http://thelinguist.blogs.com/how_to_learn_english_and/2007/07/the-linguist-me.html
As we prepare to roll out the new LingQ system in August I have been trying to summarize the learning principles that are behind LingQ. Here is what I have come up with. I would appreciate any feedback.
“A linguist is someone who enjoys speaking more than one language”-Steve Kaufmann
LingQ (www.lingq.com) is a learning system based on The Linguist Method.
The Seven Principles of the Linguist Method.
1) Enjoy yourself: Enjoy the experience of learning. Enjoy the language you are learning. Choose a language to study that you enjoy or find ways to enjoy the language you are studying. Choose content that you like. Do learning activities that you like.
2) Focus on input first: Listen and read. Get used to the language. Do not feel you have to produce the language. Just get the language into you. Listen often while doing other tasks, wherever you can. You can also listen while reading, or you can just read.
3) Learn words: Notice words and how they are used. Do not worry if you forget and relearn words. Notice which words come together in phrases. Do not worry about explanations of grammar, they will not mean much until you have had a lot of input in the language.
4) Set goals and be efficient: Take advantage of modern technology. Use MP3 players, computers, online dictionaries, the Internet, LingQ, as well as books, audio books and other resources. Set goals and measure your progress towards these goals.
5) Communicate naturally without fear: Start expressing yourself only when you are ready. Aim for constant improvement, not perfection. Notice which words and phrases cause you trouble so that you can work on them on your own. Write and speak naturally and keep it simple.
6) Have fun with pronunciation: Imitate what you are listening to, the words and phrases, as well as the sounds and the intonation of the language. Record yourself and share this with others, including your tutor. Exaggerate and have fun, but do not worry about how you sound.
7) Join a community: Find friends who speak the language you are studying and friends who are learning that language. If you cannot find them where you live, find them on the Internet. You can even help others to learn your own language and you will get better at learning languages. You will become a linguist.
Showing posts with label english. Show all posts
Showing posts with label english. Show all posts
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Repetitive listening to English
http://thelinguist.blogs.com/how_to_learn_english_and/2006/04/repetitive_list.html
Assad, a regular and valued contributor at this blog, asks in a recent comment here about the benefits of repetitive listening to English content as compared to just listening to CNN or TV sitcoms. He makes the point that children do not listen repetitively to the same content when learning their mother tongue.
In my view the answer depends on the level and the goals of the learner. For a beginner or low intermediate and even many intermediate learners, CNN and sitcoms are too difficult to understand.
I believe that listening to the same content and then reading it and then working through the new or unfamiliar words and phrases using The Linguist methodology, and then listening again and again, is a very efficient process for beginner and intermediate learners. Doing this helps the learner become familiar with the flow of the language as well as enabling him or her to learn new words and phrases. I am constantly spontaneously mimicking Russian phrases that I have heard through my repetitive listening.
Of course the content has to be interesting for this process to be bearable. Most text book content is not interesting. That is why we have created more interesting and authentic content at The Linguist and allow the learner to choose what to learn from.
Listening to content, such as CNN or sitcoms where, for many learners, 25% or more is not understood, can be frustrating. What is worse it can destroy confidence. On the other hand repetitive listening increases confidence in the ability to understand even a limited range of content. This tends to build confidence in using the language. That has been my personal experience in learning other languages, and is the experience of our learners at The Linguist.
It is true that as the learner progresses the frequency of repetition will decrease. We talk about an "intensive" period during which the first 2,000 words of the language are acquired. In this period a "strange" language gradually becomes more familiar and even predictable. The learner can acquire a sense of the language more easily by listening to content that he or she understands, and by getting a second and third and fourth chance to hear it.
The high frequency words and expressions are listened to over and over. Listening to familiar content means that the learner is able to focus on these words and phrases and acquire them. Repetitive listening is also excellent for working on pronunciation and rhythm, since the meaning is already understood. This "intensive" period may last 3-6 months.
