning.
"Free production" (or talking 'cause you wanna when you wanna') is the goal in language learning, but it can wait. Most people feel pressured to speak to soon, and go on to develop performance anxiety (no, not that kind!) and fossilized pronunciation errors from pronouncing things how they "think" they sound based on limited exposure, not how they are actually pronounced by native speakers.
These are too true. To learn a language what you need is lots of authentic input. Learning grammar is a waste of time. Classes are a bad idea for the motivated learner. You're going to be held back by the people who don't really want to be there. If you MUST have someone with you to encourage you and push you forward then get a 1 on 1 tutor. Make sure you make your problems very clear though. Don't let the tutor lead you. Use them in ways that help you.
Good points. I also prefer one-on-one classes, providing my tutors with lots of input about what I expect out of the class. Many students worry about offending their teacher if they guide the class too much, but as I a teacher myself, I can assure you that we LOVE when students give us detailed direction. It means less work for us and leads to a more satisfied client.
Whoever wrote this should probably spend more time learning English than telling other people how to learn a language.
The idea that grammar rules are a boundary is dumb. There are theories that have generous weight coming from the idea that learning a second language has a critical period. Generally, though, most people who have a background in languages academically would say that it’s a waste of time to try to infer grammar rules from daily interaction – it’s easier just to throw a verb/noun/word order chart in front of someone and have them memorize and apply. Yes, it’s important not to get stuck in the grammar of the language and never enter it into explicit memory – this is different from saying “you don’t need to learn the grammar rules.”
There are other issues in this article but it’s not worth my time. It reads as if some cynical undergrad is having trouble learning a language and needed to let off some steam.
"Whoever wrote this should probably spend more time learning English than telling other people how to learn a language."
I am a native English speaker who writes for a living. I am curious what problems you observe with my language?
"Most people who have a background in languages academically would say that it's a waste of time to try to infer grammar rules from daily interaction."
On the contrary, Thomas. I received my degree in linguistics and was disgusted by how many alleged language experts encouraged students to memorize explicit information about the language, with very little attention spent on actual listening and reading input.
"It reads as if some cynical undergrad is having trouble learning a language and needed to let off some steam."
I have ten years of teaching experience (including English as a Second Language and Japanese as a Second Language). My opinions come from observing countless students fail to learn foreign languages using the traditional classroom/textbook/grammar-translation approach.
A few questions for you: What languages do you speak? How well do you speak them? How did you learn them?
[...] 10 Things Your Language School Doesn’t Want You to Know… [...]
I'm still undergraduated (Portuguese and English Education and Literature) here in Brazil, and we also have the same discussion about teach or don't teach grammar. In my case, I'm swimming against the tide 'cuz I work in a place who does everything wrong when the matter is "learning", I mean, most of major language schools are old fashioned "robot repetion" method and there's no a such improvemment about it in years! Spite of that, I'm really considering to start a one.
I didn't know about your blog, I've just saw it, but I love it! really clean, simple and complete (as far as now) Here's a new faithful reader!
Thank you very much for your kind words, Theo. When you say "start one" are you referring to your own school?
Great article!!
Thanks AJ. Keep up the good work with your system; I have recommended it to many of my students and friends. Perhaps we can figure out some creative ways to combine our efforts…
Isn't there a proper mix of grammar instruction to actual language production? In combination they can be helpful to students. I include myself in that statement. I am much more wiling to take the risk of speaking if I know a little bit of what structure I am about to use and follow the grammatical pattern. Granted I noticed that after I am more familiar with a language, I no longer have to think about those rules as they become as part of the "saying something cause you wanna" mode. At first you need to have some sort of grammatical background knowledge though.
Thanks for your comments, Miriam. I discuss my view on grammar instruction more here:
http://l2mastery.com/featured-articles/why-gramma...
I see this evidenced by the high school aged ESL students that I teach daily. They are immersed in the English language daily and can communicate socially but the academic language and structures need to be talked about so that they know how to start to use them. Then later on they can sart using them effortlessly. PS repeated reading DOES help with pronunciation…..when modeled after a native speaker and then connected to the learning task at hand. This is especially true for students who come from countried where literacy is not taught. They NEED to do this repeated reading to connect the written form with the spoken form….I would never use it as a "zero prep solution!"
"They are immersed in the English language daily and can communicate socially but the academic language and structures need to be talked about so that they know how to start to use them."
I would argue that this furthers my point; such students struggle with academic language not because they lack formal grammar instruction but because they haven't received enough academic language input (and probably aren't very interested in that which they have received). By comparison, they have likely received far more informal, social language input through movies, podcasts, and talking with friends (hence their comparably higher proficiency.)
[...] Want You to Know 十二月 28, 2009 分類於 Uncategorized — KateKid @ 12:35 午後 10 Things Your Language School Doesn’t Want You to Know Posted by jf in Featured Articles, Methods on Sep 25th, [...]
