The Language Learning Process

There is a lot that goes into language learning. I work very closely with my speech/language pathologist. The knowledge that I've gained in working with her coupled with my English Language Learning Endorsement has opened my eyes to the following:

Language Learning is Measured in terms of BICS and CALP Scores. One being the social language and the other being the academic language.

From a speech pathology standpoint there are elements of language (any language) that can stand as deficits for students with Speech/Language disorders. There's receptive language and expressive language, vocabulary development, descriptive elements of language, idioms, narrative language, etc.

Language learning is also broken down into Speaking, Listening, Reading, and Writing. By law, in the United States, these elements of language are measured and followed quite closely for students whose native language is not English. But, when taking a college class in German or Spanish I've noticed that those elements exist, but are not really important to the language learning process.

I had a bad experience with a college professor, whose methods left me a non-speaker of German. One of the on campus tutors expressed that the subject matter and reading materials he chose to use were not appropriate for what 3rd and 4th semester learners of that language should be exposed to. In other words he was a horrible language teacher. He knew the language himself, but taught quite poorly. He did not give enough attention to the most important elements of language learning. I was not able to develop expressive language, descriptive language, and my vocabulary was never built up to anything more than a superficial level. The professor had us reading Die Zauberflöte, a beautiful opera, but not appropriate for the level of language development. I read and understood nothing. I had to look up almost every word. Because of this poor teaching and my attempts at learning what I should have learned in that class, I can see what I need as a language learner.

First I think adults approach language learning the opposite way that kids do. I think I've said that. I'm really good at reading and using context to figure out unknown words. I have a hard time hearing those words in dialog, songs, and other forms of spoken language. Kids usually develop BICS or social language first. I am struggling with my oral language. I am usually scared and embarrassed to try speaking German because I might say something wrong. Kids just don't care about those things. They take risks.

My receptive language is strongest in reading (a visual skill). My receptive language is weak in listening (an audio skill). I notice that my listening aspect of receptive language is getting stronger as I pair reading and listening. I do this with reading a book and listening to an audio version of the book at the same time. Then I listen to the book in my native language (English) while I read the German version. then I switch and read the same passage in English while I listen to it in German. Repetition also helps. If I repeat read or listen to something I start to get vocabulary into my long term memory. I can also start to pick up whole phrases instead to just single words.
What I use to practice has been a via a lot of different things. I listen to Nena, I watch shows meant for children (Sesamstraße, Teletubbies, etc.) In reading I practice with online Sunday School manuals at lds.org because they translate their Gospel Principles manual and other publications in many languages. I have a very solid knowledge of the contents of those manuals, giving me background knowledge - a key to reading comprehension. I also use the Book of Mormon. I have read that book so many times I can read the German Das Buch Mormon and understand, just because I know what should be taking place in each Book, Chapter, and sometimes even verse.


The Put Reading First publication says that one of the ways children develop vocabulary is by listening to adults read to them. Another is to read extensively on their own. I'm doing that too.

The last thing I've notice is that language learning is a really slow process. It's not like riding your bike where you fall over a few times and then almost immediately you are riding. No, it's a grueling process of mostly falling the whole time (seemingly). I think that's why kids are so good at learning foreign languages. Daily practice yields more noticeable results; something that adults tend to avoid, but kids risk more in the setting of play. That engaging in oral language every day is one of the ways people learn new vocabulary.