Revolutionary approach to learning langua (General discussion) Language Learning Forum

Revolutionary approach to learning langua
Tags: Language Acquisition Theory \| Brain \| Scientific Research \| Listening
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Language Learning Forum : General discussion

129 messages over 17 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 1 ... 16 17 Next >>

slucido
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Message 1 of 129

28 January 2009 at 1:02pm | IP Logged

Here you have an interesting article:

http://www.victoria.ac.nz/home/about/newspubs/news/ViewNews. aspx?id=2455&newslabel=hn

Quote:

Dr Sulzberger has found that the best way to learn a language is through frequent exposure to its sound patterns—even if you haven't a clue what it all means.

"However crazy it might sound, just listening to the language, even though you don't understand it, is critical. A lot of language teachers may not accept that," he says.

"Our ability to learn new words is directly related to how often we have been exposed to the particular combinations of the sounds which make up the words. If you want to learn Spanish, for example, frequently listening to a Spanish language radio station on the internet will dramatically boost your ability to pick up the language and learn new words."

Dr Sulzberger's research challenges existing language learning theory. His main hypothesis is that simply listening to a new language sets up the structures in the brain required to learn the words.

"Neural tissue required to learn and understand a new language will develop automatically from simple exposure to the language—which is how babies learn their first language," Dr Sulzberger says.

He was prompted to undertake the research after spending seven years teaching Russian to New Zealand students and observing drop-out patterns.

It reminds me of this thread:

http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?T ID=9510&KW=subliminal

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Volte
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Message 2 of 129

28 January 2009 at 2:03pm | IP Logged

So close, and yet so far.

He's right that it's extremely useful to listen to the language a lot. I also find that it's much easier to learn words that have no phonetic components that I'm still uncomfortable with.

However, simply listening to a language, as an adult, generally doesn't appear to lead to satisfactory acquisition. If someone tells me that only listening to input, including lots of incomprehensible input, as an adult is the 'best' way to learn a language...... I'd have to say that my experiences totally contradict that, or my Thai would be better than my Esperanto.

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slucido
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Message 3 of 129

28 January 2009 at 2:35pm | IP Logged

Volte, have you read the article??

Quote:

Our ability to learn new words is directly related to how often we have been exposed to the particular combinations of the sounds which make up the words.

Quote:

Dr Sulzberger's research challenges existing language learning theory. His main hypothesis is that simply listening to a new language sets up the structures in the brain required to learn the words.

"Neural tissue required to learn and understand a new language will develop automatically from simple exposure to the language—which is how babies learn their first language," Dr Sulzberger says.

Quote:

"Teachers should recognise the importance of extensive aural exposure to a language. One hour a day of studying French text in a classroom is not enough—but an extra hour listening to it on the iPod would make a huge difference," Dr Sulzberger says.

"When we are trying to learn new foreign words we are faced with sounds for which we may have absolutely no neural representation. A student trying to learn a foreign language may have few pre-existing neural structures to build on in order to remember the words."

Quote:

"Language is a skill, it's not like learning a fact. If you want to be a weight lifter, you've got to develop the muscle - you can't learn weightlifting from a book. To learn a language you have to grow the appropriate brain tissue, and you do this by lots of listening—songs and movies are great!"

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Volte
Tetraglot
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Message 4 of 129

28 January 2009 at 3:06pm | IP Logged

Yes, I read it. And?

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slucido
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Message 5 of 129

28 January 2009 at 3:48pm | IP Logged

Volte wrote:

Yes, I read it. And?

...and you didn't understand.

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TheElvenLord
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Message 6 of 129

28 January 2009 at 4:17pm | IP Logged

I find that I learn words in my native language by this:

Repeating
Accepting the meaning
Having no translation!
Using the word in several contexts while in short-term memory

For example, If I was taught the word "Super". I would hear it, not understad it and ask an adult what it means. They will say its something like "great". To do this, I had to repeat it AND analyse it for context before asking - naturally. So, for a few minutes, I will have the word "super" on my mind, and maybe hear it again in a few other contexts (mainly because the same word appears in groups. An article about war will have lots of words to do with death, or the word "death" itself).
I may even try and use the word in context myself "That's super" instead of "That's great".

I find that as I am surrounded by English, I hear the word. I was taught the word "Belated" by my grandparents while shopping, and later on I picked out the word "belated" very clearly on the popular soap "Coronation Street".

I dont know, maybe this is right? I will never put down a method I havn't tried unless someone else i know has or it is just illogical (You must learn words like "Antidisestablismentarianism" first and word down for example)

I will obviously have to try it. I had plans to listen to my iPod with Spanish a lot in any case. See my log for details :D

TEL
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chelovek
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Message 7 of 129

28 January 2009 at 5:41pm | IP Logged

Volte,

I'm pretty sure the suggestion isn't "only listen". Rather, it's saying that listening is the most important part to acquiring a language. I understand why you interpreted it as promoting "only listening" though, since it claimed that listening was the "best method".

--

Anyways, I guess the idea is that if you hear "boogabooga" enough times in a news report, even if you don't understand the meaning, you will develop the neural connections necessary to easily recognize it in subsequent news reports. I suppose they're also saying that having those neural representations of the sounds also makes it easier to remember the meaning?

The first part is definitely true. As a beginner or intermediate student, just listen to something with new words in it, and even if you listen carefully, you'll likely not have a clear idea what the new word sounds like. Listen a few more times, and you'll find that it's much easier to identify this word's sounds.

It stands to reason then (even without studying the actual neuroscience behind it) that all listening will be beneficial since it will accustom you to the new sounds.

I suppose that by extension, the more easily you can access the language's sounds, the more easily you can associate a meaning with those sounds.

Edited by chelovek on 28 January 2009 at 6:02pm
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ChiaBrain
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Message 8 of 129

28 January 2009 at 6:13pm | IP Logged

I've been doing a lot of passive listening and it's almost like I'm learning the language in reverse. What I mean is that I start noticing words, expressions, patterns, etc and later I find out what they mean.

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