Language Learning Styles...

[desi]

There are many opinions going around on the subject of how people learn languages.

Is there a simple explanation of learning styles?

Without trudging through a complicated explanation, is there a simple way for people to figure out how they learn languages?

Let's say Joe and Joanne come to Thailand and start looking around. They will find a range to choose from: AUA, Callan, one on one, classroom setting, independent study, flashcards (SRS), reading first, transliteration, the TV method, Luca's Method, mix and match...

For Thailand especially, a large number of those faced with learning Thai have never learned a foreign language before (either due to failing, or never trying). So they first need to find out how they learn languages. Maybe they'll be lucky and figure it out. Maybe not.

[RickBradford]

Oddly enough, I was thinking about this yesterday.

I did a Google search on 'language learning strategies' which produced a long list of academic papers on the subject, or greater or lesser boredom.

I formed the impression that it's one of those areas of debate with a lot more heat than light (and plenty of funding dollars to perpetuate the research.)

If there was any common thread, it was that learning in school is usually a poor method in terms of results, when compared to self-study and unstructured interactions with native speakers.

[desi]

Rick, I bought books (interesting in parts, but too much to wade through). I have websites that break it down (ditto). My eyes duth glaze over...

I'm not sure if I was trying to tackle the subject at the wrong time, or what. But I had high hopes in the beginning and the middle.

I'll give it one more shot by going at the information with a couple of highlighters.

I love them to bits, but academics are talented at obscuring what (often) should be simple...

[Colabamumbai]

There is only one way to learn Thai, you must take lessons and then you must go out with your notebook and speak Thai where every you go and the local people will correct you. You cannot learn a language by just taking lessons in a school or on the computer or from a dictionary alone. You must take the lesson to the street. You must start to think like a Thai if it is Thai that you want to learn, or to think like a Mexican if it is Spanish you want to learn in Mexico. Tourists in any country for a few weeks will never learn Thai proficiently. Thai is a harder language to learn, because it does not relate to your native tongue. Try to find Thai words or pronunciation that relates to the English Language, it does not. Spanish, French, Italian and some similar languages are easier to learn because they are not so far off one another. I take my lessons to the street and the people I meet and speak to will always repeat what they think that I am trying to say. This reinforces my confidence and ability.

[desi]

There is only one way to learn Thai...

I was looking for a layman's explanation of learning styles.

In AUA classrooms, they at first listen for so many hours. No speaking. No reading. No writing.

Other schools have students parroting and reading transliteration, or reading Thai script as well as parroting the teachers.

Some are systematic, waltzing you through a ladder of grammar and vocabulary.

Others don't seem to repeat much vocabulary at all, introducing new each time.

Some people are visual and need to see the spoken word before they can retain anything.

Some depend more on interaction, and only learn how to read later in the game (if ever).

Knowing how you learn can help cut through the cacca and get you learning before you quite in frustration.

[DavidHouston]

Read John Grisham's "The Broker" for a great discussion about learning a new language. In "The Broker" the language is Italian.

[desi]

Read John Grisham's "The Broker" for a great discussion about learning a new language. In "The Broker" the language is Italian.

David, for those of us who are weeks away from obtaining his book, could you please give us an overview?

[DavidHouston]

Read John Grisham's "The Broker" for a great discussion about learning a new language. In "The Broker" the language is Italian.

David, for those of us who are weeks away from obtaining his book, could you please give us an overview?

Desi,

I found the book at a used bookstore in downtown Phuket for 170 baht (half to be applied against the acquisition of a future book when returned to the seller).

Basically, the main character is in the witness protection program sponsored by some arm of the U.S. government and it being secreted in a small town in Northern Italy. The book takes us through his early language lessons and speaking experiences in local restaurants, coffee shops, and other venues. Basically, the methodology is total immersion.

I can't say whether this method falls within the ambit of "there is only one way to learn Thai" posed above.

[RickBradford]

I'm sure there's no magic bullet, because people are so different from one another and have different skill sets.

There are even theories about people having distinct preferred learning modes: audio/visual, kinaesthetic, digital, and so on.

Some people are happy to take their fledgling language skills to the street and not worry about making mistakes, but would balk at developing vocabulary by working with a dictionary or flash-card program. Others may prefer the academic bookish approach and only try to improve their listening skills via the radio or TV.

