Register  Login  Active Topics  Maps  

Is comprehension measurable?

 Language Learning Forum : General discussion Post Reply
211 messages over 27 pages: << Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 26 27
Serpent
Octoglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
serpent-849.livejour
Joined 6599 days ago

9753 posts - 15779 votes 
4 sounds
Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish

 
 Message 209 of 211
29 August 2014 at 5:39pm | IP Logged 
s_allard wrote:
Since I'm the perpetual bad boy here, let me state my position. My fundamental starting point is that a basic element of effective communication is good terminology. This is pretty much a given in science. We can only "understand" each other if we agree on a common language.

Most of the forum has already agreed on deeming the percentage system acceptable. I'm under the impression that at least Cavesa and emk interpret them pretty much the same way as I do. (most others haven't written about it in detail) When in doubt, I read other posts by the same person and ask. Letting the OP clarify is essential anyway, and that's far better than imposing your own requirements. Can you even name any specific threads that could've generated better advice if people didn't use numbers?

Also, it's not an academic forum. Rosetta Stone claims to have done plenty of research but it won't be taken seriously here unless someone reliable demonstrates what they've learned through it (and how fast). Research is just a nice bonus backing empirical knowledge. Here on HTLAL, it seems much more important to be honest about your progress and "remember that not everyone has had the same advantages as you", ie acknowledging the factors that can lead to different results for others.

BTW, one more area where we can only estimate is ranking our SRS answers. There's no universal system for deciding how well you remember a given card, but it seems like very few would prefer to have a binary yes/no system instead, or even three-way grading instead of a larger scale.
2 persons have voted this message useful



s_allard
Triglot
Senior Member
Canada
Joined 5432 days ago

2704 posts - 5425 votes 
Speaks: French*, English, Spanish
Studies: Polish

 
 Message 210 of 211
30 August 2014 at 1:49pm | IP Logged 
I don't see any evidence that most of the forum has already agreed that using percentages for measuring
comprehension is acceptable. This is a typical example of a blanket statement that has no demonstrable foundation
in facts. Has anybody done any counting? Is there a poll somewhere that I haven't seen?

What we do know is that some people use percentages and other people don't. That's it. People do whatever they
want. I certainly do not tell people what to do. On the other hand, I question the value and significance of certain
ideas or positions.
1 person has voted this message useful



Serpent
Octoglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
serpent-849.livejour
Joined 6599 days ago

9753 posts - 15779 votes 
4 sounds
Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish

 
 Message 211 of 211
31 August 2014 at 3:04pm | IP Logged 
This thread is enough evidence for me. You seem to be the only one arguing for using vague words instead of percentages. And outside this thread people are still using percentages. They're measuring comprehension while we're discussing whether it's measurable. And yes, I think most agree that scientifically calculating the percentages is both impossible and pointless. (see Cavesa's post)

Not everything in life is explicit. People are surprisingly good at interpreting subtleties. Now I'm not comparing you to these folks, but just showing that subtleties are often the default way of dealing with something in the real world. Maybe also because it's always possible to pretend one didn't understand.
Feel free to start a poll though :)


3 persons have voted this message useful



This discussion contains 211 messages over 27 pages: << Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 

If you wish to post a reply to this topic you must first login. If you are not already registered you must first register


Post ReplyPost New Topic Printable version Printable version

You cannot post new topics in this forum - You cannot reply to topics in this forum - You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum - You cannot create polls in this forum - You cannot vote in polls in this forum


This page was generated in 1.9063 seconds.


DHTML Menu By Milonic JavaScript
Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved
No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization.