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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| s_allard Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5365 days ago 2704 posts - 5425 votes  Speaks: French*, English, Spanish Studies: Polish | Message 9 of 23 09 May 2011 at 6:48pm | IP Logged | ||
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Very interesting post that resonates with something that I feel intuitively. I would like to just add that this finding seems to totally contradict that idea we saw here a couple of weeks ago of trying to learn Russian by "brainwashing" oneself with continuous studying and no sleep for 61 hours. At the time of the discussion, the idea seemed crazy enough. And we have not heard from the poster since. I guess the post here puts that kooky idea to bed definitely.
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| jazzboy.bebop Senior Member Norway norwegianthroughnove Joined 5353 days ago 439 posts - 800 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Norwegian | Message 10 of 23 09 May 2011 at 7:33pm | IP Logged | ||
Indeed. When that poster linked to a blog about the supposed original brainwashing experiment I noted there was no citation to actual research and it also had a whole lot of other unfounded silliness which made me seriously doubt the blog's veracity. I also could find nothing about the experiment apart from a reference on a couple of sites trying to sell memory improvement courses. I doubt there really was an experiment like this to begin with, otherwise had it worked it probably would be far better documented than to be only traceable to a couple of sites trying to sell things and a blog filled with a lot of weird stuff and I note that the blog has since been taken down. Edited by jazzboy.bebop on 09 May 2011 at 7:36pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| carlonove Senior Member United States Joined 5921 days ago 145 posts - 253 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian | Message 11 of 23 09 May 2011 at 8:38pm | IP Logged | ||
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Please let the brainwashing thing go, there was virtually nothing useful in any of the 12 pages in that thread. At least that I can remember.
Regarding the original topic, Teango's study/break patterns pretty much match mine, but I think "study endurance" plays a factor. That is, you can condition yourself to study more intensely and for longer periods of time, the way a weightlifter can train to lift more and do more repetitions. Conversely, it's also possible to condition yourself to break less frequently and for shorter periods of time. Edited by carlonove on 09 May 2011 at 8:50pm 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 12 of 23 10 May 2011 at 12:07am | IP Logged | ||
That seems unlikely. All the studies on concepts such as "flow" suggest that concentration is cyclic. I don't think you can really increase your concentration span. However, you can make the material that you're working with easier to concentrate on -- I can concentrate on something longer if I'm constantly learning something than if either A) I'm struggling to understand material that's too complicated for me or B) it's so easy that I don't have to think at all. I don't think I have a lot of control over my attention sp... hey, that ball is shiny. I'm going to go and play with it. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| carlonove Senior Member United States Joined 5921 days ago 145 posts - 253 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian | Message 13 of 23 10 May 2011 at 2:25am | IP Logged | ||
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Flow and appropriate content are critical, but there are certainly people who can sit down a study for many hours a day (with breaks and a variation in activities) and people who can't. From what I've read about the FSI, students get 6-8 hours of classroom instruction a day plus 4+ hours of independent work. Those people aren't born with the discipline and concentration span to study languages all day, they worked up to it.
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| amethyst32 Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5584 days ago 118 posts - 198 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Portuguese, French | Message 14 of 23 14 May 2011 at 1:08am | IP Logged | ||
So do I. I've tried the "set breaks" thing before but it didn't work for me; I found it more disruptive than anything else. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| irrationale Tetraglot Senior Member China Joined 5985 days ago 669 posts - 1023 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Tagalog Studies: Ancient Greek, Japanese | Message 15 of 23 15 May 2011 at 7:20am | IP Logged | ||
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I follow a rigid schedule based off of what I have found effective over 3 years of continuous SRSing. I goes up to my personal max time of 4 hours SRSing per day (over that time and I feel that is it information overload for the day).
30 min SRS 15 min break 30 min SRS 30 min break 30 min SRS 15 min break 30 min SRS 1 hour break 30 min SRS 15 min break 30 min SRS 30 min break 30 min SRS 15 min break 30 min SRS I usually SRS from 1.5 to 2 hours a day. If I only have 3, 30 min SRS sessions I will just have two 15 minute breaks in between. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| johnix Diglot Newbie France alysse.org Joined 4878 days ago 6 posts - 7 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: Mandarin | Message 16 of 23 15 May 2011 at 6:31pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hi all,
great information here. I myself don't have a set schedule. I was wondering what other people did during breaks. I tend to get carried away when I jump to other activities. Also, does aerobic physical activity noticeably help? How long does it have to last? 1 person has voted this message useful |
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