Howtobeasuccessfullanguagelearner“learningalanguageiseasy.Evenachildcandoit!”Mostadultwhoarelearningasecondoraforeignlanguagewoulddisagreewiththisstatement.Forthem,learningalanguageisaverydiffculttask.They
Howtobeasuccessfullanguagelearner
“learningalanguageiseasy.Evenachildcandoit!”
Mostadultwhoarelearningasecondoraforeignlanguagewoulddisagreewiththisstatement.Forthem,learningalanguageisaverydiffculttask.Theyneedhundredsofhoursofstudyandpractice,andeventhiswillnotguaranteesuccessforeveryadultlanguagelearner.
Languagelearningisdifferentfromotherkindsoflearning,Somepeoplewhoareveryintelligentandsuccessfulintheirfieldfinditdiffculttosucceedinlanguagelearning.Conversely,somepeoplewhoaresuccessfullanguagelearnersfinditdiffculttosucceedinotherfields.
Languageteachersoftenofferadvicetolanguagelearners:”Readasmuchasyoucaninthenewlanguage.”Practicespeakingthelanguageeveryday.””Livewithpeoplewhospeakthelanguage.””Don’ttranslate-trytothinkinthenewlanguage.””Learnasachildwouldlearn;playwiththelanguage.”
ButwhatdoesasuccessfullanguagelearnerdoLanguagelearningresearchshowsthatsuccessfullanguagelearnersaresimilarinmanyways.
Firstofall,successfullanguagelearnerareindependentlearners?theydonotdependonthebookortheteacher;;theydiscovertheirownwaytolearnthelanguage,Insteadofwaitingfortheteachertoexplain,theytrytofindthepatternsandtherulesforthemselves.theyaregoodguesserswholookforcluesandfromtheirownconclusions.Whentheyguesswrong,theyguessagain.Theytrytolearnfromtheirmistakes.
Successfullanguagelearningisactivelearning.Therefore,successfullearnersdonotwaitforachancetousethelanguage;theylookforsuchachance.Theyfindpeoplewhospeakthelanguageandtheysakthesepeopletocorrectthemwhentheymakeamistake.Theywilltryanythingtocommunicate.Theyarenotafraidtorepeatwhattheyhearortosaystrangethings;theyarewillingtomakemistakeandtryagain.Whencommunicationsarediffcule,theycanacceptinforamationthatisinexactorincomplete.Itismoreimprotantforthemtolearntothinkinthelanguagethantoknowthemeaningofeveryword.
Finally,successfullanguagelearnersareinterestedinthelanguageandthepeoplewhospeakit.Itisnecessaryforthemtolearnthelanguageinordertocomm