From the academic environments of princeton university (chinese, japanese, korean, italian) and the middlebury language schools (japanese), to the disappointing results observed as a curriculum designer at berlitz international (japanese, english), I have sought for more than 10 years to answer a simple question: why do most language classes simply not work?Cognitive learning theory in the classroom

Effectiveness, adherence, and efficiency refer to the “what”, “why”, and “how” of learning a target language, respectively. In simple terms, you first decide what to learn, based on usage frequency (priority); you then filter materials based on your likelihood of continued study and review, or adherence (interest); lastly, you determine how to learn the material most efficiently (process).Cognitive learning theory in the classroom

Adherence: review, and multiple exposures to the same material, will always present an element of monotony, which must be countered by an interest in the material.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom even if you select the most effective material and efficient method, if you don’t adhere with repeated study, effectiveness and efficiency mean nothing.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom in other words: can you persist with the material and method you’ve chosen? If not, less effective materials or methods will still be better.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom the best approach means nothing if you don’t use it.

If you have no interest in politics, will you adhere to a language course that focuses on this material?Cognitive learning theory in the classroom ask yourself: can I study this material every day and adhere until I reach my fluency goals? If you have any doubt, change your selection. Oftentimes, it is best to select content that matches your interests in your native language.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom do not read about something that you would not read about in english, if english is your native language (e.G. Don’t read asahi shimbun if you don’t read newspapers in english).Cognitive learning theory in the classroom use the target language as a vehicle for learning more about a subject, skill, or cultural area of interest.

Efficiency: it matters little if you have the best material and adherence if time-to-fluency is 20 years.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom the ROI won’t compel you. Ask yourself: will this method allow me to reach accurate recognition and recall with the fewest number of exposures, within the shortest period of time?Cognitive learning theory in the classroom if the answer is no, your method must be refined or replaced. An example of effectiveness (80/20) in practice

We can adapt this principle and prioritize material based on its recorded likelihood and frequency of usage.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom to understand 95% of a language and become conversational fluent may require 3 months of applied learning; to reach the 98% threshold could require 10 years.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom there is a point of diminishing returns where, for most people, it makes more sense to acquire more languages (or other skills) vs. Add a 1% improvement per 5 years.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom

The first 25 of the above words make up about 1/3 of all printed material in english. The first 100 comprise 1/2 of all written material, and the first 300 make up about 65% percent of all written material in english.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom articles and tense conjugations that can often be omitted in some languages or learned for recognition (understanding) but not recall (production).Cognitive learning theory in the classroom

If necessary, the most closely related rephrasing would be “what do I currently spend my time doing?” it bears repeating: do not read about something that you would not read about in your native language.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom use the target language as a vehicle for learning more about a subject, skill, or cultural area of interest. Poor material never produces good language.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom

As a personal example, I used martial arts instructional manuals to compete effectively in judo while a student in japan. My primary goal was to learn throws and apply them in tournaments.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom to avoid pain and embarrassment, I had tremendous motivation to learn the captions of the step-by-step diagrams in each instructional manual.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom language development was a far secondary priority.

Please check out tribe of mentors , my newest book, which shares short, tactical life advice from 100+ world-class performers.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom many of the world's most famous entrepreneurs, athletes, investors, poker players, and artists are part of the book. The tips and strategies in tribe of mentors have already changed my life, and I hope the same for you.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom click here for a sample chapter and full details. Roughly 90% of the guests have never appeared on my podcast.

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Once you figure out something like japanese uses SOV word order, it seems like a gigantic step backwards and a whole lot of extra work to start with an english sentence as reference and transliterate it into japanese.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom that said, for learning new or advanced grammatical structures, using english as a reference can be helpful, but I feel should be discarded as quickly as possible once you’ve properly learned to use the new grammar.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom it’s also useful sometimes when you just can’t quite figure out how to say what you want to say.

In my purely anecdotal experience, what I’ve consistently observed over and over again in native japanese and korean speakers learning english (and those speakers learning each other’s languages for that matter), is that the biggest barrier to sounding natural is failure to properly learn and internalize grammar.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom starting from very basic word order, not even advanced grammar. What these speakers wind up saying is clearly just a word-for-word transliteration of the sentence in their native language that doesn’t quite survive translation.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom

I am making these comparisons out of curiosity and I think kiki is right to be cautionary about generating these frequency lists from mechanically translated english alone.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom as a teacher of yiddish as a second language, I have never warmed to mechanical translation. The idiomatic and collocated phrases of language give richness and meaning more easily finessed by people than software programs at present.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom also, idioms and collocations have never been sufficiently documented for the number of languages people are interested in learning. Thus, immersion within the native country of a language remains the fall back recommendation for rapid successful acquisition for committed learners such as tim.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom this doesn’t solve the larger problem, though, of second language acquisition for students before adulthood, which is a far more complex logistical and cultural problem in the states.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom but based on this initial comparison of lists, mechanical translation of english frequency may have some value for language learning if approached knowledgably regarding its limitations.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom

I recently quit my job at a fairly secure financial firm (yes, I did just put the words secure and financial together) because I realized that it was not meant for me.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom I now have my own website that presents eco-innovations and tips on how to recycle stuff creatively. It is my dream to be able to live off of my writing and I love talking to people about it…with strangers.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom my problem is that I’ve been finding it very hard to communicate these ideas with the friends I have grown up with and love very much. Maybe it is an inevitable part of growing up, but my interests just aren’t the same as the other 26 year old girls and guys in my group.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom I feel at times that when I’m trying to discuss what makes me happy (green practices, social media or what I think will be a revolution in advertising and the way that we relate to one another), people take it as preachy or uninteresting.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom some people have told me to find new friends, but I feel the issue is within myself, and that I can somehow make the change I want to see happen.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom any thoughts?

@ewan sinclair: mnemosyne is an option for spaced recall. I personally have used vistor’s cards (essentially blank business cards) in a more manual system.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom something I picked up from goethe institut tips was colour-coding gender on the cards (blue = masc, red = fem, green = neut; black for verbs, etc).Cognitive learning theory in the classroom this worked well for knocking gender into my subconscience – I found I started to visualise the nouns as different colours when writing. When I was playing around with ancient greek I extended this to using colour with tense for memorising the basic forms of verbs.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom

A second tip that seemed to push me over a bit of a plateau in my learning german (which is mainly for reading novels – travel doesn’t really interest me that much) was switching all the music I listened to to music in german – there are some great bands like rosenstolz, klee, juli and wir sind helden – and so creating something a bit closer to an immersion environment.Cognitive learning theory in the classroom in three years of studying mainly on my own I have gone from basically scratch to having just read my second german novel (treffen sic zwei by iris hanika).Cognitive learning theory in the classroom