keyideas_howpeoplelearnlanguages

7/29/2019 keyideas_howpeoplelearnlanguages

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Key Ideas: How People Learn Languages

Our goal in language teaching is to help people develop skills where they can communicate genuinely,

spontaneously and accurately, in the situations where they need and want to use the language. If we want

to achieve this goal, we need to understand as much as possible about how people learn languages. Let’s

start with a case study.

John and Paul both work for the same multinational company and are part of a fast track management

program. English lessons are part of that program. Their future promotions depend on reaching a certain

level of proficiency in the language. So far, their situation is identical. Now, take a look at some of the

differences in their situations and perspectives as far as this English program is concerned.

In the last 30 years, there has been an enormous increase in research and literature on how people learn

foreign languages. One conclusion, as this case study illustrates, is that learning a foreign language is not a

predictable process: a multitude of learner-related and situation-related factors affect the process. There

is no single answer to the question, “How do adults learn languages?”

However, there is a lot that we DO know, and what we understand about the language learning process

provides a framework we can use to create the right conditions for language learning and to help our

students be successful.

Exposure and Input:

It’s clear that learners need exposure to the target language – you can’t learn a language if you never hearor see anything in that language. However, just hearing or reading the language will not be enough in itself

to trigger learning. If you put a complete beginner in a room full of native speakers, what he hears is just

noise. If you then put him in a situation where what is going on is clear (e.g. in a shop), the language

spoken is just above his level of comprehension (a greeting + offer of help), and people are helping and

encouraging him (pointing, gesturing, repeating, smiling), then he probably will understand and even try

out some words in the new language. The same principles apply to an advanced learner hearing an

interesting new idiom while talking to colleagues: the new language he is exposed to is just above his

current level of understanding, it is relevant and interesting for him, and he’ll probably get a bit of help

when he asks about it. This doesn’t mean he’ll produce the idiom 100% correctly the first time he tries it

out himself, but a friendly colleague is likely to point out any mistakes and he’ll get it right the next time.

This combination of providing interesting, relevant input that is just above the learners’ current level of comprehension and helping the learner to understand and use the language is the first part of our

framework for helping students learn.

Case Notes: John

John’s lesson activities focus on learning grammar and

completing written exercises more than talking.

The class is quite large – 15 in the group.

The atmosphere is quite individual and competitive.

John is generally introverted – he doesn’t like speaking

out in front of a group.

He finds the classes rather stressful and doesn’t likehis teacher very much.

He rarely gets a chance to hear or use English outside

the two hours of lessons he has per week.

Language skills are not highly rated in his culture. His

friends feel sorry for him that he has to take these

classes after work every week.

He rather resents that his company’s corporate

language is now English not his native language.

English is the only language he can speak at all. He had

a few English lessons at school.

He finds it hard to work out patterns in English

grammar, or to retain vocabulary.

Case Notes: Paul

Paul’s lesson activities focus on speaking in the target

language as much as possible.

The class size is small – 4 in the group.

The group atmosphere is very cooperative.

Paul is naturally talkative – he sometimes worries that

he talks too much in class!

He enjoys coming to class, and he gets on well with histeacher and other students.

He speaks English quite often within his team at work,

and with friends from different countries.

Language skills are highly rated in his culture, and his

friends and family are quite impressed by the language

skills that he now has.

He enjoys mixing with other cultures and sees English is

a tool that he can use.

He speaks some French, Spanish and Russian – he has

always liked languages.

He finds it easy to see patterns in grammar and to

understand and retain new vocabulary.



Noticing and Intake

As children and adults learn languages, they form and test out hypotheses about how the language works:

about what words mean, about grammatical forms and patterns. Learning the language is a creative

construction process. The first step for learners to begin processing new features of the language is for

them to notice and take in those features. Learners will not take in ALL of the input that they receive –

intake is a subset of input. As instructors, we cannot entirely control what a learner notices and takes in –

some language features won’t be taken in by the learner at a certain point because the learner isn’t readyfor them yet, or is busy working out another feature of the language at that particular moment. However,

we can use a very wide range of techniques and activities to make language relevant, to introduce new

language meaningfully, to highlight and review features of grammar. This is the second part of our

framework for helping students learn – using a range of techniques to make new language salient, to

help students notice, work out and review the features of the language they are learning.

Using techniques to make the most of every precious minute that the student is exposed to the language in

the classroom is very important because adults have different learning situations compared with children.

Adults are unlikely to be in the same immersion situation – they are more likely to be exposed to the

language a few times a week. Unlike children who go through a lengthy silent period before starting to

produce the sounds and words, adults usually want or need to start speaking and using the language as atool straight away. In addition, the process of noticing features of the language, forming hypothesis and

testing these out is complicated in adults by interference from their native language. There will be a

conscious or subconscious expectation in adults that the sentence structure, vocabulary and grammar in

the language they are learning should work in the same way as it does in their native language.

