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834. The best way to learn a language according to research (Article)

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The podcast episode explores research-backed strategies for effective language learning, emphasizing that the "best" method is highly individual and should be enjoyable and sustainable for the learner.

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hello listeners it's new episode Time

welcome back to my podcast

Luke's English podcast I'm Luke this is

my podcast welcome here's a new episode

and this one is all about language learning

learning

uh it's a it's sort of I thought that it

would be time to do another language

learning focused episode apparently it's

a sort of an ongoing mystery the whole

subject of language learning and exactly

how to do it the best way to do it

different people have got different approaches

approaches

um and uh

it's always an interesting subject to

talk about

um I think this episode is going to be

called the best way to learn a language

according to research

okay so you get an idea of what's going

to be included the best way to learn a

language I mean I'll prob I'll say right

at the beginning I think the best way to

learn a language is uh the the way that

works for you as an individual

and it's a question of trying different

things stepping out of your comfort zone

until you've experienced a variety of

different of different ways to learn a

language or improve the language that

you're trying to get to grips with

you know try all the different ways

and sort of analyze the effects of

trying those ways and the way that they

make you feel and then when you've found

something that kind of works for you uh

you stick with it and you keep doing it

and when I say the thing that works for

you what I really mean

is the thing that uh you enjoy doing

because I've said lots of times in the

past that learning a language is really

about time and practice

it's a question of putting in as you

know as much time as practice as

possible over uh you know a long period

of time now maybe the right kind of

practice you know you've got to sort of

work out what type of practice works

best for you but then ultimately when

you've got that it's just a question of

spending time working with the language

and uh finding a way that's enjoyable

that you actually are happy to do

will make a huge difference because then

you're probably much more likely to

actually do it um

so that's my that's an initial thought

I've got right at the beginning just

based on the title of the episode

but anyway to explain more

uh what I'm going to do in this episode

is read through an article this is an

article I found on the website

medium.com this is a site that I sort of

browse sometimes just looking for

interesting things to read and also

medium sends me emails as well it kind

of sends me suggestions of Articles it

thinks I might like it sends me by email

and you can get these things too it's

medium is a good website for just sort

of reading articles that are not too

long things that are quite interesting

lots of articles with tips and advice

about different aspects of Life about

motivation about mental health about

physical health language learning and

and self-development of various kinds

it's quite good for dropping little

interesting articles into your inbox so

if you're looking for things to read you

could go to medium.com sign up free and

you know sort of select the sorts of

articles that you're interested in and

it will send them to you I understand as

well that medium.com is a is a is a

website that um

you can kind of send articles too

so it's a sort of a fairly open website

that lots of

um writers can post their articles onto

um so I was I was looking at medium.com

and I was searching for articles about

language learning and then I I found

this one and it's all about the best way

to learn a language but uh specifically

it's about looking at all the research

that's been done into this subject and

collecting it all together into one

article now this episode I would say

probably follows on from the episode I

did with Steve Kaufman a while ago

um that's where we looked specifically

at Steve and his approach to learning a language

language

and as you know Steve talked about how

he likes to use the sort of um

the um he likes to use the

comprehensible input model

outlined by Stephen crashen which involves

involves

reading like a lot of material a

material that you find compelling that

you're interested in in reading and you

start by that you start by consuming as

much language as possible probably in

the form of texts of varying difficulty

levels and then once you've once you've

kind of done that and you've got a sense

an overall sense of what the language is

like then you start to actually use it

and there's not much kind of focused

study where he studies the language from

the bottom up looking at the grammar of

it and all that sort of thing

um I think this episode will probably

relate also to the episode I did about

what it really means to be good at

English and in that one I kind of

explored ideas of what um fluency really

means and the the different aspects of

English ability that there are and

different ways of assessing someone's

English and also the conversation I had

with Hada Shemesh and her experiences of

improving her English and also you know

the many other episodes I've done in the

past about

um similar things

um so going back to Steve Kaufman he

learns languages successfully and he

seems to do it by doing tremendous

amounts of listening and reading now one

thing that we always think when you know

the one thing that people always think

when they

um hear about the the case of Steve

Kaufman is they people think is it is he

exceptional or or do you think that

anyone could do what he does could his

method work for everyone or does it just

work for him in some way

you know this is the thing this is I

guess this is the thing that keeps

people talking about language learning

it keeps people sort of disagreeing

about it and discussing things about it

is that probably there are different

methods that work for different people

but maybe there are certain Universal things

things

that we have to put in place

so that we know we are learning a

language in the right way or perhaps in

the most efficient way it's just a good

idea to take a step back and look at the

whole process of learning a language and

try to make sure that we're doing it in

the in the optimal way okay so let's see

what some research

academic research has said about

learning a language and let's see what

conclusions we can draw from this and

generally what this tells us about

language learning and you know maybe

this can

help you position yourself help give you

some perspective into your own language

learning process

and hopefully you'll just find it

interesting to listen to as well so the

best way to learn a language according to

research now you research this is a noun

the noun can be pronounced research or

research there's two ways to pronounce

the noun the verb is always pronounced

research to research something

so the best way to learn a language

according to research or according to

research this is from medium.com written

by Gavin Lam

who has a master's degree and a PhD in

Applied Linguistics from the University

of Hawaii so he should know what he's

talking about and this is a

consolidation of research conclusions

about the best way to learn another

language consolidation that means

basically taking these uh separate

things and bringing them together okay

and sort of breaking them down to the

the the their summaries kind of um

bringing all these disparate things

together into one article in this case

so what can all this research tell us

about how to learn English so I'm going

to read the article and also give my

comments about learning English I hope

you find it instructive you'll find the

link to the article on the page for this

episode on my website

that's basically you know that that's

what you'll find and that's what I'm

reading from so if you want to kind of

read along with me then feel free okay

so uh Gavin Lam's

um article is actually called the

trifecta of effective language learning

so he's referring to actually three key

points for Effective language learning

so the trifecta of effective language

learning learning another language isn't

just about the acquisition of a new

skill so apparently there's there's more

to it than that so

Gavin starts with some questions first

some questions what are the differences

between first and second language learning

learning

why do some people seem to have a knack

for learning languages While others

struggle or even resign themselves from

the task entirely how does age matter in

learning another language

how do our own unique individual

differences like learning styles affect

our ability to learn a new language

what role does conscious attention play

in language learning can we just soak up

the language like a sponge if we immerse

ourselves in the language or do we have

to pay attention to the details in order

to learn

how does your first language influence

how you learn a second language and what

are the most effective language learning

strategies in becoming a successful

language learner now I would like to

discuss those questions these are really

good discussion questions

um so I think that I'll discuss them and

just sort of give some of my thoughts

and conclusions as I close the window

here in my room so

the differences between first and second

language learning so we learn our first

languages as children okay and um

you know so you know we're all familiar

with that process that you know we come

out of the the we're born and uh first

we start making one syllable noises

you know those sorts of things and

eventually these start to form uh

multi-syllable words and then multi-word

phrases and then sentences and then

before you know it we're just babbling

away talking and talking you know as

parents we encourage our children to

start talking and then when the children

do get the knack for it they we can't

stop them you know and they'll just go

on and on and on uh which is a wonderful

thing to observe so learning a first

language I mean it's it's to talk about

it very basically

um yeah it's a lot of it's about trial

and error right as children we try to

express ourselves and we get it wrong a

lot like um there's a lot of Errors like

kids make tons of mistakes like for

example my daughter she will

uh these days she's five and her

languages is a lot more um complex than

it was before but um she makes mistakes

like for example with um irregular verbs

so she obviously uh while learning how

to conjugate verbs in English she learns

the the Ed ending rule because most

verbs end with Ed as you well know start

started waited and so on play played and

um and so what happens is she's

developed that rule and then she just

applies that to all verbs so she says

goad I goed to the shops

instead of saying I went to the shops so

she makes all these mistakes those

mistakes get corrected uh by her parents

by me and my wife but also she just as

she hears the language more and more and

starts reading it she starts to notice

what you know the correct forms are and

so she self-corrects you know it's but

it's a long process

um it takes years really before she can

get to a sort of fluent and accurate level

level um

right so I mean I could talk more in

much more detail about about learning a

first language but you know you're

familiar with the process when it comes

to learning a second language I guess

the difference is that often this is

done in adulthood most of us learn

second languages in adulthood or at

least in sort of late childhood we might

start studying a language at school

and it's interesting that often learning

the second language it's done in a more

formalized way I mean you know the

environment in which we learn uh

language two uh might be done in a

school environment so we are taught we

are actively taught this the second

language often that's our first

experience is that we have a teacher we

have a course book we have lessons and

we we we go through a rigid structured

um program of lessons so we are taught

the language it's done in an academic framework

framework

and also often it's an it's an active

Endeavor it's something that we actually

have to actively

try to achieve so today I'm going to

learn English so we we do some English

learning and then it stops

compared to L1 learning language one

where learning the language is not the

thing that we are trying to do

but we are just learning just to

communicate and just to achieve things

and language learning sort of happens as

a necessary consequence or as a

necessary we have a need to master the

language in order to essentially operate

as human beings and get the things we want

want

whereas second language learning seems

to be more of a considered

um thing that we know we we actually try

to learn the language I could talk more

