Tag: speaking

Language Learning Tip #07

Problem

“I find myself hesitating when I speak because I am second-guessing myself and correcting myself.”

Idea

You are most likely someone who uses their “monitor” too much.

 

The Monitor Hypothesis is the idea that many people who try to learn a second language as an adult have constructed a sort of mental computer monitor between their thought in their mother tongue and their speech. This monitor is where they try out their grammar and construction before they actually say it. They sort of put their sentence or phrase up on the monitor screen to check it over before they talk or even while they are talking. The assumption behind the hypothesis is that this monitor is a hinderence to fluency and is of little to no benefit for accuracy in the long run.

So what is the problem really? Some would say that the problem is that your whole approach to learning the language so far is at fault. You have been trying to learn language as a system of rules and tranformations and translating methods instead of acquiring it. Acquisition is supposedly the natural way that a child learns the language without conscious analysis of the rules (i.e left brain). Therefore, we should be as childlike as possible when we try to learn/acquire a language.

Others would say that an adult has advantages over a child when learning a language because he or she can learn shortcuts and rules and can analyze the language and learn from mistakes. We can use both sides of our brain. (Have you ever tried to correct a child’s grammar? “Jimmy, we don’t say ‘goed’ we say ‘went.’ I know Mommy. I goed and went with Tommy to the store.”) We are great suckers for anything that is touted as “natural.”

I think both sides have a point. Most people who have an active monitor are producing just as many mistakes as those with no monitor. However, given time to think about it, the active monitor user can sometimes produce more grammatical sentences. However, if you find that your fluency is suffering because of this kind of hesitation and you are already an adult in a language program, you do not have a hopeless condition. There are still some exercises you can do to improve your fluency.

1)    Practice speaking quickly and incorrectly. You don’t need to be constantly wondering if this is the correct way to say something. For most situations it is perfectly fine to make mistakes as you speak and most of your mistakes should disappear as you are exposed to more and more native speech.

2)    Try recording yourself for short talks. When you know your speech is recorded, you know you can listen to it later to analyze and correct your mistakes. It brings a kind of freedom from the tyranny of the monitor.

3)    Time yourself talking. How long can you go without hesitating or correcting yourself? If you have in front of you a picture story or written notes about what you want to talk about, you can practice talking about that topic going faster and faster each time. If you get stuck on a vocabulary word or a structure, just say it in your language and go on. Don’t get sloppy with your pronunciation, but you can be sloppy with your grammar.

4)    Familiar dialogues (for example, dialogues from your book) are good for fluency practice as well. You don’t have to wonder about what to say, just how fluently you can say it.

Language Learning Tip #24

(Continued from Tip #23))

Problem

“I learn the words, but I seem to forget after a few days.”

Idea

20 Flashcards, 4 boxes, and the principle of spaced retrieval.

 

In the last tip we talked about the principle of “spaced retrieval.” Now we will talk about the flashcards and boxes and how we can use them to put the vocabulary that you choose into your longer-term memory.

Here’s how it works. As you read about this process, imagine yourself doing it. If you merely read it, this explanation is going to get very tedious. Even go through the motions with your hands as you follow this step-by-step description of the technique.

Day 1-session 1: You choose 20 words you want to learn – to put into your receptive/passive vocabulary. On one side of each card you write the Arabic word and on the other side, a simple translation, symbol, or picture that gives you the general meaning. You then drill by looking at the Arabic side, saying the word ALOUD and thinking of the meaning. Once you can recall each meaning twice, you put the cards into box #1.

Day 1-session 2: Then, later on the same day – at least an hour later, you return, take the words from box #1, look at the Arabic, say it aloud, and see if you remember the meaning. If you get it right, it goes into box #2. If you cannot recall the meaning, it goes back into the first stack, not box #1.  You now have some words in the stack – the ones you forgot. Your box #1 is empty, and box #2 has the words you remembered.

Day 2-session 1: You start at box #2. Take the cards from the box, say the Arabic, and see if you can recall the meaning. If you can recall the meaning of the word, the card goes right into box #3. If you cannot remember the meaning, the card goes all the way back to the beginning to the first stack, not box #1. At the end of this step, both box #1 and box #2 are empty, but hopefully box #3 has some cards in it. Next, you return to the first stack and count the cards. If you have 10 cards in the stack, you should add 10 new cards. That is, you always start with 20 cards. Drill these 20 words in the same way you did on day 1-session 1. At the end of this session you will have no cards left in your stack, 20 cards in box #1, nothing in box #2, and hopefully some cards in box #3.