But I'm sure we remember best when an exchange occurs with some emotional charge to it. You will probably remember the phrases that were used when you tried to prevent someone stealing your seat on the last night bus home from Uttaradit than you do a page f words in a dictionary.

So I agree with the people who say you have to enable the language to breathe in you, to practice thinking in Thai, practice conversations in Thai. This kind of challenge should be what schools can help to deliver, but that requires dedication and hard work from both teacher and student.

[Johpa]

Metaphorically speaking, learning styles tend to be on a continuum between left brain analytical styles extrapolating from learned rules to right brain styles absorbing from global contexts. The "natural" methods currently adapted by AUA stress the global methods where emphasis is placed upon effective communicating and not grammatical rules. The methodology tends to emphasize comprehension first, and then later production, thus delaying speaking. It follows, in the order given, what I call Buddhist linguistics: right understanding; right thought, right speech. The idea is that first you understand, then begin to play (think) with the item in your mind, and only then speak.

The older methodology, still perhaps taught at AUA is exemplified by Marvin Browns original course which emphasizes the structure of the language and the teaching of grammatical rules and example sentences such as the classic "raan ahaan nik yuu thii nai?". Most current language teachers are taught to abhor this methodology. I was taught to abhor, from an academic perspective, this methodology as well when I was in graduate school back in the 1980s. The difficulty was that my Thai professor was a peer and colleague of Marvin Brown, used the AUA textbooks for his first year Thai class, and was remarkably effective incorporating the method into his syllabus.

So I came to believe that not only the learners tend to be all over the continuum of learning styles, but that the teachers also have different preferred teaching styles and that it is more important that the teacher use the style they are most comfortable with. These days most teachers are most comfortable using the "natural" methods, but still many students benefit, IMHO, from an occasional dose of rules.

[Tod Daniels]

Quite the interesting thread, especially as I've seen every method under the sun being taught in the various thai language schools. (Okay, maybe not every method , but enough of a gamut from the ‘whacky walen method’ to the AUA ‘listen but don't speak method’, and the various ones in between ).

What makes a thai language school and its methodology "fit" for some and not for others is a complete mystery to me. I've sent perspective students to take a free lesson at a school which (after knowing what I do about the thai language) I thought had good value and would meet their specific language needs. Later they’d call and say it was a complete waste of their time.

Clearly what works for some, doesn't for others and vice versa. In that regard there is no one BEST WAY to learn/teach thai to foreigners or every school would use it (then again this being thailand, maybe not!)

Now unless I send them to a private thai language tutor who will cater lessons to what a student wants to learn, I just tell everyone to go to as many different schools as you have time to visit BEFORE paying your tuition fees.

If only I could find something that would help me get over my extreme reticence (almost bordering on a phobia! ) of speaking in thai with thais; I'd be in tall cotton.

Edited February 13, 2010 by tod-daniels

[desi]

If only I could find something that would help me get over my extreme reticence (almost bordering on a phobia! ) of speaking in thai with thais; I'd be in tall cotton.

Ah, I have a bit of that too, but it's not just Thais. It comes and goes, and is sort of a deer in the headlights event. I'm shy, so it comes as no surprise to me that I find speaking not as easy as reading and writing.

No matter, I'm enjoying myself regardless, and that's what counts.

Since posting this subject, I went in search of more learning styles resources. I still don't have my simplified explanation, but this site offers a collection - Learning Styles

If you feel like you can’t learn something important — even after you use a method a friend, a parent, a colleague, or a teacher suggested — you might have a different learning style than that person and their approach might now be the best approach for you. You learn and processes information in your own special way, though we all share some learning patterns, preferences, and approaches. Knowing your own style can also help you realize that other people may approach the same situation in a way that’s different from your own.

After reading the article, I downloaded several of the books mentioned. Learning about how we learn languages is interesting. I just wished there was a simple explanation is all

It would be especially helpful if we could clarify learning styles to match with the Thai materials out there. A lot of time would be saved, and maybe not so many would give up. Because seems to me, a lot of those learning Thai have never successfully learned a language before. They don't know how they learn, so finding that fit in the beginning... (I'm clearly rambling... so... yadda yadda).