about it but there are some differences

uh next question why do some people seem

to have a knack for learning languages

if you have a knack for something it

just means you have a sort of what seems

to be like a an inbuilt uh skill or a

talent for it like you might say that

Steve Kaufman has a knack for learning

languages that he just like reads

apparently just reads loads of books and

then suddenly ping he's got it or you

see these other polyglots on the

internet who are just excellent at it or

you every now and then you you know you

meet someone who has learned English as

a second language as an adult and

they've just got this accent they've got

like a really natural sounding accent

they in fact they could even be from

England or the United States or

Australia or something but know they're

from some other country where the the

language is not actually spoken so you

know why why is it that some people just

seem to be good at it while other people

struggle other people even resign

themselves from the task entirely they

just completely give up and

and

uh so why is that I mean I'm not sure

maybe some people do have sort of innate

talents for language learning maybe that

relates to growing up in a multilingual

environment or maybe even relates to uh

genetics maybe some people

um maybe

if ancestors have been maybe if like

over years and years and years your

ancestors were exposed to multilingual

environments maybe they just developed a

sort of almost maybe they develop the

ability and somehow passed it down I

don't really know but so maybe some

people have got an innate skill whereas um

maybe just some people have the right

level of motivation like someone like

Steve Kaufman okay we could say that you

know when you look at his history his

personal history you learned that he was

actually born in Sweden his parents were

from I think the Czech Republic

and then he moved to the United States

uh no then he moved to Canada when he

was five years old I think

to Montreal which we know is a bilingual

City so actually

when he examined his life story you

start to see that in the very beginning

there is there there seems to be some

level of multilingualism around him um

um so

um what was I what what's the point I'm

trying to make so

oh but yeah okay so you can say that but

also maybe it's just Steve's General

approach to learning languages that

allows him to do it the the positive

approach that he has he he has a really

sort of No Stress approach to it he

doesn't rush into the task he doesn't

expect great results too soon

it's very leisurely and it's all an

enjoyable adventure for him

whereas other people are desperate to

learn a language as a sort of commodity

they think I need language I need

English in order to get money or to get

a job to get money or whatever it is to

get status or work or something like

that and so the language is just like

this thing that they have to do and they

want to be able to cram study that

language and sort of find the most

efficient and effective way to learn it

so they then they don't have to learn it

anymore so they can just move on to the

next thing

and maybe that's the wrong approach

maybe you need a more relaxed approach a more

um you know lower your expectations find

ways to just enjoy it and just to you

know enjoy the ride rather than trying

desperately to get to the destination

all the time so maybe Steve is

successful simply because of his method

and his attitude rather than some

genetic predisposition or maybe some early

early

um uh childhood imprint that left him

with the ability to do it I but you know

I'm not sure really I'm not sure

um how does age matter in learning

another language well the common common

sense or the most common attitude for

this is that the earlier you start the

better which is probably true it's

probably true the earlier you get

exposure to a language the the better it

is for you

but then again older people often have

more life experience they have more

wisdom they have more knowledge they

have more things to say they have more

um yeah they have more perspective which

is very useful when learning a language because

because um

you know you can use all the knowledge

that you've got of the world and apply

that to the task of learning a language

and and that can be that could be very

helpful you know that can really help

you to do it well and again Steve

Kaufman is an example he's in his 70s I

think and he there he is you know

spending his time working on the language

language

um I I don't know again I'm not sure of

the answer this is the thing this is why

this is a continual debate because uh

you know it seems to be very stretchy subject

subject

um how do our own individual how do I

own unique individual differences like

learning styles affect our ability to

learn a new language the idea of

learning style suggests that we all

tend to learn in different ways now this

is contested now most of this stuff is

contested meaning people disagree with

it but the idea the the idea of there

being learning styles is a little bit

sort of um sketchy like people don't a

lot of people disagree with the whole

concept and in fact I read recently that

the the entire idea has been debunked

like proven to be false

uh but the I remember studying this

stuff during my Delta the idea being

that there are these are things that we

need to consider as teachers when

teaching our students to learn English

that they need to know that there are

different learning styles and learning

what your style of learning is or your

intelligence type is that can really

help you to choose the right kind of

learning for you so it may be still

interesting to consider the idea that

that maybe people learn in different

ways and there isn't just one single way

to learn a language it's not just like

um you know you study the grammar rules

and you do you know this kind of

old-fashioned approach there might be

other approaches and you have to keep

searching until you find the one that's

right for you but in terms of learning

styles we talk about things like visual

Learners people who prefer to you know

who who react well to visual stimulus we

talk about uh kinesthetic Learners

people who like to move and have some

sort of physical movement in involved in

their learning and then there's like the

auditory Learners and the musical

Learners and all these different

learning styles as teachers we are

taught about this stuff because it can

encourage us to incorporate different

types of tasks into tasks into lessons

tasks that involve the students may be

getting out of their seats and moving around

around

um you know tasks involving more visual

aspects you know not so it's not just

text on a page sitting down in front of

text on a page or on a on a Blackboard

or whiteboard or something but other

things too um

so the point there is that it might be

worth remembering that maybe you will

learn English more effectively in this

way whereas your friend or some guy on

the internet will learn their English

more effectively in other ways and it's

worth exploring these different

approaches you've got to keep an open

mind to learning in different ways

um next question what role does

conscious attention play in language learning

learning

can we just soak up the language like a

sponge if we immerse ourselves in the

language or do we have to pay attention

to the details in order to learn so two

schools of thought one one idea is that

you will just absorb language naturally

you are a sponge and your brain will

just soak up language if you expose it

to the language

and um so maybe

comprehensible input is an example of

this the input hypothesis that you know

that you just ex read lots and lots and

lots of material listen to lots and lots

of material and there's some sort of

natural process where your brain just

sort of absorbs or acquires it

um or immerse yourself go and live in

the country where the language is spoken

and it will be around you all the time

24 hours a day you'll be hearing it

seeing it being forced to use it all the time

time

and so naturally we will accommodate

ourselves to that environment and that

means essentially acquiring the language

that we need in order to operate within

it and those things seem to be somehow

subconscious or unconscious learning

like it's just learning as a consequence

of trying to understand the book that

you're reading or trying to survive in

the city that you're living in or something

something

or do we need to be more attentive and

conscious in our learning

meaning do we need to sit down and

actually look through the grammar rules

or when we're reading

consciously check words and keep

vocabulary lists and flash cards and you

know have these methods that we can use

to focus our attention on learning

going back to that other question of

learning a first language and learning a

second language maybe the the the

immersion idea is similar to how we

learn a first language and then the

conscious attention is like the way we

traditionally learn a second language

but then again those things don't

necessarily it's not as simple as that

because if you if you think about it

when you learn your first language like

when I learned English I didn't just

learn it through exposure and through

just like trying to talk to my parents

and stuff I also had classes at school

you know I did actually learn

I did actually have some conscious

learning I had to learn to read and to

write I learned to spell I learned some

kind of English grammar in my English

language classes at school and stuff so

you know there is some conscious

attention involved in learning your

first language too like I have had to

consciously focus on writing and improve

my writing in English and you know it's

a constant thing I do actually have to

consciously attend to my language

learning of of my first language and

similarly there are lots of people who

say that learning a second language

should be less conscious it should be

more about just interacting with uh with

the language and letting language

learning happen as a as a natural

consequence so I don't know it's all a

bit mixed up isn't it maybe it's the yin

and yang

I don't know

um how does your first language

influence how you learn a second

language how does your first language

influence how you learn a second language

language

well I I mean I can certainly talk about

how your first language affects the way

that you use the second language and

it's massive it's absolutely huge so the

reason for like 90 of the errors that we

make when we are speaking or using our

second language that the reason for

those errors is most of the time due to

influence from the first language so

it's our first the the grammar part of

our brain

is telling us to use kind of the same

grammar or structures or at least the

way that we think and the way we

structure language the way we produce

language is very much dictated by those

patterns and structures from language one

one

and a lot of the time when learning a

language is about sort of trying to

break down those

um natural structures that come from L1

and to create new structures and learn

the new structures and rhythms of the

second language so L1 language one

definitely influences language two how

does it influence the way you learn a

second language

I'm not sure really I'm not sure how

what I could say about that the way it

influences the way you learn it

uh maybe cultural stuff but that's not

language but you know maybe cultural

things like generally the culture of

what it means to learn a language in

your country and you know so France

France for example it's it's it's

older Generations in France for them

learning a language was about studying

it on paper

you know and doing that kind of

conscious old-fashioned studying maybe

grammar translations certainly starting

with grammar rules learning them and you

know that kind of structured approach so

that's really more the the culture of

language learning that exists in in your

native culture that can affect the way

you learn a second language and

certainly your use of your first language

language

has a huge impact on the way you use

your second language for example and

I've mentioned this example before

French people

um will make lots of very common errors

um just like every every person learning

a second language you they but the

errors can be traced back to French so

they will say instead of I agree they'll

say I am agree or I I am not agree

when it should be I agree and I I don't

agree or I disagree and that's because

in French

which is I am agree you know and um

other you know a whole host of other

ones and of course pronunciation is a

massive thing you know like again using

French as an example uh in France they

don't really have a th sound or or sound

the th sound and so

um when there is a th sound in English

they will go

you know they'll use a different sound

and those errors are caused by the fact

that that those th sounds are not in

French similarly Japanese people are and

L sounds [Music]

[Music]

