Today you can forget about grandfather's ways learning a foreign language. Mechanical cramming is yesterday. Today's polyglots master language horizons using radical and effective methods:

1. METHOD OF SOUND ASSOCIATIONS

Stanford University professor Ron Atkinson in the 70s offered students such an original memorization option - in consonance with familiar and well-known words in their native language.

With a selected word or a combination of several words, it is necessary to compose an association sentence, including a translation. For example, if the phrase "chess kick" in English is "chess knock" (consonant with the Russian "garlic"), then the sentences for memorization may be: "He struck a chess kick and ate garlic."

The method is convenient from the point of view of an individual approach and the need to think freely, and not blindly cram. Of course, it will not be possible to fully learn a language without memorization, but this method will be a good help for replenishing vocabulary.

2. TITLE STICKERS

The method is ideal for memorizing nouns familiar to us in everyday life. Write on the sticker "refrigerator" and stick it on the refrigerator, "door" will take place on the door, and the inscription "table" will decorate the kitchen table.

Thus, every day, seeing the “signed” objects around, the student automatically learns foreign names as well. In the process of learning, leaflets can be changed, supplemented and increased in number. The method is good for working at the initial stages, but later you still have to resort to communicative developments and the study of basic grammatical rules. The main thing is not to get into the habit, because not every boss likes to walk around with a “boss” sticker on their forehead.

3. METHOD 25 FRAME

A controversial theory that arose thanks to the psychologist James Vicary in 1957. He argued that the human brain is able to visually recognize only 24 “picture” changes per second, and if an additional frame is inserted, the person will not be aware of his presence, and the information will immediately go to the subconscious.

The essence of the method for learning a language is to watch a movie, every 90-100 milliseconds in which the notorious 25th frame “jumps”, passing into the subconscious. The method has never been accepted by the scientific community, and its effectiveness has not been proven, but some representatives of language learning schools still offer to try it out.

They probably haven't heard of Vicary's other experiments, in one of which he conducted a serious comparative analysis of the psychological state of a woman giving birth and a woman baking a cake.

4. COMMUNICATIVE METHOD

The boring study of languages ​​from a textbook is being replaced by the most effective method for memorizing words and suppressing the language barrier - communicative. In fact, this technique did not even have to be invented - initially, the exchange of knowledge with a neighboring tribe took place at the level of live contact, non-verbal communication, gestures and facial expressions.

Learning a language by contacting a native speaker is much easier and faster. In the learning process, it makes sense to break into groups or work in pairs, regardless of the level of knowledge and vocabulary.

A variant of this technique is the introduction of theatrical scenes, acting out and discussing plots. With the advent of modern means of communication, the task has become doubly simple - wherever you are, you can always find a friend from the other side of the planet and practice learning the language by talking on Skype.

5. PHYSICAL RESPONSE METHOD

This original method was developed by psychology professor James J. Asher of the University of San Jose. The method is based on the natural process of learning, and Asher suggests learning additional languages ​​in the same way as your own.

For the first few lessons, the student only listens to foreign speech, while he is not required to respond or answer questions orally. Any reaction can take place at the physical level of gestures. Thus, a period of internalization begins, in which a person is already able to spontaneously respond to ongoing processes and participate in them in a foreign language.

Initially, the method did not receive the support of scientific communities, but in the 70s, interest in it resumed, and now it is successfully used in language learning. True, only those who have enough time for the first 20 lessons of silent participation.

6. AUDIO AND VIDEOLINGUISTIC METHOD

Similar in terms of study periods to the previous one, these methods are available to anyone and everyone without participation in group work. The essence of the audio method is that at the initial stages the student listens to a foreign speech, perceiving it exclusively by ear.

It is not necessary for him to react, to participate in the process, it is enough just to carefully listen to the phonogram. The video method, by analogy, is to watch movies or videos in an unknown language. Subtitles for videos and translation of audio recordings will help to simplify the task and speed up learning. The method is also good for expanding vocabulary and immersion in a foreign language, but without communication, you are unlikely to be able to overcome the barrier and feel relaxed enough in communicating with expats.

7. FULL IMMERSION METHOD

Linguist and educator Maximillian Delphinius Berlitz proposed an innovative technique back in 1878. In accordance with this method, the student is completely "immersed" in the role of a foreign citizen.

Can choose an appropriate name for himself, compose a biography, attribute certain knowledge, skills and habits. The learning process takes place entirely in the target language, translation is not allowed.