Day 2-session 2: After at least an hour, you return to box #1. (Leave box #3 for tomorrow.) Drill the Arabic words aloud as always. The words you remember will go into box #2 and the ones you cannot remember will go into the stack again where they will await your return tomorrow. So now, at the end of the session, you have possible some cards in your stack, nothing in box #1, hopefully some cards in boxes #2 and #3.

Before we move to day #3, let me summarize:

— Your stack of words is made up of either new words or words you forgot.

— Box #1 is your “same day box.”

— Box #2 is your “next day box.”

— Box #3 is your “after at least 2 days box” (It could even be a week).

— And finally, box #4 is reserved for “retired” words that you have successfully remembered even after a two-day (or a week?) period.

It would be a good idea to label these boxes accordingly – hours box, one day box, long-term memory box, retired word box.

Day 3-session 1: Start with box #3. If you remember the meaning, you retire the word into box #4. If you don’t … yes, that’s right, you return it all the way to the first stack. Then you move to box #2 (your remembered words from yesterday). Drill. All the words you now remember go into box #3, but the words you forget go all the way back to the first stack. You look in box #1 … “Oh yes, that’s right, it’s empty because this is only session 1 today. Then you start with the stack. How many are there? 18? OK add 2 new words today. As before, work with these 20 words until you remember each one twice and put them into box #1.

Day 3-session 2: You return to your boxes later on day 3, you notice you have cards in boxes #1, #2, and #3. Where to start? Start with #3 and work your way down. Remember, if you fail to recall a word, the card goes all the way back to the beginning stack. After you have done all three boxes, leave the stack of forgotten words for the next day.

Day 4 and beyond:  Each day session one is when you add your new words and try to fill up box # 1. Session two is when you are only testing yourself on all the words.

 

Language Learning Tip #23

Problem

“I learn the words, but I seem to forget after a few days.”

Idea

20 Flashcards, 4 boxes, and the principle of spaced retrieval.

There is no way to learn words without doing some memorization. However, there are inefficient and boring ways to do it, and there are more efficient and less boring ways to do it. Unfortunately, I have not discovered a way that is quick, effective, and exciting. For years one of the boring ways is to drill with flashcards, but with a little tweaking, we can add some turbo power to your work with flashcards. But first, let’s examine the issue a bit more. The following quotes are from an article by I.P. Nation, a leader in the field of vocabulary acquisition.  (Research into practice: Vocabulary 
I. S. P. Nation LALS, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Section from Lang. Teach. (2011), 44.4, 529–539. Cambridge University Press 2011)

A large amount of vocabulary can be very quickly learnt and retained for a long period of time by using spaced retrieval and, where necessary, mnemonic techniques such as the keyword technique (McDaniel, Pressley & Dunay 1987). Vocabulary which is quickly learnt in this way is not quickly forgotten. The use of the L1 and pictures to provide the meaning for words is generally more effective than the use of L2 definitions. …

…The deliberate learning of vocabulary using word cards is one way of speeding up learners’ progress towards an effective vocabulary size. This deliberate learning, however, must be seen as only one part of a well-balanced learning program. …

… Learning using word cards can be done efficiently or inefficiently, and learners need guidance on the principles behind efficient learning. These principles are strongly research-based and include the use of spaced retrieval (Pyc & Rawson 2007), mnemonic techniques where necessary (Pressley 1977), reordering of the word cards to avoid serial learning, the L1 and pictures to represent the meaning of the words (Laufer & Shmueli 1997), repetition, and the avoidance of interfering items (Tinkham 1997; Waring 1997).

One of the keys to keeping things in your long-term memory is repetition at graduated intervals (increasing time between retrieval). The popular Pimsleur method makes this a central part of its approach. That is, the idea that recalling items to memory should happen at gradually increasing intervals. Pimsleur said it should happen at 5 seconds, 25 seconds, 2 minutes, 10 minutes, 1 hour, 5 hours, 1 day, 5 days, 25 days, 4 months, and 2 years! That seems rather extreme and impractical, but it gives you an idea of the increasing intervals designed to help you add vocabulary into your longer-term memory. Some language learning materials make efforts to recycle vocabulary too, but it is usually spotty and incomplete for various reasons. Also, Byki is a helpful computer program that uses this principle (http://www.byki.com). But you may benefit by creating materials you can touch, manipulate, and customize. That’s where the 20 cards and the 4 boxes come in.

(To be continued…)