Why psychology matters in language learning?

Ask any professional sportsman or woman, and they will tell you that they regularly consult with all kinds of professionals: nutritionists, doctors and sports psychologists. I recently learned that many amateur marathon runners do the same. Why? Because most of them realize that at least 50% of their performance depends on their inner world: their goals, thoughts and emotions.

However, when it comes to equally ambitious endeavors like tackling a foreign language, we tend to disregard all of that. In our minds, we switch back to a school mindset. Think back to the days when you were learning any subject at school. You did not have “coaches” for your science classes, your math classes, or for that foreign language class. There was no one working to complement the official teachers of those classes, was there? Surely, that would have meant putting the teacher’s authority and competence into question. And, if we did have additional lessons at home by a private teacher, it was not so much because our “official” teacher did not instruct us well enough or didn’t apply the right methods, but because it was our fault -- we were “slow learners”, had “learning disabilities” or attention deficits and/or hyperactivity.

When we take language classes, we typically take for granted that our language teacher should be giving us everything necessary for learning the respective language. If not, there would be something wrong with him as a teacher. So, why don’t sports coaches object to the presence of nutritionists and sports psychologists? Because they deeply understand the value of the division of labor and the advantage of specialization. Leaving certain issues to specialists in medicine, nutrition and psychology, they can focus on what they are best in.

What are the areas where psychology helps in language learning?

·         The study of memory (encoding, storage and retrieval of words, phrases and rules)

·         Motivation (how we choose suitable learning habits and maintain them through setbacks and over obstacles)

·         How we master our negative self-talk and self-handicapping behavior.

In the following texts, we will present practical insights from the above areas and much more.

Stay tuned!

Gerhard

Check out our book “The GO Method” on Amazon.

Visualize! See what I mean?

Congratulations! You’ve dug deep and discovered that you learn best by seeing – you are a visual learner. This means:

·         you enjoy reading

·         take lots of notes (whether you read them later or not)

·         often close your eyes while remembering or visualizing, and you ”see”  images of what you read

·         you are generally a good speller

·         you notice details, and are drawn to pictures and images, and enjoy all the little details in those images

·         you enjoy watching television and films

So how do you apply this method of learning to language acquisition? For visual learners, there are literally hundreds of ideas to help you on your path.

·         Flashcards can help with phrase development and vocabulary building. Attach sticky notes to objects in a room with vocabulary words.

·         Find pictures online. There are thousands: supermarkets, farms, sports venues, specialty stores (such as clothing, photography, technology, etc. – whatever strikes your fancy) Print two copies of each photo. Label everything in one photo, and then practice with the unlabeled image.

·         Many languages have visual dictionaries. These can be very helpful.

·         People watch. Go to a crowded place and sit watching the people as they go about their business. Public transport can be an excellent place for this activity. In your head, using your target language, piece together sentences from what you see. ”The man is wearing a green sweater.” – El hombre lleva un suéter verde.

·         Visualize words. I learned the word ’buscar’ (’to look for’ in Spanish) by visualizing the sentence ”I’m looking for a bus or a car.”

·         Watch films and TV shows in your target language. Make visual associations with action and the words used. However, if you’re going to use subtitles, make sure they are in the target language as well. As Gerhard Ohrband suggests in The Go Method, watch something that appeals to your interests.

·         Find newspapers, children’s books (especially with pictures), comics in the target language.

·         Make word maps or word clouds with associated words in your target language at several locations online: https://worditout.com/word-cloud/create is one example.

Visual learners are in luck in developed cultures. The Internet is rife with images, videos, texts and photos to assist those who enjoy exploring their world with their eyes. Go outside, look at billboards, advertising, signs, photos and millions of images that surround our daily lives. Label, translate, understand those images in your target language and see what you can learn very quickly.

Keep learning –

Tim 

Check out our book “The GO Method” on Amazon.

Language myths - language learning takes too much time

Do you remember the famous Jim Rohn quote? “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with!” Specifically, that includes how we think about our own abilities, and about how to tackle difficult tasks like learning a foreign language.

