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Beyond Comprehensible Input | ||
Tags: Language Acquisition Theory | Listening | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| Ajijic10 Diglot Senior Member Mexico Joined 6693 days ago 161 posts - 210 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish | Message 1 of 6 07 October 2009 at 5:24pm | IP Logged | ||
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"Dr Sulzberger's research challenges existing language learning theory. His main hypothesis is that simply listening to a new language sets up the structures in the brain required to learn the words."
"However crazy it might sound, just listening to the language, even though you don’t understand it, is critical. A lot of language teachers may not accept that," he says. Link: Dr. Sulzberger language acquisition theory P.S. I don't claim to believe this theory. Just thought I'd open it up for discussion. Edited by Ajijic10 on 07 October 2009 at 5:27pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| elindberg Triglot Newbie United States Joined 5332 days ago 6 posts - 7 votes Speaks: English*, Russian, French Studies: Mandarin, Japanese | Message 2 of 6 07 October 2009 at 6:38pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm unimpressed, but I can't tell if it's with the article, with Dr. Sulzberger, or both. (And I'm not an expert on the subject - just someone studying the field of second language acquisition.)
I have difficulty understanding exactly what Dr. Sulzberger's research entails. The news article plays up the suggestion that extended exposure to a foreign language can be crucial in understanding that language. That isn't a particularly new or revolutionary idea. The quotes from Dr. Sulzberger suggest that he attributes this to the development of neural tissue, which would be interesting. (Not to say a little dubious - I'm really out of my depths on this subject, since I know next to nothing about neuroscience, but from what little I do know, the brain just doesn't work that way, does it?) If he's measuring something physical to demonstrate this development of brain tissue, then it doesn't seem to be mentioned anywhere in the article. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| draoicht Groupie Ireland Joined 6091 days ago 89 posts - 146 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 3 of 6 07 October 2009 at 6:47pm | IP Logged | ||
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Huge thread from earlier this year on this topic Link
3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Snowflake Senior Member United States Joined 5737 days ago 1032 posts - 1233 votes Studies: Mandarin | Message 4 of 6 08 October 2009 at 2:55am | IP Logged | ||
I don't have any citings though have read that when fluent there are many, many neural pathways existent in the brain, which have been developed over time. There have to be so many that when under stress and many of those pathways dissapear, there are still pathways to draw upon. I came across this a while back when looking at fluency, in general. At that time I was not specifically interested in language. Edited by Snowflake on 08 October 2009 at 3:02am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 5789 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 5 of 6 08 October 2009 at 11:52am | IP Logged | ||
In summary: What Sulzberger did was prove that students find it easy to recall Russian words that have sound patterns similar to English, and hard to recall Russian words that don't sound similar to English. He did nothing to prove what would make the hard words easier -- in particular he did nothing to investigate "just listening" to the target language. That was all conjecture. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ajijic10 Diglot Senior Member Mexico Joined 6693 days ago 161 posts - 210 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish | Message 6 of 6 08 October 2009 at 6:34pm | IP Logged | ||
Yeah, sorry about that. I should have done a search before I posted. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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