Learning languages is like marriage. If you stop to think about it a lot you`ll end up giving up before starting it. In my opinion you need to live and enjoy the language, and start by learning what you will really need to learn. I agree that grammar rules are waste of time, but probably it`s worthwhile you look up a small grammar book when you are felling more confident about the language. Starting by grammar is starting by the end. The most powerful way to learn is reading and listening a lot over and over. Surround yourself with language material like podcasts you enjoy, books, magazines and so forth. Once you can`t manage a trip to your learning language country, the internet is the best tool you have available.
I did not know about your website, and I could see it`s wonderful. Congrats on your good work. I`m an English learner and it will be very useful.
I like the marriage analogy, Eduardo. I agree that briefly reviewing a small grammar book can be worthwhile once you've plunged into a language and received enough input to start making sense of the patterns. And yes, input is key!
Good luck with your English studies; based on your writing above, I would say you are doing very well!
As somebody who spent an awful year in an "ekaiwa" school in Japan, I must say that language schools are all about one thing, making money. I have spent an additional 5 years in Japan coaching people in how to learn. Trust me, those who come to realize that they don't need a classroom or instructor and do as you say, improve leaps and bounds. Those who insist on being spoon fed from an instructor never get better.
In fact, that is the biggest problem I have found. Most people insist upon being spoon fed the language. That is what really keeps these schools alive.
Valina,
It sounds like we've had similar trajectories when it comes to language teaching. I am glad to hear that you have observed (and appreciate) the same critical difference between force-fed instruction and actual language acquisition.
Are you still in Japan by the way?
Dear John:
I do agree with you on most of the points you make in your article.
I learned spanish without receiving any formal language education and I can tell you that I am proficient in this language. I trully believe that any language – be it foreign or second – should become a tool, your main means of communication for which explicit grammar rules do not always provide the help you need. Fluency should not be confused with velocity which you may gain after some time using the language.
However, I do have a question: I´d like your opinion about teaching grammar, vocabulary, etc. for academic purposes. I mean, what if we are talking about would be undergraduate students who do need to score high on SAT or TOEFL in order to apply to an American university and they are "learning" EFL? I would really appreciate your kind reply to my e-mail. Thank you very much.
Hi Pushu. In my experience as both a language learner and teacher, there is no fundamental difference between academic English, professional English, etc. These distinctions are mostly used by schools to create new course offerings and therefore increase profits. There are indeed superficial differences in vocabulary, writing conventions, etc. as you move between different domains, but all levels of a language are still learned the same way: through extensive listening and reading. The first step is to build general fluency in a language and then expand one's specialized vocabulary as dictated by one's interests and academic or professional needs. The same exact thing applies to native speakers, too…
Hi John,
I broadly agree with what you've got to say. However, I'd like to add that the key is motivation. Sure enjoyment is an intrinsic motivator, but having motivation strategies to keep you going when you hit a plateau is really very important.
I don't entirely agree with you when it comes to grammar. I do agree that too much attention is paid to grammar and explaining "rules", but some people find it useful especially as they progress past the simple daily conversation stage. At the early stages I emphasise
syntax rather than grammar, both when I am teaching and when I am learning. Other than pronunciation this is the really tough thing about beginning a language.
Anyway great site, I'll be pointing people your way.
Thank you for your comment, Michael, and your kind comments about Foreign Language Mastery.
I completely agree with you on the crucial importance of motivation. And while interest is a major component of sustained motivation, there will be days when you just don't feel like learning. If you're interested, I discuss the topic of motivation more in these two posts:
http://l2mastery.com/featured-articles/motivation http://l2mastery.com/start-here/language-learning...
With regard to grammar, I think it ultimately comes down to interest and perception. There is nothing wrong with some conscious grammar study if one enjoys the process, believes it will help them reach fluency faster, and still spends enough time on input activities.
Syntax is interesting stuff. Have you ever delved into Chomsky's mysterious world of the "Government and Binding Theory"? It doesn't really have any bearing on actual language acquisition, but I found it fascinating nonetheless.
Regarding pronunciation, it shouldn't be "difficult" if you spend enough time listening, and then once you're ready, enough time speaking. With my former EFL students in Japan and Taiwan, I found that most struggled with particular sounds because they are trying to "think" their way through pronunciation instead of letting their ears and mouths do the work. And since their earlier teachers expected them to begin speaking from day 1 before they had any chance of producing accurate output, their pronunciation mistakes got "fossilized" and hard to undo by the time I began teaching them.
“The idea that grammar rules are a boundary is dumb.”
Did you not speak English until you were taught grammar? In what language were you taught your L1′s grammar?
“There are theories that have generous weight coming from the idea that learning a second language has a critical period.”
All the research I’ve read shows adults learn at a faster rate, given equal exposure.
“It reads as if some cynical undergrad is having trouble learning a language and needed to let off some steam.”
That wouldn’t make it untrue. But it also doesn’t sound like the case here: a bitter student would *embrace* the critical period hypothesis.
Good points, 検事.
And on the topic of the critical period hypothesis, such a period certainly does exist for one's first language, but I think it is highly exaggerated for foreign languages and as you point out, too often used as a cop out for not learning foreign languages well as an adult.