Foreign language mastery: what the research says
Foreign language mastery: What the research says
Sent to the Washington Post, June 12, 2013
Andrew Eil claims that the “easy steps” to foreign language mastery are to study grammar very hard, drill vocabulary every day, and force yourself to talk (“Speak the language,” Washington Post Express, June 11).
A massive amount of research done over the last few decades by a wide variety of researchers and published in scientific journals presents a very different view: We acquire language when we understand what people tell us and what we read, when we get “comprehensible input.” When we get a great deal of comprehensible input through listening and reading, we acquire the grammar and vocabulary of the second language.
Studies show repeatedly that intensive grammar study and memorizing vocabulary are of limited value, and that speaking doesn’t promote language acquisition; rather, the ability to speak is the result of comprehensible input.
Andrew Eil has clearly done well in foreign language acquisition, but I think that his competence came largely
Sent to the Washington Post, June 12, 2013
Andrew Eil claims that the “easy steps” to foreign language mastery are to study grammar very hard, drill vocabulary every day, and force yourself to talk (“Speak the language,” Washington Post Express, June 11).
A massive amount of research done over the last few decades by a wide variety of researchers and published in scientific journals presents a very different view: We acquire language when we understand what people tell us and what we read, when we get “comprehensible input.” When we get a great deal of comprehensible input through listening and reading, we acquire the grammar and vocabulary of the second language.
Studies show repeatedly that intensive grammar study and memorizing vocabulary are of limited value, and that speaking doesn’t promote language acquisition; rather, the ability to speak is the result of comprehensible input.
Andrew Eil has clearly done well in foreign language acquisition, but I think that his competence came largely
