At around 70minutes you are wondering about doing research - just to let you know Krashen and Jeff McQuillan et al often cite various research papers and findings. Anyways am in the middle of listening, all good stuff, much appreciated!
#2 comment Stephen Krashen is not dead as far as I know! He does do You Tube videos - but also Jeff McQuillan does frequent videos these days to YouChubers in the "language learning" circuit
Perhaps you will find this experiment interesting. Can a young adult in one year learn English to a near native C1 if the starting level was A1 ? Yes, most can do it if the conditions are right. And it's well documented. Here is the complete story. I had spent 7 years learning English the conventional way (grammar, translation), some in school and some as individual hobby. And even though I did well in school, realistically my final level was barely a beginner. (A1-A2, as was confirmed by the lowest TOEFL score possible) This was before the Internet, so my choices were limited. Then as a 19 year old I was a part of this experiment. I was placed in a US MILITARY academy with very strict guidelines. Foreign students were only allowed to use English. Native language (Slavic) WAS NOT ALLOWED, it was absolute 100% immersion environment 24/7. (Kinda similar to Middlebury Language school or French Foreign Legion approach) And even though I was already an adult, I learned a second language to a near native level within a year. I could physically feel the development of a second language. After 3 months i was thinking in L2 full time, i had near native listening comprehension in 6 months. And obviously i wasn't studying a second language exclusively, I was learning science, engineering, humanities, doing sports. I was having a rich learning experience while acquiring a second language at a rate that seemed magical. There are very important conditions that allow adults to learn on par with immigrant kids. One condition really. Temporarily abstain from native language and dedicate all the remaining time to a second language. Regarding deliberate study of GRAMMAR. Nobody was teaching me any of that. Well, I had a tutor for a few sessions, but then a school decided to forgo tutoring because our progress was too fast to keep track of. Yes, our progress, because there were 5 of us. And we all exhibited remarkable rates of improvement. We were separated to different battalions (dorms) and we weren't allowed to communicate. As far as explicit knowledge of L2 grammar, I FORGOT everything I knew as a beginner. I ACQUIRED grammar the same way native speakers do and I was reasonably grammatically correct. A Grammatically correct sentence SOUNDS right, incorrect sounds funny. I don't know much of the textbook grammar explanations. That being said, studying English grammar ENTIRELY in English when you are progressing to intermediate could be a USEFUL tool, though not entirely necessary. In many countries children learn Native Grammar in school. I studied my Native Grammar in school and forgot absolutely everything. Studying Native Grammar never changed the way I spoke. It was a totally useless academic endeavor. So, I have a conflicted option on this. Studying L2 grammar (or vocabulary) using native language is a colossal waste of time. Of that I am sure.
I may be wrong, but you seem to be oblivious to how English is taught throughout the world. I am talking about non English speaking countries, but I don't want to make a distinction between EFL and ESL. It's NOT even Grammar based, it's much WORSE. It's Grammar / Translation and L2 Grammar is taught mostly in Native language. What's perplexing is that the idea of mastering L2 WITHOUT relying on Native Language is controversial. In that regard, what Professor Rich has to deal with isn't such a big issue. I would assume that by living in England students would expose themselves daily to many hours of Input and a fair amount of output. In English of course. If they don't, if they chose to remain in a Native language bubble, there isn't much more you can do for them in a College class. PS My interest lies in promoting proliferation of English throughout the world.
At around 70minutes you are wondering about doing research - just to let you know Krashen and Jeff McQuillan et al often cite various research papers and findings.
Anyways am in the middle of listening, all good stuff, much appreciated!
#2 comment
Stephen Krashen is not dead as far as I know! He does do You Tube videos - but also Jeff McQuillan does frequent videos these days to YouChubers in the "language learning" circuit
Perhaps you will find this experiment interesting.
Can a young adult in one year learn English to a near native C1 if the starting level was A1 ?
Yes, most can do it if the conditions are right.
And it's well documented.
Here is the complete story.
I had spent 7 years learning English the conventional way (grammar, translation), some in school and some as individual hobby.
And even though I did well in school, realistically my final level was barely a beginner. (A1-A2, as was confirmed by the lowest TOEFL score possible)
This was before the Internet, so my choices were limited.
Then as a 19 year old I was a part of this experiment.
I was placed in a US MILITARY academy with very strict guidelines.
Foreign students were only allowed to use English.
Native language (Slavic) WAS NOT ALLOWED, it was absolute 100% immersion environment 24/7.
(Kinda similar to Middlebury Language school or French Foreign Legion approach)
And even though I was already an adult, I learned a second language to a near native level within a year.
I could physically feel the development of a second language.
After 3 months i was thinking in L2 full time, i had near native listening comprehension in 6 months.
And obviously i wasn't studying a second language exclusively, I was learning science, engineering, humanities, doing sports. I was having a rich learning experience while acquiring a second language at a rate that seemed magical.
There are very important conditions that allow adults to learn on par with immigrant kids.
One condition really.
Temporarily abstain from native language and dedicate all the remaining time to a second language.
Regarding deliberate study of GRAMMAR.
Nobody was teaching me any of that.
Well, I had a tutor for a few sessions, but then a school decided to forgo tutoring because our progress was too fast to keep track of.
Yes, our progress, because there were 5 of us. And we all exhibited remarkable rates of improvement.
We were separated to different battalions (dorms) and we weren't allowed to communicate.
As far as explicit knowledge of L2 grammar, I FORGOT everything I knew as a beginner.
I ACQUIRED grammar the same way native speakers do and I was reasonably grammatically correct.
A Grammatically correct sentence SOUNDS right, incorrect sounds funny.
I don't know much of the textbook grammar explanations.
That being said, studying English grammar ENTIRELY in English when you are progressing to intermediate could be a USEFUL tool, though not entirely necessary.
In many countries children learn Native Grammar in school.
I studied my Native Grammar in school and forgot absolutely everything.
Studying Native Grammar never changed the way I spoke. It was a totally useless academic endeavor.
So, I have a conflicted option on this.
Studying L2 grammar (or vocabulary) using native language is a colossal waste of time.
Of that I am sure.
I may be wrong, but you seem to be oblivious to how English is taught throughout the world.
I am talking about non English speaking countries, but I don't want to make a distinction between EFL and ESL.
It's NOT even Grammar based, it's much WORSE.
It's Grammar / Translation and L2 Grammar is taught mostly in Native language.
What's perplexing is that the idea of mastering L2 WITHOUT relying on Native Language is controversial.
In that regard, what Professor Rich has to deal with isn't such a big issue.
I would assume that by living in England students would expose themselves daily to many hours of Input and a fair amount of output.
In English of course.
If they don't, if they chose to remain in a Native language bubble, there isn't much more you can do for them in a College class.
PS
My interest lies in promoting proliferation of English throughout the world.