are actually one sound and so R and L uh

can be a problem and that leads to

people writing uh an L when it should be

an r and the other way around and so on

so you know obviously the first language

has a huge impact on the second language

and the next and the final question the

in the introduction to this episode uh

what are the most I mean in the

introduction to this article because the

the introduction to the episode is long

gone now but um this final question what

are the most effective language learning

strategies in becoming a successful

language learner

okay that's a huge question and that's

going to be explored directly in the

article so we'll we'll just kind of

crack on with the article here and see

what it says

so let's call an everyday language

learner an adult learner who is seeking

to achieve long-term success in a

language that they began learning in

high school or later so what we're doing

now is defining our our Baseline

Benchmark for what a a normal everyday

language learner is and it's a I think

it's a good description a good

definition I think there's probably

um fits most of us right trying to learn

another language certainly most of you

listening to this you are trying to

learn English and I would categorize you

probably as everyday language learners

not that there's anything ordinary about

you of course you're all completely

unique and

um special in in because you listen to

this podcast but let's say that this

fits your description everyday language

learner an adult learner probably

seeking to achieve long-term success in

a language that they began learning in

high school or later you probably

started learning English at school

um or maybe later maybe uh you know

maybe in adulthood and let's call

success the ability to use the language

for effective communication in a wide

range of situations and settings and in

order to achieve a range of goals that

you are already comfortable

accomplishing in your first language or

first languages

so the ability to use language for

effective communication in a wide range

of situations and settings in order to

achieve a wide range of goals

in other words think of being able to

use the language as a vehicle for

communication in these different things

so a vehicle for communication with

different people

so you should be able to use English

effectively with different people so

with family members with friends with

teachers with doctors with bosses with

colleagues with employees with

bartenders with grocery store Clarks

waiters and so on so I talked about this

before didn't I when did I talk about this

this

I haven't actually talked about this yet

I've got an episode

in the pipeline about different styles

of English

and the way that we adapt our English

depending on the situation so yeah you

need to be able to adapt your English

depending on the person you're talking

to so that means like you know formal

and informal language and levels of

politeness and diplomacy and directness

and indirectness and stuff so all those

pragmatic things you should be able to

use English to communicate through

different genres and this relates to the

episode that I'm working on which is

going to be about how English changes

depending on the situation that's some

that's coming soon so through different

genres so spoken discourse meaning how

to construct spoken English professional

emails medium posts like if you're

writing you know should could you write

an article for a website like medium

using English on the phone using English

on social media all these different

situations you should be able to do all

of them you should be able to use

English in different places so at home

at school at work in hospitals at

conferences uh in recreational settings

again just another way of considering

the way that in you should be able to

adapt your English for these different

um places people and situations and for

different actions uh you should be able

to use your second language for

persuading for narrating for reporting

instructing joking warning praising

blaming asking requesting agreeing

disagreeing com complaining flirting gossiping

gossiping

right so all of these questions though

are just a few of those being posed by

second language acquisition researchers

in a number of ways over the past four

decades the field has been in existence

questions which have led down all sorts

of paths in their efforts to peel off

the layers of the language learning

onion and it has been a difficult onion

to peel to say the least so basically um

second language acquisition researchers

these are academics

researching the whole question of how a

second language is learned

these people have been for for decades

now have been searching for answers to

the questions that I've just been

talking about and the things that have

just been mentioned at the beginning of

this article it's a difficult onion to

peel to peel and onion you peel off the

layers to get to the core to get to the

um you know the actual core truth in the

middle of it

okay so the bigger picture

uh but for a language learner who wants

to know what the research says about the

best way to learn another language how

can you begin extracting practical

insights from jargon-packed research

articles or should you even bother so

basically right there's lots of

academics writing academic research

papers into all different aspects of

second language learning but for a

normal person normal human like you the

Layman right the lay person who um just

wants to learn the best way to to to to

acquire another language how can you get

these insights from all these articles

these academic papers how can you

actually just get the basic advice okay

um so the article continues a lot of the

research in SLA second language

acquisition is very focused

whether it be on how specific languages

are acquired by Learners from certain

linguistic and cultural backgrounds

investigating the development of

language competence from more cognitive

or social theoretical perspectives or

critically examining the ever-expanding

language learning Market that seeks to

profit on the desire among pretty much

everyone on the planet to improve their

Proficiency in another language

uh Gavin Lam wait a minute what happened

to that sentence I feel like there's a

whole other Clause that's missing here

whether it be on how specific languages

are required

or this but yeah there's a Gavin there's

a there's a clause missing in your sentence

sentence

because it needs to be whether it be on

it's certainly difficult to find the conclusions

conclusions

whether it be on how specific languages

are acquired by Learners from certain

linguistic and cultural backgrounds

investigating the development of

language competence from more cognitive

or social theoretical perspectives or

critically examining the ever-expanding

language learning Market that seeks to

profit on the desire among pretty much

everyone on the planet to improve their

Proficiency in another language whether

it be this this or this we need another

clause it seems to be difficult for everyone

everyone

that's probably what it should be

anyway but rather than spending too much

time on all of that

ah no sorry Gavin sorry the weather at B

is actually connected to the previous

Clause so a lot of the research in SLA

is very focused whether it be on how uh

whether it be on this this or this so

it's a punctuation issue in the article

so if I was to edit the article I would

say that actually this is all one

sentence there shouldn't be a full stop

after SLA is very focused anyway I'm

getting distracted here right so anyway

but rather than spending too much time

on all of that

says Gavin I'd like to zoom out a bit

and get a bigger picture of second

language acquisition and hopefully offer

up a few insights from the SLA research

for the average everyday language

learner Thank You Gavin

thank you very much so he's going to

give us a sort of overview

this is because I feel the research on

language learning has not only helped me

to get a better grip on what the process

of language learning involves but has

also helped me see how I can begin

relating the numerous theories findings

and insights in SLA to my own language

learning practice

so all the research has helped him to

get a better grip to get control on what

the process of language learning

involves it's also helped him to see how

he can begin relating the theories and

insights to his own learning practice so

he's done it so he's going to help us do

it too

wading through the swamp of SLA research

wading wading is when you're walking

through deep water or walking through

like mud or something

so in this case wading through the swamp

of SLA research lots of SLA research

everywhere it's difficult to get through

it wading through the swamp of SLA

research can be a bewildering experience

ah where am I what's going on I'm confused

confused

and at first concrete strategies for

language learning seem to be in small

Supply so it's all a bit sort of vague

and swampy and we need concrete

strategies tell me exactly what to do

these concrete strategies seem to be in

small Supply there aren't many of them

this is because much of the research is

concerned with the complex social and

cognitive processes involved in language

learning and not so much with

prescribing practical strategies for learners

learners

so why is it difficult to kind of use

academic research to help us learn it's

because a lot of the time the research

is all about what is going on when

people learn languages it's about the

processes the social processes

right the the ways in which people

interact and the cognitive processes

what's going on in our brains involved

in language learning that seems to be

what the research focuses on

it's all about the way it works what's

going on in the process of language

learning and it's

the research is not so interested with

prescribing strategies prescribing is basically

basically

telling people exactly what to do

so it's not interest often the research

is not about prescribing specific

strategies or telling Learners exactly

how to learn

and then he goes on although there is a

growing body of research on language

learning pedagogy aimed at providing

useful insights for teachers and

Learners so apparently there is more and

more research which is aimed at being

more practical

um the article continues Andrew Cohen

who researches strategies for Learning

and using a second language defines a

language learning strategy as this so

what is a language learning strategy

it's this thoughts and actions

consciously Chosen and operationalized

by language Learners to assist them in

carrying out a multiplicity of tasks

from the very onset of learning to the

most advanced levels of target language performance

performance

so this is the this is kind of typical

academic language which is quite

difficult to penetrate so what is a

language learning strategy I think you

know but anyway here's the academic

definition thoughts so things you think

and actions things you do consciously

chosen so things you've actually decided

to do and think and operationalized

meaning I suppose actually done by

language Learners to assist them in

carrying out a multiplicity of tasks so

things you choose to think and choose to

do in order to help you perform various tasks

from the beginning of your learning to

the very Advanced levels of language performance

performance

so basically the things you choose to

think and do in order to help you

and the article says these include learn

language learning strategies like

strategies for ensuring the learning

practicing and use of a new language in

an already busy life so the things you

choose to do when your life is very busy

how you can squeeze language learning

into your busy life strategies for

monitoring one's everyday language

learning and use so how do you actually

keep a sense of whether you're making

progress or not and strategies for

remembering vocabulary deemed relevant

and valuable so basically how do you

remember all the stuff you're learning

but in this post I've tried to pull some

of the biggest clumps of insight from a

range of different research approaches

in this field

