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Why language classes do not work | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages |  | |
| ChristopherB Triglot Senior Member New Zealand Joined 6101 days ago 851 posts - 1074 votes  2 sounds Speaks: English*, German, French | Message 17 of 28 13 October 2008 at 12:21am | IP Logged | ||
Well speaking broken English and having an accent is quite a different thing to speaking correctly and having an accent (as in the case of Volte's example of Conrad). 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| William Camden Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6057 days ago 1936 posts - 2333 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, French | Message 18 of 28 13 October 2008 at 11:35am | IP Logged | ||
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One-to-one language tuition, or in a small group, may be effective. I doubt whether anyone learned French 40 to a classroom jammed elbow-to-elbow with the apathetic and stupid.
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| Sennin Senior Member Bulgaria Joined 5819 days ago 1457 posts - 1759 votes 5 sounds | Message 19 of 28 14 October 2008 at 8:54am | IP Logged | ||
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For me language classes work but serve mainly psychological and organisational purposes. I get angry if s.b. in the class is better than me so I work harder to beat him (her). Besides it gives me a good regular pace.
Otherwise I barely pay any attention to the teacher and generally act in a rather asocial way. Not that I try to sabotage... I'm just not easy to communicate with when not in a social mood (which happens often). Most teachers find this extremely annoying. However I invariably end up doing well at the exams, resulting in genuine surprise and sometimes further annoyance on their part. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| SamD Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6444 days ago 823 posts - 987 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Portuguese, Norwegian | Message 20 of 28 15 October 2008 at 8:39am | IP Logged | ||
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Not all language classes are created equally, but I find that having a class gives me some structure and makes it more difficult for me to procrastinate. If I pay for a class and materials and I have to be in a certain place at a certain time, I am more likely to stick to what I'm doing. It's just a matter of my particular temperament. Your results may well vary.
I'm the sort of language student who enjoys doing some outside reading and practicing, and so I agree that doing things outside a class are essential. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| aliebe Diglot Pro Member United States Joined 5620 days ago 59 posts - 63 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Spanish Personal Language Map | Message 21 of 28 04 December 2008 at 2:22pm | IP Logged | ||
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I always found my motivation was poor with a class. I would do the homeworks, learn for the exam. Perhaps because I am a good student (in the 'i get good grades' sense---which is a big big qualifier) I found I would only have to spend a couple of hours outside of classt to fullfill the obligations to the class, ut then had a hard time going beyond that in order to really learn and internalize. That means over the course of the year at Uni level I would get 125 (5 credit course, three quarters, 50 min period) hours of class instruction and an additional 50-70 or so outside of class. but then writing replacement drills with a movie on in the background hardly constitutes quality study time. Not sure if others have had a similar experience in class? I am trying for the first time to learn on my own (not in a class, and not by living in the language in question), and doing little drills and exercises so far feels less forced and more with learning, not completion as a goal.
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| TheBiscuit Tetraglot Senior Member Mexico Joined 5708 days ago 532 posts - 619 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish, Italian Studies: German, Croatian | Message 22 of 28 08 December 2008 at 6:13pm | IP Logged | ||
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I think it depends how well you can adapt yourself to formal learning/education. Most of the things we know and can do well in our lives are things we've learnt informally. This is why so many people struggle in a formal, pressurised, 'academic' learning environment and prefer to study on their own in an informal way. It's not that they are bad learners, most people just don't learn under these circumstances.
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| Lindsay19 Diglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5606 days ago 183 posts - 214 votes Speaks: English*, GermanC1 Studies: Swedish, Faroese, Icelandic | Message 23 of 28 18 December 2008 at 8:15pm | IP Logged | ||
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I kind of agree on some of his points (especially about other students holding the rest back; that's how it was in my High School German class), but what I like about classes is the structure. On my own I often am at a lack of what to exactly do.
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| Luai_lashire Diglot Senior Member United States luai-lashire.deviant Joined 5613 days ago 384 posts - 560 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto Studies: Japanese, French | Message 24 of 28 19 December 2008 at 2:38pm | IP Logged | ||
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It really depends on a LOT of factors.
I'm lucky- I'm in a small class (14 people) with students who all genuinely love the language, we have a good textbook and a fantastic teacher, and plenty of opportunities in class to practice in actual conversations. I think people often underestimate the need for a good teacher AND a good textbook. If you have one without the other it's just not that helpful, but if you have both your learning will go much faster. A teacher can be an invaluable resource for explanations of things you can't make sense of on your own- but they have to be willing to explain. Mine is, and she's very good at it too, which means a lot of the time we learn very useful things from her we wouldn't have from the textbook, no matter how good it is. Personally I think it all comes down to learning styles, but for many people a GOOD class + a bit of independent study provides a good basic understanding, and then going to the country and surrounding themselves with the language can help them polish it up. But if you go to the country without a good enough understanding of the language already, it's not going to be nearly as easy to pick up. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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