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Reducing Self-Study Method Abandonment

  Tags: Burn-out | Self-Study
 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies Post Reply
139 messages over 18 pages: << Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 13 ... 17 18 Next >>
tarvos
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 Message 97 of 139
01 September 2013 at 8:05pm | IP Logged 
I think the best way is still the programme HB 2.0
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Jeffers
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 Message 98 of 139
01 September 2013 at 8:19pm | IP Logged 
s_allard wrote:
I've heard the message loud and clear. Thank you. We're moving on.

Ae we shift to more interactive multimedia-rich online learning environments, the very nature of language
learning methods will change. There will be more potential for truly active learning. Intelligent and adaptative
exercises than can diagnose weaknesses; extensive use of voice recognition software, lots of corrective feedback,
up-to-date authentic materials and the presence of native speakers in some form. All of this will engage the
user and make learning attractive and exciting.

Doesn't this sound like a form of virtual immersion? You would be learning as if you were in the country. Well
sort of. It won't be the same but it will be a hell of a lot better than reading that book and listening to those
same CDs endlessly.



I think something like this is the future of language learning. Interestingly, I don't think it is language publishers who are really creating this technology. So many computer courses have been created which promised to be what you are mentioning, but the best they got with voice recognition is that stupid thing which compares your soundwave with a native's.

I think the advances Google are making with their translate website and app are what are going to pave the way for proper voice recognition in language learning software. Yes, there is still a long way to go, but progress is happening here in a way that language publishers were never able to manage.
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Arekkusu
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 Message 99 of 139
01 September 2013 at 9:23pm | IP Logged 
Ultimately, a device like an iPod that can speak to you and understand you as a teacher would, and which
would pinpoint all of your weaknesses and constantly adjust to your needs -- including presenting you
with written material when speaking is impossible or unwanted -- from A1 to C2 with infinite patience and
wisdom is what would revolutionize the world of language learning, but we all know we're not quite there
yet.

Tutors and teachers are the next best thing, but they are nowhere as efficient or reliable. They are also
expensive -- easily a thousand dollars a year for reasonably priced weekly sessions. However, it would
probably be possible to create an online tool that feeds your tutor with reports about your current
progress and weaknesses. Alternatively, such a tool could also build a customized printable, weekly lesson
plan for you based on the work or the tests you did online.

Of course, you could also just get a book for a one-time very affordable cost, study at your own pace, and
if the book is well-made, use it for a few months all the way to a B1-B2 level. Hence the initial question
about how to best achieve this...
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s_allard
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 Message 100 of 139
01 September 2013 at 9:49pm | IP Logged 
Arekkusu wrote:
...
Of course, you could also just get a book for a one-time very affordable cost, study at your own pace, and
if the book is well-made, use it for a few months all the way to a B1-B2 level. Hence the initial question
about how to best achieve this...

Can a well-made book by itself take you from 0 to B2 in a few months? Nothing but a book? No recordings, No
Internet. No tutoring, I doubt that such a book could prepare a beginner for a B2 French exam in let's say 6
months.

I couldn't begin to give advice on how to design such a book because I believe, not that books are useless, but that
just a book is not enough. If you add a bunch of things, then a book can be a great tool. But we're back to where we
started.
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Cavesa
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 Message 101 of 139
01 September 2013 at 11:27pm | IP Logged 
By a book, I always mean a textbook with CDs. Yes, it may not be visible for someone reading first post by me but I believe someone who read more must have understood. Unless the person was really eager to not understand.

A good course with CDs can give you all the necessary tools to get to native materials and with a few such additions to B2. And who says in a few months? I believe the best courses (textbooks + CDs) have enough content to give your learning a core for a year or more.

I have said a thousand times that a book without audio is not enough.

And I am finished here as we are leaving the original topic and you are just twisting my arguments into straw men so that you could look like making a point. I would write a few theories on what might be behind such needs but I respect the general htlal public enough to just leave.