these insights have helped me to see the

language learning process from diverse

Vantage points so it's given him

perspective he can look at language

learning from all these different perspectives

perspectives

and perhaps most importantly begin

making connections to my daily practice

as a language learner so it's helped him

think about the way he's learning a

language too so a trifecta a sort of

three-point list three point

approach for Effective language learning

these three approaches to language

learning are somewhat obvious but have

been described in various Ways by

researchers coming from all sorts of

different perspectives in SLA so Gavin

is boiled it down to three main points

okay now if I was a different kind of um

um uh

English language podcaster I'd be

selling this as like the three secrets

of language learning

right I don't know why people always

refer to these things as Secrets because

they're really not Secret in fact

there's like you know many many many

researchers publishing articles all

about it people are constantly talking

about these things in Po in the public

forum making videos about them training

people how to tell them you know there's

whole Industries and academic

institutions uh devoted to

understanding how we learn language and

then trying to share that knowledge and

sell that knowledge as much as possible

none of these things are secrets anyway

here are those three points that have

been distilled by um Gavin here in his

article number one learn the language in context

context

number two learn The Language by using

it for specific purposes

number three learn the language through

face-to-face interaction and online

works too all right let's see what Gavin

means so number one learn the language

in context what do I mean by learning a

language in context I think SLA

researcher Bonnie Norton puts this well

when she writes this

second language Learners need to

struggle to appropriate the voices of

others they need to learn to command the

attention of their listeners they need

to negotiate language as a system and as

a social practice and they need to

understand the practices of the

communities with which they interact

what does that mean personally I think

that it's this it's the last part of

this paragraph this quote from a

researcher called Bonnie Norton it's the

last part of that that is that is most

relevant that that you need to negotiate

language as a system and as a social

practice and you have to understand the

practices of communities with which you

interact but it's that middle bit really

you need to you need to see language as

a system and as a social practice

language is a social practice

so it means that language is a thing

that we do

when we socialize with people

okay that is what it's a social system

it is not some sort of abstract

set of information that we have to learn

it's not for example

you know the periodic table

uh remembering all of the elements in

the periodic table and all that stuff no

language is a thing that we can do

English is something you

do it's not just something you know

right English is not just something you

know it's something you can do and you

should always focus on being able to do

English not just know or learn English

but according to Bonnie Norton

to learn a language properly you've got

to understand that it is a social system

and it's a a thing that we do rather

than a thing that we learn so Gavin says

um this is all to say language should be

seen as embedded in Social and cultural

practices and finding language learning

resources that give you access to these

different interpersonal linguistic and

Community contexts when learning the

language is a good way to go so I would

put it in two ways that language

learning should be done in context one

you should probably absorb language in

context when you are discovering it so

rather than just learning words or

grammar in an abstract way like instead

of going so today I'm going to learn the

present perfect tense and you learn a

grammatical form and how it works and

how it's applied

I mean that you know that can be a way

to do it but that is out of context

okay and instead of just learning a list

of words you learn those words in a

context that means that those the

grammar system the vocabulary uh items

are part of a a greater system of

meaning you know

um and that you focus on that meaning

first you focus on that linguistic

context and it's within that context

that you can learn really what language

means and how it works so you should

learn language in context so you read

articles and you pick out language from

it and you can see how the language

Works within that article when you

realize the article has a certain

function and you know all that sort of

thing so

language should be seen as embedded in

Social and cultural practices

okay so for example learning emailing we

learn about the pragmatics of emailing

the way that the relationship that you

have with the person you're writing to

affects the way that your English is constructed

constructed

okay so it's rather than just um here is

the language of emails it's more like

here's language which will have certain

effects and here's the language you

should do in response to an email like

this you know

uh and then finding language learning

resources that give you access to these

different interpersonal linguistic and

community community contexts when

learning the language is a good way to

go so you should try to learn English

from resources that present English in

this way so hopefully my podcast does

that you know because I present you with

conversations with people and you can

see actual you know English being used

in a interactive way uh often it's

conversations with my friends and you

can see how English is used to be

humorous and to kind of build

relationships and stuff

um number two learn The Language by

using it for specific purposes

so learning by doing

learning by doing seems to be one of the

keys to learning another language as it

allows people to gain both knowledge of

various aspects of the language as well

as to gain experience using the language

so kind of like task based learning so

you don't just learn English as an

isolated set of grammar rules and vocab

and pronunciation rules and phonemes but

you learn to use language to achieve

certain things

okay you use it for specific purposes

Gavin says uh now this is John Norris

quoted by Gavin in his article he's

another SLA researcher

um to achieve the benefits of task-based

practice SLA researcher John Norris

writes we must first accept that

language develops not as accretion of

discrete bits of knowledge but through a

series of holistic experiences

so we learn language languages we learn language

language

through having overall experiences with it

and we don't develop it by

kind of gaining okay now I learn present

simple now I learn present perfect now I

learn this first conditional now I learn

the second conditional instead we learn

language and learn forms by sort of now

I talk about my abilities and things I

can do now I talk about my habits I can

talk about the things I do every day and

now I can use language to make polite

requests and now I can use language to

make indirect requests to be polite you

know we see

uh language develops through a series of

overall Global experiences rather than

just taking little bits of uh language

bit by bit um

Gavin says through using the language

from the very first day and for purposes

that allow you to experience the

language in meaningful Ways by doing

specific tasks with the language you can

build your language competency up

holistically as one holistic experience

at a time rather than just one noun or

verb at a time this sort of thing is

reflected in some language learning

course books which focus on

rather than focus on grammar forms like

I've learned how to conjugate um

third conditionals

instead the books

encourage Learners to reflect on their

learning by sort of saying you know

here's a checklist of things that at the

end of this unit you should be able to

do so can you consider these things can

you reflect on the past can you express

regret about the past

can you speculate about the past

or can you talk about you know your

plans for the future

so those are holistic experiences you

know are you able to negotiate

um uh are you able to uh discuss price

in a business negotiation

rather than can you construct

um uh can you construct first and

and thirdly learn the language in

so this basically means learning The

Language by using it with other humans

okay lastly learning language in

interaction with other real life human

beings is an obvious point for anyone

who has had the experience of studying a

language on their own prior to a trip

only to be met later with disappointment

when they struggle to start up a simple

conversation with a native speaker

so the point here is that like a lot of

English people will say like they're

going to France on holiday so they think

I'll brush up on my French they get a

French you know teach yourself French

book and they start going through sort

of exercises in there or even just a

phrase book of like um you know excuse

me can you show me the way to the bank

please you know those sorts of

um Basics but then when it comes to

actual interaction with a human it all

goes wrong

so according to Gavin we need to

actually learn the language in

face-to-face interaction um

I mean that's not to say that you can't

practice your speaking on your own which

you can do I would say that it's just

important to try to use

use

authentic material when you're

practicing English so that means

shadowing real conversations but also

trying to simulate real conversations

too so that you

in a sense have conversations with

yourself or you pretend or imagine use

your creativity think outside the box

and try to create in your mind realistic

scenarios in which you have to actually

use language you know in response to a

question that you weren't expecting or

something like that you know you've got

to try and recreate

um situations and practice English in

those situations in order to make sure

that you're able to use language on the go

right rather than just doing it on paper

I hope I'm being clear

now while the process this is Gavin

again while the process of language

learning should involve all kinds of

receptive interactions with literature

movies podcasts social media and more so

he's saying although it's important to

absorb to listen and read a lot

he continues the original home of

language learning is in face-to-face com

conversation yeah of course we know this

don't we that um it's important not to

forget the the value of um actually

engaging in conversation with um with

people in order to practice and so you know

know

that's that often involves spending

money doesn't it you know you might have

to go to italki or some other similar

service or just find a person to

practice with and um

you know shout out some money and have

some one-to-one lessons or conversation

practice time

um you can still go to teacherlook.co.uk talk

talk

to get um a discount with italki by the way

way

um if you want to use them

so I mean that's a fairly obvious Point

uh but you've got to practice English by

actually talking to a human being you

can replicate you can kind of simulate

those those situations you could do lots

of types of speaking practice on your

own but ultimately it's really important

to actually uh have face-to-face

conversations uh Gavin continues having

to negotiate meaning with other speakers

on the Fly sort of spontaneously seems

to be one of the key ways to develop our

language ability and with a range of new

online language learning resources now

available for Motivated language

Learners to take part in second language

interaction this is getting much easier

to do so he's probably referring to the

fact that companies like italki have now

made it easier for you to actually find

Opportunities to talk to other human

beings in English yeah

so the article continues develop a daily practice

practice

hey I would say develop daily practice

hone your language learning intuition

through systematic research we can

provide fantastic descriptions and