Thereafter the learner moves gradually into a more "extensive" study period. There are fewer unknown words and these new words also reappear less frequently. On the other hand the learner is now better at guessing at meaning. So, now the learner only listens to the same content a few times and is able move on to new content sooner. This content may consist of CNN or other radio content, or sitcoms, or whatever subject is of interest to the learner.
Those learners who are already past the intermediate stage but want to work on pronunciation may still listen many times to content which they particularly like, or which features phrasing or intonation or a voice that they find pleasant. I have always done this even for languages which I already know quite well. I often listen to the same Xiang Sheng dialogues in Chinese to refresh my Chinese, because it helps me get back into the rhythm of Mandarin.
Children listen to a limited range of content even though it is not repetitive listening to recorded content. The subject matter and vocabulary is limited. The child also takes many years to reach the level of vocabulary and the ability required to express complex ideas. The adult learner can reach that level in less than a year.
Assad, a regular and valued contributor at this blog, asks in a recent comment here about the benefits of repetitive listening to English content as compared to just listening to CNN or TV sitcoms. He makes the point that children do not listen repetitively to the same content when learning their mother tongue.
In my view the answer depends on the level and the goals of the learner. For a beginner or low intermediate and even many intermediate learners, CNN and sitcoms are too difficult to understand.
I believe that listening to the same content and then reading it and then working through the new or unfamiliar words and phrases using The Linguist methodology, and then listening again and again, is a very efficient process for beginner and intermediate learners. Doing this helps the learner become familiar with the flow of the language as well as enabling him or her to learn new words and phrases. I am constantly spontaneously mimicking Russian phrases that I have heard through my repetitive listening.
Of course the content has to be interesting for this process to be bearable. Most text book content is not interesting. That is why we have created more interesting and authentic content at The Linguist and allow the learner to choose what to learn from.
Listening to content, such as CNN or sitcoms where, for many learners, 25% or more is not understood, can be frustrating. What is worse it can destroy confidence. On the other hand repetitive listening increases confidence in the ability to understand even a limited range of content. This tends to build confidence in using the language. That has been my personal experience in learning other languages, and is the experience of our learners at The Linguist.
It is true that as the learner progresses the frequency of repetition will decrease. We talk about an "intensive" period during which the first 2,000 words of the language are acquired. In this period a "strange" language gradually becomes more familiar and even predictable. The learner can acquire a sense of the language more easily by listening to content that he or she understands, and by getting a second and third and fourth chance to hear it.
The high frequency words and expressions are listened to over and over. Listening to familiar content means that the learner is able to focus on these words and phrases and acquire them. Repetitive listening is also excellent for working on pronunciation and rhythm, since the meaning is already understood. This "intensive" period may last 3-6 months.
Thereafter the learner moves gradually into a more "extensive" study period. There are fewer unknown words and these new words also reappear less frequently. On the other hand the learner is now better at guessing at meaning. So, now the learner only listens to the same content a few times and is able move on to new content sooner. This content may consist of CNN or other radio content, or sitcoms, or whatever subject is of interest to the learner.
Those learners who are already past the intermediate stage but want to work on pronunciation may still listen many times to content which they particularly like, or which features phrasing or intonation or a voice that they find pleasant. I have always done this even for languages which I already know quite well. I often listen to the same Xiang Sheng dialogues in Chinese to refresh my Chinese, because it helps me get back into the rhythm of Mandarin.
Children listen to a limited range of content even though it is not repetitive listening to recorded content. The subject matter and vocabulary is limited. The child also takes many years to reach the level of vocabulary and the ability required to express complex ideas. The adult learner can reach that level in less than a year.
How many words do you know?
http://thelinguist.blogs.com/how_to_learn_english_and/2006/03/how_many_words_.html
Is there one measure of a person's language skill? Are tests like TOEFL TOEIC or IELTS reliable indicators?