Thanks to everyone for participating on the topic, it was very interesting.

P.S. Arekkusu, should we already look forward to the Quebeqois textbook (yes, I mean a course with CDs as usual) or is it too soon?
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showtime17
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 Message 102 of 139
02 September 2013 at 12:05am | IP Logged 
I am a frequent abandoner of language learning, especially teach yourself stuff. My reason is: I am lazy. It's very hard dedicating yourself to learning a language, when you also have other things to do like work, or maybe have depression, or just all the variety of distractions.

For me, I cannot concentrate on learning at my house. Just too many distractions. When I was a student at university, in order to study for exams, I had to go to a library. Could never do it at home. That is why after an initial period of self-study, I like to take courses in class. There, if you force yourself (and even if you don't do the homework) to go to class, you will get something just by sitting in class.
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s_allard
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 Message 103 of 139
02 September 2013 at 12:15am | IP Logged 
Oh goodness. I'm confused. In my last post I thought I was responding to @Arekkusu who asked a question about a
book for B2. Now it seems that somebody else's nose is out of joint because of my answer. But it worked out in the
end. It seems that tthe source of the confusion has left in a huff. As they say, If you can't stand the heat, get out of
the kitchen.

Back to Arekkusu's question. If you are looking at textbooks for French, certainly one of the best publishing houses
is CLÉ international that Arekkusu is certainly aware of. Their books are excellent.. However, they are not meant for
the self-study market so this may not be what Arekkusu is looking for.
1 person has voted this message useful



Cavesa
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 Message 104 of 139
02 September 2013 at 3:51am | IP Logged 
If you can't discuss quite anything without getting offensive, you obviously have a huge personality issue. If you need to twist arguments of someone else in order to seem to make a point, that is pathetic. If you need to call someone who just happens to disagree with you "the source of the confusion who leaves in a huff", that just proves that you might need to think a bit about your behaviour. You might not have noticed but it is too much of a coincidence that several threads got nearly ruined after several post of yours, often including more or less covered offenses against everyone who doesn't agree with you (which in some cases includes suspiciously many people). I thought you were just a troll in another thread but now I think the trouble lies elsewhere. Report me to mods if you want but this article is still several levels better than your passive agressivity and arrogance.

Of course I don't enjoy my arguments being twisted into stupid extremes and I won't applaud your victory over such an artificial enemy. Perhaps you just cannot read properly. Had you at least really read the posts, you could have never come with stupid pseudoarguments like "better than reading the same book and listening to the same CD over and over". As I said, pathetic.

Arekkusu wrote:
Of course, you could also just get a book for a one-time very affordable cost, study at your own pace, and if the book is well-made, use it for a few months all the way to a B1-B2 level. Hence the initial question
about how to best achieve this...


The best point so far, thanks. Why spent so much money on tools which will be just poorer replacement of what we already have at hand.

There are already many great resources to get to B1-B2 in French and I guess Arekkusu knows them the best of us all here. Structured resources for the C1 and C2 are a much emptier shelf. And they obviously have some uses since there are such courses for English, Spanish and German.

On the other hand, the new tools will (and some already do) fill some gaps in the market or become better in some functions and aspects. And to survive, they need to be sold for reasonable prices based on the real value. Those will get very popular. All in one learning environments are nonsense in my opinion. You cannot be a jack of all trades, be the best in all of them and still affordable. Pick one, at most two of those qualities. The specialized tools that are the best at the one or two things they are doing, that is the future.

I think even the current situation gives us good examples. People are willing to pay for anki for mobile devices, for myngle, for scritter. But when it comes to full courses (or rather full learning environments), the only ones that get really popular in their potential market are those that don't compete against many good quality traditional sources. There is Lernu or Say Something in Welsh and a few others for minor languages. But there is no such complete thing for French because there is just not the need.

I wonder, Arekkusu, do you consider using the new forms for your new course? Will there be an ebook? Or will there be a website version with paid content? Or a support site? And do you recommend some modern tools to your students?


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