theories of the various facets of the

language learning process basically

research means that we can now describe

the different ways that language

learning happens the different sides or

faces of language learning

but things get a little a bit less crisp

when we begin making General

prescriptions for how best to go about

learning another language so we know how

to describe the way that language

learning happens but when it comes to

actually telling people how to do it

it seems that we are things get less clear

clear

the science if we can call it a science

of second language acquisition can tell

us a lot about both the universal

aspects of language learning as well as

the individual idiosyncrasies that make

each of our language learning Journeys unique

unique

so it can tell us about

how we learn language

the key for the language learner however

is to become a researcher of yourself in

a way

bridging your knowledge of both the

language and the language learning process

process

along with your own experiences in

developing a unique path towards your

language learning goals

so this is kind of what I said earlier

so there's all this research that tells

us how a lot of people learn languages

but when it comes to actually the

practicalities of how you should do it

you've got to take the research and the

conclusions of it but also your own

experiences and the things that work for

you and finding a way to bridge those

two things together

um towards your own language learning

goals and working out what works for you

so this might be a good point to ask

what your goals are exactly what are

your goals in learning English what

exactly is it that you want to achieve

which is a it's always a good idea to

um and Gavin has listed some possible goals

goals

have people so maybe your goal is to

have people think that your second

language pronunciation is native or

nearly native

I mean that's a controversial one people

talk about that all the time why is that

controversial Luke why would it be

controversial for for a language learner

to expect or want to achieve native

level pronunciation there's nothing

wrong with it at all it's a perfectly

good goal to have the the only issue is

that it's incredibly difficult

um it seems that some people

are more able to do it than others I

mean we take the example of Paul Taylor

for example

uh I said example twice

um we take the example of Paul Taylor

for instance

and uh Paul is has this weird knack for

getting the pronunciation just right

maybe he's cheated maybe you learned

French when he was a kid maybe he

learned Spanish when he was a kid I

would I wouldn't be surprised though

that if he learned Brazilian Portuguese

he would sound like he was from Sao

Paulo or if he's if he learned Croatian

he would sound like he was you know like from Croatia he wouldn't have a really

from Croatia he wouldn't have a really strong English accent in his other

strong English accent in his other languages I would predict anyway so the

languages I would predict anyway so the point why is it controversial to to want

point why is it controversial to to want to sound like a native well it's it's

to sound like a native well it's it's very difficult and some for some people

very difficult and some for some people you know you might never get there you

you know you might never get there you might never achieve that

might never achieve that okay and it's and and anyway maybe it's

okay and it's and and anyway maybe it's not necessary maybe you don't really

not necessary maybe you don't really need to sound like a native because you

need to sound like a native because you know non-native English is also a valid

know non-native English is also a valid form of English and if people can

form of English and if people can understand you this is the most

understand you this is the most important thing there's nothing wrong

important thing there's nothing wrong with having a bit of an accent so that's

with having a bit of an accent so that's that

that uh but also it might be damaging to your

uh but also it might be damaging to your confidence if you have this very high

confidence if you have this very high aim which is to sound exactly like a

aim which is to sound exactly like a native speaker and if that's

native speaker and if that's unachievable which I'm sure it is for

unachievable which I'm sure it is for some people for all sorts of reasons

some people for all sorts of reasons then you have to think maybe you know to

then you have to think maybe you know to redefine that aim and not be too uh hurt

redefine that aim and not be too uh hurt or upset or or

or upset or or um disillusioned if you don't reach that

um disillusioned if you don't reach that high aim it's good to have high

high aim it's good to have high expectations for yourself but also it's

expectations for yourself but also it's important to be realistic and not to

important to be realistic and not to feel bad if you don't achieve those aims

feel bad if you don't achieve those aims if you're setting goals for yourself you

if you're setting goals for yourself you should set realistic achievable ones

should set realistic achievable ones rather than ones which are maybe gonna

rather than ones which are maybe gonna gonna just end up in a sense of failure

gonna just end up in a sense of failure um

um maybe your goal is to get the second

maybe your goal is to get the second language pragmatics right in numerous

language pragmatics right in numerous speaking situations meaning learning how

speaking situations meaning learning how to adapt your English for different

to adapt your English for different situations I would argue that that's a

situations I would argue that that's a more important goal

more important goal you know

you know um maybe you want to have only

um maybe you want to have only negligible grammar errors in your oral

negligible grammar errors in your oral language maybe you want to get your

language maybe you want to get your spoken English up to a level where

spoken English up to a level where you're not making any mistakes a very

you're not making any mistakes a very good aim to have but again you know we

good aim to have but again you know we have to take a balanced approach and

have to take a balanced approach and don't feel too

don't feel too um put off by the prospect of making

um put off by the prospect of making errors some people are so scared to make

errors some people are so scared to make errors that they just don't say anything

errors that they just don't say anything at all which obviously is not not the

at all which obviously is not not the right approach you've got to be willing

right approach you've got to be willing to make mistakes and stuff but you know

to make mistakes and stuff but you know aiming for aiming for virtually no

aiming for aiming for virtually no grammar errors in your oral languages of

grammar errors in your oral languages of course a very respectable and decent aim

course a very respectable and decent aim to have

to have um you just got to be willing to to you

um you just got to be willing to to you know do both you've got to make the

know do both you've got to make the mistakes you've got to get all the

mistakes you've got to get all the mistakes out before you can then expect

mistakes out before you can then expect to just like get it perfect every time

to just like get it perfect every time um

um another aim might be to have your second

another aim might be to have your second language vocabulary trip off your tongue

language vocabulary trip off your tongue relatively effortlessly so the ability

relatively effortlessly so the ability to be fluent and to recall and use uh

to be fluent and to recall and use uh vocab to have a high level of active

vocab to have a high level of active vocabulary and to have the fluency to

vocabulary and to have the fluency to use it all another very important aim I

use it all another very important aim I would say that's up there as being one

would say that's up there as being one of the most important ones to being able

of the most important ones to being able to to to to to be fluent and to get the

to to to to to be fluent and to get the right words out at the right moment at

right words out at the right moment at the right speed and at the right time

the right speed and at the right time uh maybe you want to take an active part

uh maybe you want to take an active part in a meeting conducted entirely through

in a meeting conducted entirely through the L2 this is a good and specific aim a

the L2 this is a good and specific aim a lot of people out there uh I know a lot

lot of people out there uh I know a lot of you out there have to use English in

of you out there have to use English in meetings at work and it's a source of

meetings at work and it's a source of great anxiety for you because if you

great anxiety for you because if you can't take part if you don't understand

can't take part if you don't understand what people are saying and you can't

what people are saying and you can't express yourself then it's a horrible

express yourself then it's a horrible feeling and also you get the impression

feeling and also you get the impression the boss is looking at you as well so

the boss is looking at you as well so focusing on being able to take part in a

focusing on being able to take part in a meeting would be a good idea because

meeting would be a good idea because that gives you specific a specific

that gives you specific a specific situation and specific types of language

situation and specific types of language a specific style of language to focus on

a specific style of language to focus on so that could be good you know you

so that could be good you know you practice various ways of getting your

practice various ways of getting your English ready for meetings speaking

English ready for meetings speaking skills listening skills vocabulary

skills listening skills vocabulary specific to this to the to the work area

specific to this to the to the work area that you're in

that you're in um and maybe an aim could be to read and

um and maybe an aim could be to read and critique work in your field of interest

critique work in your field of interest in the second language so this would be

in the second language so this would be maybe it's learning to to be academic I

maybe it's learning to to be academic I mean obviously you know like as an

mean obviously you know like as an English teacher when I get new students

English teacher when I get new students at school or if I'm starting a new

at school or if I'm starting a new course or something I will interview the

course or something I will interview the students first and work out what their

students first and work out what their needs are if it's a business English

needs are if it's a business English course

course it's important to know what aspect of

it's important to know what aspect of what area of business they work in and

what area of business they work in and what types of communication situations

what types of communication situations they're going to be in whether it's

they're going to be in whether it's negotiations or presentations or

negotiations or presentations or whatever

whatever um

um you've got to learn the English that you

you've got to learn the English that you use for those situations and you know

use for those situations and you know narrowing down narrowing it down to that

narrowing down narrowing it down to that specific kind of English is a good idea

specific kind of English is a good idea in this case it could be learning to use

in this case it could be learning to use English for academic purposes right

English for academic purposes right reading and critiquing work

reading and critiquing work or you want to express yourself in

or you want to express yourself in written language at a professional level

written language at a professional level in the second language again a really

in the second language again a really good aim because a lot of you will need

good aim because a lot of you will need to write reports write emails and things

to write reports write emails and things like that

like that the Journey of learning another language

the Journey of learning another language is just as much a journey in learning to