Language Practice

Perhaps unexpectedly, the role of practice in successful language learning has been hotly debated

throughout the history of language teaching and in second language acquisition studies. Claims that

practice and repetition are the only things that matter have been countered by claims that formal practice

makes very little difference to learners’ ability to speak the language (see Behaviourism versus the theories

of Krashen on Page 10). Recent research suggests that practice IS very important, but is not enough in

itself. Providing plenty of practice is a way of intensifying learners’ exposure to particular sounds,

expressions and structures. If learners hear sounds, words and patterns frequently, rather than once or

occasionally, they are more likely to notice and retain them. Learners also need many different

opportunities to experiment with the language they are learning. Language learning is a process of forming

and testing hypotheses, and practice provides opportunities for this. Each time learners test out a sound,

expression or pattern, they receive feedback that can help them close gaps in their understanding and help

them try again. Providing focused practice to help students notice, understand, test out and become

familiar with sounds, words, expressions and structure is the third part of our framework.

Interaction & Output

It should be no surprise that to learn to speak a language, you need opportunities to speak that language.

Today, EVERYTHING we understand about language learning highlights the importance of learners USING

the language to interact and communicate. This is the fourth part of our framework. Practice is not

enough because speaking means more than the safe repetition and production of routine, predictable

statements and answers. Being pushed to produce real, meaningful communication when interacting with

others forces learners to try out language and cope with the gaps in their knowledge, to try and fill those

gaps, to struggle to make themselves understood, and to get help from the person they are interacting

with, or someone else. They are obliged to try and produce more accurate and more appropriate language,

so they are most likely to see their limits and try to find better ways to express what they want to express.

In a supportive learning environment, they will be open and receptive to suggested improvements in how

they can express themselves after they have tried to express themselves meaningfully. The demand to say

what they want to say in a comprehesible way pushes learners forward in their development.



Error Correction

If learners are experimenting with a new language, mistakes are inevitable. Mistakes are evidence of

attempts to work out the system. They are part of the process of working out how to pronounce unfamiliar

sounds, how to fit a new vocabulary item into a sentence, how to express a certain time frame using

correct grammar. For instructors, the goal of correction is to help students as they work out the system for

themselves. Helpful correction strategies make up the fifth part of our framework for successful

language learning. Useful correction can also help students bypass typical confusions they may experiencebetween how their own language works and how the target language works. We need a range of

correction strategies to help learners fit the language jigsaw together for themselves, rather than simply

providing answers and finishing the jigsaw for them.

Affective factors

The language classroom is a high-risk environment for any adult learner. Opportunities for practice and for

meaningful communication and interaction may be essential, but it also means making mistakes publicly -

something that no adult likes. The emotional state of the learner (also known as their affective state)

influences their success in taking in, processing and using language. This affective state can be influenced

by a very wide range of factors: their personality; how they feel in the group; their relationship with their

instructor; the day they had at work, etc. There are factors that we cannot control, but one of the mostimportant aspects of the instructor’s role is to create an environment that helps learners feel positive

about the learning process, to reduce anxiety and encourage learners to take risks. This is the sixth part

of our framework for successful language learning.

Learner Differences

We have already looked at the significance of individual differences between learners, through the John

and Paul Case Study. Understanding the effect that differences in motivation, situation, learning strengths

and aptitude, learning styles, learner strategies can have on success in learning is a major area of second

language acquisition research today. The importance of creating learner-centred lessons where we

understand and are able to respond helpfully to learners’ different learning situations, goals, strengths,

preferences and needs is the seventh part of our framework for successful language learning. The

Readings on Motivation, Multiple Intelligences and Learning Styles focus on these.

Learner Strategies

As we have already noted, one of the most significant differences between children learning their first

language and adults learning a foreign language is that children are immersed in the language for almost

every waking hour of their day, while adults are likely to spend a few hours per week exposed to the

language they are trying to learn. Some adults maximize this exposure, both inside and particularly outside

class by using a range of strategies that help them intensify or increase their exposure to the language—

their opportunities to hear, use and remember the language. They take control of their learning process.

Other students don’t use the same strategies, and take much less control, perhaps because they are

unaware of what they can do and are more used to being spoon fed during learning processes. The saying,

“Give someone a fish, they’ll eat for a day - teach them to fish, they’ll eat forever” applies for language

teaching as well. By helping students become aware of the strategies they can use to learn the language

skills they need, and giving students more control of their own learning, we can help them be more

successful. This is the eighth part of our framework and you will focus on this in the section of this

reading on Learner Strategies.

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