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What to expect from a language course | ||
Tags: Language Program | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| learnvietnamese Diglot Groupie Singapore yourvietnamese.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4950 days ago 98 posts - 132 votes  Speaks: Vietnamese*, EnglishC2 Studies: French, Mandarin | Message 9 of 24 27 September 2011 at 4:16pm | IP Logged | ||
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As many have mentioned, learning is a never-ending process. So I figure there isn't any language course that can teach us everything of a language.
Nevertheless, it's quite possible to give learners what they need to know to get them started on their own. But for that to happen, it would need to be able to, as numerodix has pointed out, give inspirations to learners to continue the journey further. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| s_allard Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5431 days ago 2704 posts - 5425 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish Studies: Polish | Message 10 of 24 27 September 2011 at 6:39pm | IP Logged | ||
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One thing that irks me about nearly all the materials out there is the lack of any serious grading system. This may be too much to ask, but I think that as the CEFR system becomes ubiquitous it would be interesting to see the materials with the levels indicated so that you know what you are getting. This way we can get away from that all too common hype about speaking like a native in no time.
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| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4910 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 11 of 24 27 September 2011 at 8:31pm | IP Logged | ||
The Teach Yourself books are all placed in the CEFR system, but it's just another form of hype. They are accurate as far as the content of the course matching the content of the CEFR levels, but I think they exaggerate the level their courses could take you to. Unfortunately, no publisher is going to be honest write, "Our basic course doesn't even get you halfway to A1. If you're lucky and do a lot of additional work our most advanced course might help you scrape a B1." 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5767 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 12 of 24 27 September 2011 at 11:13pm | IP Logged | ||
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What I learnt to expect was that the way of thinking of the maker and my way of thinking don't necessarily line up most of the time. That means that if I already have to think in circles to figure out what something might actually mean or how it might work, if accept features easily that are explained in epic length and have to find explanations and exercises for features that are only mentioned in passing, I'd rather have a course (or teacher) that expects me to work hard on my own, and not one who tries to spoonfeed me.
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| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 5131 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 13 of 24 27 September 2011 at 11:29pm | IP Logged | ||
I don't know that many Learn X in 30 days/Teach Yourself/Complete/etc. courses would be willing to put that they'll only get you to an A2 level, at best. At least that's been my experience with most of the self-teaching courses out there. On the other hand, most of the target language only courses I've seen claim to get students to a B1 level.Then again, these courses don't usually contain 20 dialogues with grammar mixed in, either. They're usually multi-year courses, aimed at university students. R. == 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| leosmith Senior Member United States Joined 6551 days ago 2365 posts - 3804 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Tagalog | Message 14 of 24 30 September 2011 at 5:47am | IP Logged | ||
If they used a grading system, they would just lie about the level reached. Plus, some of the best programs out there wouldn't even get you out of the first level. What might be a more realistic way of accurately informing language learners what they are getting for their money is a summary of products written by a neutral party. We could even do that here, but it would require a lot of work, so it probably won't happen. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 5131 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 15 of 24 30 September 2011 at 6:29am | IP Logged | ||
Doubt we could get anything close to neutral here either. Just search for any single course here on HTLAL and behold the bias we all hold to our favorites. R. == 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Nguyen Senior Member Vietnam Joined 5094 days ago 109 posts - 195 votes Speaks: Vietnamese | Message 16 of 24 30 September 2011 at 7:49am | IP Logged | ||
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I don't think you could expect too much from a language course on it's own. Consider a country like the United States. They spend huge amounts of money on language courses for the military and diplomatic people (FSI, DLI etc.). Not many of us would have the luxury of learning in such an enviroment; however, the average student walks away from one of these courses after a full year with perhaps a high intermediate level depending on the language. Many of the more difficult ones perhaps much lower.
You still need to put in the effort. Constant exposure to a language for thirty days will only scratch the surface. Not to mention, people don't use textbook vocabulary in real life. As soon as you use the scripted "at the restaurant" portion of the course in real life, the waiter/waitress is almost 100% certain to reply with unexpected results. You may find you don't get exactly what you ordered too. A language course gets you started in the right direction. High level learners inevitably use a variety of resources. One course on it's own will get you a cup of coffee or a train ticket somewhere perhaps? 1 person has voted this message useful |
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