is just as much a journey in learning to develop a daily practice just as with

develop a daily practice just as with writing meditation and exercise by this

writing meditation and exercise by this I mean that learning another language is

I mean that learning another language is about fostering the energy motivation

about fostering the energy motivation and consistency that any kind of skill

and consistency that any kind of skill learning requires of someone so again

learning requires of someone so again going back to that point I made at the

going back to that point I made at the beginning it's about finding a method

beginning it's about finding a method that works for you and then actually

that works for you and then actually doing it and finding the ability to turn

doing it and finding the ability to turn it into a regular habit the five T's

it into a regular habit the five T's time time time time the 5ps practice

time time time time the 5ps practice practice practice practice the five H's

practice practice practice the five H's habit habit habit habit habit

habit habit habit habit habit five R's rabbit rabbit rabbit rabbit

five R's rabbit rabbit rabbit rabbit rabbit why have we got five rabbits I

rabbit why have we got five rabbits I don't know it just felt right at the

don't know it just felt right at the time but the point is finding a habit

time but the point is finding a habit doing something in English regularly

doing something in English regularly every single day uh listening to this

every single day uh listening to this podcast but also finding other ways to

podcast but also finding other ways to practice on a regular basis you know

practice on a regular basis you know again we go back to these conclusions

again we go back to these conclusions that I've made before

that I've made before Gavin continues with his article

Gavin continues with his article perhaps most importantly this is why

perhaps most importantly this is why whatever path you choose towards

whatever path you choose towards learning a new language the most

learning a new language the most effective one will be the one that most

effective one will be the one that most resonates with you and as a consequence

resonates with you and as a consequence will be the one that you stick with for

will be the one that you stick with for the Long Haul

the Long Haul so the going back to my first Point

so the going back to my first Point again the best way to learn a language

again the best way to learn a language the best method is the one that works

the best method is the one that works with you the one that resonates with you

with you the one that resonates with you if something resonates it makes a deep

if something resonates it makes a deep long lasting sound like for example

long lasting sound like for example those bells those meditation Bells boom

right it's got a deep rev resonating sound so if an idea or method resonates

sound so if an idea or method resonates with you it leaves a long lasting deep

with you it leaves a long lasting deep sort of uh vibration in you something

sort of uh vibration in you something that touches you that you feel that

that touches you that you feel that lasts a long time that really kind of uh

lasts a long time that really kind of uh speaks to you and really vibrates you

speaks to you and really vibrates you personally so the most effective

personally so the most effective language learning method is the one that

language learning method is the one that really that you really uh connect with

really that you really uh connect with and as a consequence that is the one

and as a consequence that is the one that you will stick with that's the one

that you will stick with that's the one that you'll continue doing for the Long

that you'll continue doing for the Long Haul like long term over a long term

Haul like long term over a long term difficult process

difficult process so find the one that works for you and

so find the one that works for you and do that whatever you the language

do that whatever you the language learning method that works is the one

learning method that works is the one that you actually do

that you actually do a lot of you know a lot of the time a

a lot of you know a lot of the time a lot of the problem a lot of the reason

lot of the problem a lot of the reason why people don't improve in a language

why people don't improve in a language is because they don't actually

is because they don't actually do any kind of practice like me for

do any kind of practice like me for example I spend my time speaking English

example I spend my time speaking English all the time and um

all the time and um you know I don't actually spend time in

you know I don't actually spend time in French as much as I should do and as a

French as much as I should do and as a result

result you know the the progress isn't being

you know the the progress isn't being made as quickly as it could be

made as quickly as it could be it's not rocket science is it really

it's not rocket science is it really when you think about it who knew

when you think about it who knew spending time and practice on a language

spending time and practice on a language every day is what works it's slow you

every day is what works it's slow you know like playing playing an instrument

know like playing playing an instrument playing the guitar

playing the guitar you know you just find a way to enjoy

you know you just find a way to enjoy doing it if you enjoy playing the guitar

doing it if you enjoy playing the guitar for four hours a day you're gonna make a

