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Take a break! | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5491 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes  Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 1 of 23 07 May 2011 at 11:32pm | IP Logged | ||
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Research suggests that we perform much better if we intersperse our study or work schedule with regular breaks rather than none at all (e.g. experiments as early as Ebbinghaus, 1885 - see links at the bottom of the page; or a little more recently Kopardekar and Mital, 1994; Balci and Aghazadeh, 2004). And this sounds like common sense in terms of counteracting fatigue and raising productivity.
A quick browse through this material reveals further interesting observations. For example, it seems that we tend to recall vocabulary better from the beginning and end of a session, possibly because we have more time to rehearse the initial words, refreshed and more focused after a break, whilst the items at the end are simply more recent in our memory. This is often referred to as the "primacy and latency" or "serial position" effect (see also Serial Position Effect and Rehearsal). Studies also show that we require enough time to get back into the flow (labelled the "build-up period"), before reaching a steady optimal period where we tend to do the bulk of our studying, only to fall gradually back down again in overall productivity after a while from general tiredness or boredom (the "decay period"). This is something I can definitely relate to... And if that wasn't enough, you can add the impact of fluctuating levels of cortisol and other circadian regulated hormones in our body (i.e. those wonderful little natural elixirs that keep you alert in the morning or tempt you into curling up at siesta time), along with our general mood and attitude, and the effects of consuming food and drink during study. Not forgetting of course: stress, health, natural light, fresh air, and the amount of sleep and exercise we get prior to study. Quite a complex little cauldron of goodies! Having toyed with various rest periods over the last year myself, I generally aim to study anywhere between 15 and 30 minutes (depending on how I feel) before taking a short break. I then indulge in a longer break after an hour and a half, all in an effort to reduce down-time, sustain attention, and forestall burn-out (Sousa, 2005). I say "aim" here of course, as I can often get carried away in some task for longer than anticipated too. ;) However, I imagine much of this varies greatly from person to person. So I wonder what other break patterns others follow whilst studying: how long do you think a break should be, and how often should we take one whilst studying a language? Edited by Teango on 07 May 2011 at 11:38pm 7 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| hjordis Senior Member United States snapshotsoftheworld. Joined 5121 days ago 209 posts - 264 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Spanish, Japanese | Message 2 of 23 08 May 2011 at 12:46am | IP Logged | ||
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I usually study any subject for half an hour to an hour and a half, depending on how focused I was when I started. I might study something else instead of taking a break, though, depending on how lazy I was being.
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| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6374 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 3 of 23 08 May 2011 at 2:20am | IP Logged | ||
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I just follow how I feel, in the absence of a strong reason not to. If I want to work solid for 4 hours (or more) I do. If I want to study and think really really hard for 5 minutes and then take half a day off while my subconscious mulls over the implications of what I've learned, I also do - and this is sometimes the most effective action I'm aware of, though it rarely is in language study.
If my attention is wandering, it's probably past time for a break. There are a lot of steps before burn-out; it tends not to be a problem if one pays any attention. More of an issue is 'saturation'; if I go past a certain point, further study without a break is not useless, but rather is actively counter-productive. This relates more strongly to what I'm doing and how than to length of time, though. An important, and often underrated, factor is the quality of breaks. Moving around or napping can both be good. Edit: minor phrasing change. Edited by Volte on 08 May 2011 at 2:21am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Juаn Senior Member Colombia Joined 5280 days ago 727 posts - 1830 votes Speaks: Spanish* | Message 4 of 23 08 May 2011 at 4:36am | IP Logged | ||
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I really miss the time when I was studying just one language. Working on a single language for a couple of straight hours produced the best results for me. It allowed me to fully immerse my mind in it. I really can't do fifteen minutes of something and then switch to something else, as I prevents me from grasping my subject with any depth.
This relates not just to language study, but to science, mathematics, literature, writing or anything else. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| The Real CZ Senior Member United States Joined 5584 days ago 1069 posts - 1495 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Korean | Message 5 of 23 08 May 2011 at 5:36am | IP Logged | ||
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My breaks are just watching TV shows in the target language.
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| Akao aka FailArtist Senior Member United States Joined 5271 days ago 315 posts - 347 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Toki Pona | Message 6 of 23 08 May 2011 at 6:05am | IP Logged | ||
For me, I just study which I want when I feel like it. It usually remains balanced and I enjoy every second of it. Since the three I study are so different from each other, I never really get bored, and they never get confusing. You could either assign languages to different days or you could even go whole weeks with individual languages, thus serving the "take a break" method from the OP. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| leosmith Senior Member United States Joined 6485 days ago 2365 posts - 3804 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Tagalog | Message 7 of 23 08 May 2011 at 6:30am | IP Logged | ||
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Teango makes some good observations regarding daily study sessions. But I'm disappointed that I haven't seen studies like this for the weekly schedule (hard day, easy day
for example) and the seasonal schedule (Learning in Spurts, periodization for example). 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 5946 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 8 of 23 09 May 2011 at 3:50pm | IP Logged | ||
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The problem with the "first and last" studies is that they generally look at memorisation rather than learning, or in other cases, repeated performance of a fixed task.
That's all well and good, but really effective teaching starts with something you already know, then introduces new material that dovetails nicely with it. That means that you really can't introduce new material at the start, no matter how much it looks like the most effective time. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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