In a way the simplest way to find out how well a person uses a language is to ask that person some questions that require lengthy answers, orally or in writing. On oral expose or a written essay will quickly show how the person uses the language. But all of that takes time and the evaluation is necessarily subjective.
So at The Linguist we have a simple scale, one which is easy to measure. It is the number of words known. This can be measured in a cloze test, a test where certain words are blanked out and the learner has to choose from a drop list.
I believe that the number of words known has the advantage of being extremely simple and yet reliable. Most of the learner's skills will correlate to this one index.
We have six levels for our learners
Beginner a) 2,000 b) 3,500 Intermediate a) 5,000 b) 7,5000 Advanced a) 10,000 b) 12,500
Some people may speak better than their known word total, at least in casual social conversation. This means they should read and listen more, work on vocabulary and then write more to increase their vocabulary.
Some people may not speak as well as their word total suggests. They should listen more to content they already understand well. They should focus more on learning phrases. They should work harder on pronunciation. They may also have to write more and then practice reading their corrected writing out loud. If they have the opportunity they should speak more.
Of course each person's case is individual. But the number of words known is still a reliable and yet simple indicator of a person's level. In The Linguist it is an easy number to follow, because we measure vocabulary growth. If a student has 3,000 words then he or she knows what the goal should be. He or she can measure progress towards this goal on a monthly, weekly or even daily basis.
The high frequency words are easier to learn because they are encountered more frequently. On the other hand they are difficult to learn because the learner is not familiar with the language and every words seems strange. Later on the words are encountered less often, but on the other hand the learner is now familiar with relationships between words. Prefixes, suffixes, root words and other similarities between words are easily recognized. Also the learner is better and better able to guess at meaning as the number of unknown words in any text is smaller. So it all balances out.
We count each form of a words as a different word. On this basis I believe a person can learn 25 or more words a day using our system. Most people will learn half that number. This does require, however, a lot of listening to our content on their MP3 players and reading the texts and reviewing words and phrases.
Is there one measure of a person's language skill? Are tests like TOEFL TOEIC or IELTS reliable indicators?
In a way the simplest way to find out how well a person uses a language is to ask that person some questions that require lengthy answers, orally or in writing. On oral expose or a written essay will quickly show how the person uses the language. But all of that takes time and the evaluation is necessarily subjective.
So at The Linguist we have a simple scale, one which is easy to measure. It is the number of words known. This can be measured in a cloze test, a test where certain words are blanked out and the learner has to choose from a drop list.
I believe that the number of words known has the advantage of being extremely simple and yet reliable. Most of the learner's skills will correlate to this one index.
We have six levels for our learners
Beginner a) 2,000 b) 3,500 Intermediate a) 5,000 b) 7,5000 Advanced a) 10,000 b) 12,500
Some people may speak better than their known word total, at least in casual social conversation. This means they should read and listen more, work on vocabulary and then write more to increase their vocabulary.
Some people may not speak as well as their word total suggests. They should listen more to content they already understand well. They should focus more on learning phrases. They should work harder on pronunciation. They may also have to write more and then practice reading their corrected writing out loud. If they have the opportunity they should speak more.
Of course each person's case is individual. But the number of words known is still a reliable and yet simple indicator of a person's level. In The Linguist it is an easy number to follow, because we measure vocabulary growth. If a student has 3,000 words then he or she knows what the goal should be. He or she can measure progress towards this goal on a monthly, weekly or even daily basis.
The high frequency words are easier to learn because they are encountered more frequently. On the other hand they are difficult to learn because the learner is not familiar with the language and every words seems strange. Later on the words are encountered less often, but on the other hand the learner is now familiar with relationships between words. Prefixes, suffixes, root words and other similarities between words are easily recognized. Also the learner is better and better able to guess at meaning as the number of unknown words in any text is smaller. So it all balances out.
We count each form of a words as a different word. On this basis I believe a person can learn 25 or more words a day using our system. Most people will learn half that number. This does require, however, a lot of listening to our content on their MP3 players and reading the texts and reviewing words and phrases.
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