for four hours a day you're gonna make a lot of progress

um it's obvious really

it's obvious really intuitions are formed at the crossroads

intuitions are formed at the crossroads of knowledge and experience says HD

of knowledge and experience says HD Brown a researcher of second language

Brown a researcher of second language acquisition intuitions

acquisition intuitions intuitions are things that you feel you

intuitions are things that you feel you don't necessarily know they're just like

don't necessarily know they're just like something you feel like that's the

something you feel like that's the that's the Sweet Spot isn't it in in in

that's the Sweet Spot isn't it in in in English let's say it's like how do you

English let's say it's like how do you know that it's it depends on not it

know that it's it depends on not it depends of

depends of right now you could learn it but often

right now you could learn it but often it's just that you feel it you just what

it's just that you feel it you just what naturally feels right is it depends on

naturally feels right is it depends on the situation not it's depend of the

the situation not it's depend of the situation that it's depend of the

situation that it's depend of the situation is wrong and it should not

situation is wrong and it should not feel right that something should feel

feel right that something should feel wrong when you hear that and that's

wrong when you hear that and that's intuition

intuition so there's that on one hand intuition is

so there's that on one hand intuition is important because

important because you need to have a sort of intuitive

you need to have a sort of intuitive sense of right and wrong in English and

sense of right and wrong in English and a lot of the time that comes from

a lot of the time that comes from exposure and practice but anyway

exposure and practice but anyway intuitions are formed at the crossroads

intuitions are formed at the crossroads of knowledge and experience knowledge

of knowledge and experience knowledge the stuff you know experience the things

the stuff you know experience the things that you've seen and heard over the

that you've seen and heard over the years

years by learning

by learning by learning about the language learning

by learning about the language learning process paying attention to our own

process paying attention to our own experience as language Learners and by

experience as language Learners and by constantly taking risks on our language

constantly taking risks on our language learning Journey that might reveal

learning Journey that might reveal insights into into our own language

insights into into our own language learning practice we can begin

learning practice we can begin developing our intuition about how best

developing our intuition about how best to begin and persist on one of the most

to begin and persist on one of the most awesome enriching and rewarding Journeys

awesome enriching and rewarding Journeys there is if I might say so myself so

there is if I might say so myself so Gavin is very positive about the

Gavin is very positive about the experience of learning a language he's

experience of learning a language he's saying that we need to learn a sense of

saying that we need to learn a sense of intuition a sense of a general feeling

intuition a sense of a general feeling of what feels right and wrong for you in

of what feels right and wrong for you in your language learning the only way to

your language learning the only way to do that is to experiment and try all the

do that is to experiment and try all the different ways and to get out of your

different ways and to get out of your comfort zone the more you are out of

comfort zone the more you are out of your comfort zone the more ground you

your comfort zone the more ground you will cover the more possible ways of

will cover the more possible ways of learning a language you will experiment

learning a language you will experiment with and the more you'll develop that

with and the more you'll develop that sense of what feels right for you

sense of what feels right for you the process of language learning is

the process of language learning is complex as complex as the individual

complex as complex as the individual quirks of people who Embark upon the

quirks of people who Embark upon the Journey of learning a new language

Journey of learning a new language I've got such an itchy nose

I've got such an itchy nose apparently talking for more than an hour

apparently talking for more than an hour makes my nose itch

makes my nose itch well

well so language learning is complex it's as

so language learning is complex it's as complex as the individual quirks like

complex as the individual quirks like little character traits

little character traits of people so basically learning a

of people so basically learning a language is as complex as the people who

language is as complex as the people who learn language right

learn language right um and it's also as complex as the

um and it's also as complex as the multitude the many uh multitude of

multitude the many uh multitude of languages and language learning

languages and language learning situations that people find themselves

situations that people find themselves in the world basically it's complicated

um each language lesson is in some ways a unique drama one researcher writes and

a unique drama one researcher writes and understanding these unique dramas that

understanding these unique dramas that populate Our Lives as language Learners

populate Our Lives as language Learners is what I think makes both researching

is what I think makes both researching SLA and learning another language so

SLA and learning another language so fascinating and inevitably a challenging

fascinating and inevitably a challenging but rewarding process of self-discovery

but rewarding process of self-discovery each language lesson is a is a unique

each language lesson is a is a unique drama

drama meaning every moment that you feel you

meaning every moment that you feel you make progress in learning a language is

make progress in learning a language is like a little it's probably come about

like a little it's probably come about from some moment of drama

from some moment of drama I mean that could mean just like a

I mean that could mean just like a misunderstanding that you learn from or

misunderstanding that you learn from or just an experience that you have that

just an experience that you have that leads you to learning something and

leads you to learning something and remembering it

remembering it it's a process of self-discovery Steve

it's a process of self-discovery Steve Kaufman said it was a process it was a a

Kaufman said it was a process it was a a journey of Discovery didn't he a voyage

journey of Discovery didn't he a voyage of discovery

of discovery it's not just a technical feat

it's not just a technical feat um a difficult thing to do but an

um a difficult thing to do but an expansion of perspective learning

expansion of perspective learning another language isn't just about the

another language isn't just about the acquisition of a new skill

acquisition of a new skill language Learners know from their

language Learners know from their experience that it is also about an

experience that it is also about an expansion of perspective of the world

expansion of perspective of the world they live in this point is echoed by

they live in this point is echoed by bialy stock and hakuta's 1994 book on

bialy stock and hakuta's 1994 book on second language acquisition learning a

second language acquisition learning a second language is not simply a

second language is not simply a technical feat it says it is an

technical feat it says it is an expansion of perspective we live in a

expansion of perspective we live in a world community that speaks more than

world community that speaks more than seven thousand distinct languages we

seven thousand distinct languages we cannot hope to understand ourselves and

cannot hope to understand ourselves and our own place in this world without

our own place in this world without understanding the enormous impact of

understanding the enormous impact of linguistic and cultural diversity on the

