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Speed Reading for faster learning? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies | ( Topic Closed) |  |
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 5805 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes  Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 9 of 49 01 October 2009 at 11:21am | IP Logged | ||||||||
Even if that's true, there's still a serious problem that this doesn't account for in language learning. We read by applying our knowledge of a language, and reading speed increases as we learn to skip redundant information. We ignore some words presume they're there based on experience and expectation. Our expectations from the native language don't map into the target language -- a slavic speaker would naturally ignore articles for example. Once you're a fluent speaker you'll have the appropriate experience and expectations so there's no reason not to do speed reading then.... 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| JasonChoi Diglot Senior Member Korea, South Joined 6153 days ago 274 posts - 298 votes Speaks: English*, Korean Studies: Mandarin, Cantonese, Latin | Message 10 of 49 01 October 2009 at 2:25pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I don't think I disagree with you, but some of your statements presume a more conscious method of learning. Speed reading involves the use of the unconscious parts of the brain (of course I can't prove any of this, nor do I intend to), but I am thinking that perhaps the mind can absorb information without consciously paying attention to all the bits of grammar. I'm thinking that merely repeated exposure would be enough, much like the way babies absorb their native language without consciously paying attention to grammar. I plan to experiment with this to see whether or not it holds any water. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 5805 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 11 of 49 01 October 2009 at 5:12pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
All fluent reading involves automatic thought (ie no conscious command of the process) -- speed reading is not unique in this regard.
Which is actually precisely the problem. You read and match the written form to your understanding of the language. People who read aloud consciously will meticulously pick out and read out every word, but in a stilted manner. On the other hand, someone who reads a foreign language out loud fluently (ie flowingly) will actually read out words that aren't there. I had a student who always messed up his prepositions when reading aloud -- rather than saying what was on the page, he consistently used the same preposition that he would have used if he'd made the sentence up himself. The errors arose from not reading consciously.
Two problems: There's one big indisputable difference between babies and adult learners: babies have no preconceptions of language ("language acquisition device" and "universal grammar" excepted) whereas adults make assumptions based on their native language. Also, written language is a very different beast from spoken language, and kids learn from spoken language. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Lingua Decaglot Senior Member United States Joined 5370 days ago 186 posts - 319 votes Speaks: English*, German, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Danish, French, Norwegian, Portuguese, Dutch | Message 12 of 49 01 October 2009 at 6:07pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Edited by Lingua on 01 October 2009 at 6:43pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Lingua Decaglot Senior Member United States Joined 5370 days ago 186 posts - 319 votes Speaks: English*, German, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Danish, French, Norwegian, Portuguese, Dutch | Message 13 of 49 01 October 2009 at 6:42pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
It does not logically follow from this that adults cannot acquire language based on input in the way a child does. That there is a difference doesn't prove that it makes a difference. Language learners make assumptions based on their native language when they have not had enough exposure to the target language to acquire the right "assumptions" regarding the target language. Whether or not adults are able to acquire language from comprehensible input is an empirical question that can only be answered by evidence, not speculation. My experience and observations of language learning have shown me that it is possible. Edited by Lingua on 01 October 2009 at 6:52pm 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| doviende Diglot Senior Member Canada languagefixatio Joined 5780 days ago 533 posts - 1245 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Spanish, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Hindi, Swedish, Portuguese | Message 14 of 49 01 October 2009 at 7:19pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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There's an important distinction between reading fast and "skimming", where one ignores most of the content and just tries to grab an impression.
One of the biggest gains in speedreading comes from training yourself not to re-read the same passage over again. If you pay close attention when you're reading, you'll notice that your eyes will commonly go backwards up the page to older things. This slows you down tremendously, but is difficult to unlearn. You can train yourself by reading with a bookmark or piece of paper covering the part you've already read, and paying close attention to getting all of the information the first time. The next big boost to speed comes from not pronouncing any words in your head. If you hear a mental voice saying all of the words, then you're limited to a speed that allows those mental words to be 'heard'. When you stop hearing them, then you can absorb the meanings of the words and progress faster. Then you can practice reducing the number of eye movements required to read a certain line. Normally, people need 5 or 6 "looks" at different parts of a line in order to read it, but with a specially-prepared text you can make big spaces in each line so that you are trained to make only 3 looks, then 2, then 1. With these, and other techniques, you can greatly increase your reading speed without losing any comprehension. They are not about "skimming". The problem when trying to apply these to learning a foreign language, is that i don't think they'll help unless you already have a very firm grasp of the language and you just want to increase your vocabulary. As an intermediate German learner, i WANT to pronounce the words in my head for practice, and i want to read each sentence multiple times to make sure i understand all the relevant grammar points and vocab words. Maybe once i'm down to only 3 or 4 words per page that i don't know, then i'll start practicing speed-reading techniques in order to get more exposure to the rarer words. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| ExtraLean Triglot Senior Member France languagelearners.myf Joined 5788 days ago 897 posts - 880 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: German | Message 15 of 49 01 October 2009 at 8:45pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
This is everything that I wanted to say, and everything that needs to be said. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 5805 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 16 of 49 01 October 2009 at 9:42pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Yes it does. It follows that an adult cannot learn in the way a child does. If you were to say simply "It does not logically follow from this that adults cannot acquire language based on input" then you would be right, but it is trivially provable that adults learn in a different way from children. Just say "ola" to a beginning Spanish student at the start of every class and they will know it's a greeting and say it back to you without hesitation by the second or third class. Adults can (and do) mimic language far better, to the point of being able to mimic entire sentences. In fact, adults can start with fixed phrases and idioms, while children naturally start with ungrammatical streams of words. Really, I'm not against people arguing in support of learning by input, but "like a child" is demonstrably false and seems to me to be a very lazy way to convince the uninformed of the efficacy of a particular methodology. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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