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Learning a Second Language: The First Three Crucial Steps |
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Written by Douglas William Bower
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 When I recently spoke with my 16-year-old nephew, he told me he would
not be enrolling in Spanish III in his high school studies. He stated
the reason was that he was so frustrated because he could read simple
prose in the language but could not speak it.
I was going to entitle
this article, "Why Jimmy Can't Speak Spanish" but what I really want to
say in this piece applies to all languages and all attempts to learn
them. This especially applies to the United States with its abysmal 96%
failure rate in those second language instruction courses, like the one
my nephew finished this semester.
The Three First Crucial Steps
in acquiring (not learning) a second language are so radically ignored
in almost 100% of foreign language instruction that it makes one wonder
if anyone really is aware of them. Curriculum is so skewed in language
classes that it just gives one pause as to who on earth designed the
standard approach in foreign language instruction: The Janitors?
From
most Junior High classes to courses at the University level, you will
encounter second language classes that, by design, produce a mere 4%
success rate. And, those who do go on to develop fluency in a second
language, I am convinced, do so because they find other channels to
achieve bilingualism once they see the traditional approach is the
wrong one.
Listening
Dare
I state the obvious that not one of us puny mortals came out of the
womb producing speech? Though this should be obvious to every one of us
who have had children, it painfully is not. Before speech began flowing
from our mouths in the miracle of acquiring our native language, there
was a period of silence. Parents recognize that children begin
understanding bits and pieces of what we command them until one day
they begin producing in the language themselves, usually in the form of
verbally refusing to do what we tell them.
Production in our
native or first language came after learning meaning. Learning meaning
came via watching, listening, and engaging in the actions of our
environment.
"I want a cookie" production in the language came
after, not before, a few thousand repetitions of watching Mommy take a
cookie out of the crinkly-sounding bag, thrusting it into the child's
face, and saying the words, "Does Jimmy want a cookie?"
Soon,
after this scene is replayed over and over, Jimmy learns what a cookie
is, that it is kept in a crinkly bag, it tastes good, and the word
cookie means something delicious.
The second language
acquisition seeker must begin with a program of instruction that
stresses listening to acquire meaning in the target language.
Listening to acquire meaning must precede trying to produce speech in the foreign language.
Comprehensible Input
If
speech, or verbally producing in the language, is to be the natural
outcome or result of meaningful listening in the target language, the
listening has to make sense. This is where some will take issue with
me, but it seems to be a bit of common sense that you didn't force your
child to listen to Chaucer and then write a term paper. No, you exposed
your child to material in both speech and with the age-appropriate
books you read to them. Just as you tried speaking and reading to your
child to his age or appropriate level, you have to do this in your
attempt to acquire a new language. It is programmatic approach, albeit
informal, in speaking and especially in reading to your child with
level appropriateness.
Whether in the precious few private
schools providing this approach or the home study material that is in
abundance, you've got to begin with listening to loads and loads of
comprehensible input. That means input that is linguistically level
appropriate.
From there, you advance with incremental increases in difficulty.
Production
Ability
to comprehend in the language must precede trying to produce speech in
the language. Just like speech comes much later, years actually, after
we are born, this does not mean we are idle. We were always listening,
watching, and engaging in our environment with our caregivers. Speech
or language production came as the result, but not the means, to
meaningful listening. One preceded the other. We could not say, "Mommy,
I want a cookie" if we didn't know what those words meant. Listening
plus meaning equals meaningful speech.
When we become familiar
with the sounds and images—texture—of the new language, then we can
begin to speak, often naturally and without prompting.
However, there are courses available on the market that are designed around this natural approach.
Look for those that concentrate on the aural method with few to no grammatical explanations.
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Comments can be sent to Doug Bower at his website.
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