linguistic and cultural diversity on the Human Social condition recognizing the

Human Social condition recognizing the implications of learning a second

implications of learning a second language and understanding something of

language and understanding something of the process of exactly

the process of exactly recognizing the implications of learning

recognizing the implications of learning a second language and understanding

a second language and understanding something of the process of its

something of the process of its acquisition Propel us towards this goal

acquisition Propel us towards this goal recognizing the implications of learning

recognizing the implications of learning a second language meaning what it really

a second language meaning what it really means an understanding of something of

means an understanding of something of the process of his acquisition so

the process of his acquisition so basically he's saying that the more we

basically he's saying that the more we learn how language learning happens the

learn how language learning happens the more perspective we can get on it and

more perspective we can get on it and that's ultimately good for achieving

that's ultimately good for achieving your goals

your goals so

so um Gavin says just remember that when

um Gavin says just remember that when cultivating your daily language learning

cultivating your daily language learning practice the important thing is to

practice the important thing is to maintain a consistent sensitivity to

maintain a consistent sensitivity to your own unique insights and intuitions

your own unique insights and intuitions about your language learning Journey as

about your language learning Journey as you build it up one experience at a time

you build it up one experience at a time and of course listen to Luke's English

and of course listen to Luke's English podcast he didn't actually put that at

podcast he didn't actually put that at the end

the end Gavin didn't actually write that at the

Gavin didn't actually write that at the end I added that in so basically again

end I added that in so basically again the point I made at the beginning when

the point I made at the beginning when you're developing your own daily

you're developing your own daily practice for learning English it's

practice for learning English it's important to be sensitive to what you

important to be sensitive to what you learn yourself it's sensitive to what

learn yourself it's sensitive to what works for you in order to build the

works for you in order to build the right kinds of habits and build your

right kinds of habits and build your learning one experience at a time and of

learning one experience at a time and of course listen to Luke's English podcast

course listen to Luke's English podcast best of luck

best of luck um and there are some notes here as well

um and there are some notes here as well from Gavin saying this was the first one

from Gavin saying this was the first one of the first posts he wrote after he'd

of the first posts he wrote after he'd done his PhD in 2014 bloody blah blah

done his PhD in 2014 bloody blah blah blah so there you go thank you to Gavin

blah so there you go thank you to Gavin Lam for writing that that was my take on

Lam for writing that that was my take on his um his article there

his um his article there um okay so there you go listeners I hope

um okay so there you go listeners I hope that this has been interesting and not

that this has been interesting and not just confusing it's quite hard to get a

just confusing it's quite hard to get a grip on this whole language learning

grip on this whole language learning thing but um

thing but um it goes back to those old conclusions

it goes back to those old conclusions that it's a question of

that it's a question of spending time with the language finding

spending time with the language finding ways to make it work for you

ways to make it work for you experimenting with all sorts of

experimenting with all sorts of different approaches and practices

different approaches and practices um and so on you could you could refer

um and so on you could you could refer back to one of my older episodes It's

back to one of my older episodes It's called how to learn English I can't

called how to learn English I can't remember uh the number if I go into my

remember uh the number if I go into my episode archive I'll find it how to

episode archive I'll find it how to learn how to learn English episode 669

learn how to learn English episode 669 and in that one I try to give you as

and in that one I try to give you as much possible uh in that one I try to

much possible uh in that one I try to give you as much advice as possible

give you as much advice as possible about learning English across the four

about learning English across the four skills so lots of specific

skills so lots of specific um ideas for what you can do to improve

um ideas for what you can do to improve your speaking your listening your

your speaking your listening your reading and your writing okay episode

reading and your writing okay episode 669 if you like more of this kind of

669 if you like more of this kind of thing but otherwise that's it for this

thing but otherwise that's it for this episode thank you so much for listening

episode thank you so much for listening I'm very curious to get your insights

I'm very curious to get your insights too do you have any comments do you have

too do you have any comments do you have any points to make about the best way to

any points to make about the best way to learn a language how do we we learn

learn a language how do we we learn languages what has worked for you

languages what has worked for you sometimes that's the best way to to talk

sometimes that's the best way to to talk about this is to get very specific and

about this is to get very specific and personal and just talk about your own

personal and just talk about your own personal experiences so let's think

personal experiences so let's think about this let's try and pinpoint this

about this let's try and pinpoint this thing which is um experimenting with

thing which is um experimenting with different methods of practicing and

different methods of practicing and finding the ones that work for you so

finding the ones that work for you so tell us about the different things that

tell us about the different things that you've tried and tell us the ones that

you've tried and tell us the ones that work for you and why they work for you

work for you and why they work for you okay I hope people do comment on this

okay I hope people do comment on this obviously I've I've asked you to do that

obviously I've I've asked you to do that right now at the end of this episode

right now at the end of this episode where

where um only only the hardcore have got

um only only the hardcore have got through to this part but anyway I'm

through to this part but anyway I'm curious to know what you have to say

curious to know what you have to say thank you for listening to my show thank

thank you for listening to my show thank you for listening to my podcast

you for listening to my podcast um don't forget to like And subscribe

um don't forget to like And subscribe leave me a review on iTunes or wherever

leave me a review on iTunes or wherever you get your podcast that's a great way

you get your podcast that's a great way of promoting the show tell your friends

of promoting the show tell your friends to listen to Luke's English podcast

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sort of help you and I give you resources and opportunities to do

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stories break them down into pronunciation pieces

pronunciation pieces read out those pronunciation sections

read out those pronunciation sections you repeat each line after me and you

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listening I will speak to you in the next one but now it's just time for me

next one but now it's just time for me to say goodbye bye bye bye

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834. The best way to learn a language according to research (Article)