Few of us have taken the time to review scientific studies on language acquisition; many foreign language instructors have not either. In a speech at Monash University, Australia[1], Professor Farzad Sharifian mentioned the prevailing problem – that many native speakers teaching English abroad do not have any formal training in teaching methods. Nor have they studied the grammar of their native language thoroughly.

The German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported a shocking study on April 17^th,2007. More than one thousand first-year native students enrolled in German language studies (to later become middle and high school teachers of German) participated:

“A grammar test at Bavarian universities has now highlighted blatant deficiencies in the German knowledge of its students. In a questionnaire for first-year students …, for only ten percent, were the results "satisfactory" or better. More than two-thirds of the students did not have the grammar knowledge of fifth and sixth graders.”

Let us have a look at commonly held opinions on language learning:

“It takes too much time; it should be a much faster process”

John Lee Dumas from EOfire regularly warns his listeners (and guests): “Compare and despair”. Nonetheless, comparing ourselves to others seems to be an inbuilt, evolutionary mechanism. Even without other humans around, we constantly look for a base in our environment from which to gauge our performance. We also look to that same base to guide us in decision-making.

One frequent metric in language learning is how quickly we master a new language. This is a very tricky and easily self-defeating task.

Of course, we want to learn something as quickly as possible. Moreover, we want to tell others we reached our goals as quickly as possible. What do we typically brag about when speaking about foreign languages? We boast of how many languages we speak, and, how little time it took us to master the newest one.

Who tests our language abilities? How do we know someone who claims to speak a certain language is actually fluent? What does fluency mean?

There is a lot of uncertainty in this area, as standardized language tests also do not necessarily correlate with real-life language proficiency. Students orient their learning efforts towards passing exams while neglecting other skills necessary for effectively using a language. Others perform more poorly in tests but obtain tangible results in talking to customers.


Check out our book “The GO Method” on Amazon.

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[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZ9bYHzM8NE&t=3990s (retrieved February 28^th 2017)

Learn How You Learn

William Glasser, American psychiatrist and developer of ‘Reality Therapy’ famously wrote, “We learn 10% of what we read, 20% of what we hear, 30% of what we see, 50% of what we see and hear, 70% of what we discuss, 80% of what we experience, and 95% of what we teach others.” Knowing how we learn can be the biggest gift we can give ourselves when it comes to learning languages.

According to the theory of multiple intelligences espoused by Howard Gardner, we all have a preferred method of learning, and many of us use more than one when we develop new skills. What is language learning, but learning new vocabulary and grammar, and then developing the skills to put what we’ve learned into a cohesive pattern for communication? In order to do this most efficiently, we should determine how we best learn.

Some pedagogues believe in only three styles of learning: visual, auditory and kinesthetic. Essentially, this means that you learn by seeing, hearing or touching. A visual learner would learn best by reading books and looking at images and films. An auditory learner would learn best by listening to lectures, music, or sounds associated with new ideas. Finally, a kinesthetic learner is able to associate information through touch or movement.

Still others believe that there is a much larger and more specific range of learning styles that if tapped into and understood, can lead to much better and more efficient learning. These learning preferences can be a strong aide to learning languages. They include the three styles mentioned above, and explore intrapersonal, interpersonal, linguistic, mathematical and naturalistic methods of learning. Later, in other blog posts, we’ll explore how each of these methods of learning can be used by a person learning new languages.

For now, however, how can you determine your learning style?

·         The Internet is littered with many sites that offer you quizes and self assessments to help you determine your learning style.

·         

         Ask your parents or early teachers to help you remember how you best learn new things.

·        
     Follow your intuition. You probably already have a strong understanding of how you best like to learn. Do you like to read with music playing? Do you really understand things better when you teach others, or do you prefer to reread your own notes quietly absorbing information? Do you learn best with a ball, tossing it from one hand to another?

Do you agree with Glasser’s assessment of the percent we learn through various activities? Maybe the percentages are different for you. Look for future blog posts to discuss specific tips on how we can use different learning styles to our best advantage. In the meantime, consider how you best learn, especially when considering language acquisition.

Keep learning –

Tim 


Check out our book “The GO Method” on Amazon.