Vocabulary and grammar are studied in the context of conversations, without textbooks and prompts. In this way, an atmosphere is created in the group that promotes the disclosure of true potential without constraint and constraint. After all, what's the point of worrying about Ivan's mispronunciation when he's John? This method has additional advantages - the development of social skills and theatrical abilities with a maximum of positive emotions.

There are three approaches to language learning, and all methods can be divided into:

Structural (they consider the language as a system of structurally connected grammar elements):

• The Grammar Translation Method is a good old method, familiar to us from the time of the Soviet school, focused on teaching translation and reading. In this case, texts are usually compiled to work out certain grammatical rules, and then work with these texts. It is based on the memorization of words, spelling and grammar and practice through the written translation of grammatically rich texts. Currently used to study extinct languages.
• Audio-linguistic method (Audio-lingual method) - consists in listening and repeating records by the student, which are repeated many times by the teacher. - Proprioceptive method (Proprioceptive method) - focuses on the simultaneity of using various brain functions (cognitive, motor, neurological, auditory). Proponents of the method argue that when learning, the student must use his speech apparatus constantly, performing any, even written tasks.

Functional (where the language is a means of expressing or implementing a specific function):

• Situational language teaching (Oral Approach) - based on the structure of the language and on the principles of behaviorism. The student learns through repetition the most common words and constructions of the language and uses them in practice. Main ideas: oral speech dominates written , mistakes should be avoided from the very beginning, the use of analogies, words only make sense in context.
• Directed practice - in this approach, the student repeats phrases before they are mechanically memorized. At the same time, his vocabulary and flexibility of using the language suffer, but automatism is achieved in the use of basic language constructs.

Interactive (where language is a means of creating and maintaining social relationships):

• Direct method (The direct method) - Assumes teaching in the target language from the very beginning. The use of native language is not allowed. The idea is to “naturally” learn the material, like a child learning their first language.
• The series method is a subspecies of the direct method. Educational texts here are temporary sequences, sequences of actions are often used (“I enter the bathroom, turn on the tap, brush my teeth ...”, etc. The method involves a large number of repetitions of the studied material, spaced in time for better assimilation.
• Communicative language teaching - involves the use of the language being studied both in tasks and for communication with the teacher / within the group. Includes a large number of interactive exercises - role-playing games, surveys, work in pairs, etc.
• Immersion in language (Language immersion) - the method is used in elementary school, provoking bilingualism in children by teaching subjects of the school curriculum in a non-native language. At the same time, even reading in the native language is given later than reading in the studied one.
• Silent Way - The teacher here listens more than he talks. When teaching pronunciation at lower levels, the teacher uses various color tables, on which each color or symbol represents a specific sound. This is how new words are learned.
• Suggestopedia - the method uses elements of light hypnosis. Classes consist of several cycles, during some of which material is given, and during others it is consolidated through various exercises, both active and passive, often in a playful way. Some scientists consider the method pseudoscientific.
• Natural Approach - The emphasis is on the student not being able to learn everything. Each next portion of the material must necessarily be based on what has already been covered and at the same time be easily digestible.
• Method of physical response (Total Physical Response) - Implies that students first passively perceive the material without using it. In the next step, they must physically respond to certain words, such as action verbs. And only after passing the first two stages, students begin to practice the language themselves.
• Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling is an offshoot of the Physical Response Method. It consists in telling the teacher short stories rich in new words and a further series of questions to students, requiring simple but emotionally colored answers from them.
• Dogme language teaching method - The method refuses to use textbooks. Instead, the focus is on teacher-student communication. The materials used by the student must be written by him.

• (Pimsleur method) - based on a sequence of audio recordings that introduce basic colloquial vocabulary and require students to actively repeat the material. Uses the achievements of neurophysiology when choosing the repetition period of the material.
• The Michel Thomas Method is a series of audio recordings of classroom sessions where a teacher teaches two students basic grammar rules, vocabulary, and assignments. The listener is involved in the process, while creating the feeling of working in a group.

• Learning by teaching (LdL) - the teacher here is more of a facilitator than a mentor. Students teach each other, mastering the material on their own. Can be considered as part of communicative learning.

This article is the author's first study on this topic, and is based almost entirely on an article from the English-language Wikipedia. In the future, the article will be changed and supplemented. There are also plans to write articles on each of the methods of teaching a foreign language.

VADIM GRISHIN

There is no inability to learn foreign languages.

There are effective and ineffective methods of learning foreign languages

EFFECTIVE METHODS OF LEARNING FOREIGN LANGUAGES

How to start learning a language.

It is best to start learning a foreign language by listening to small, light texts in that language. It is most effective not to listen to the entire text at once, but to separate sentences or phrases, and listen to one phrase many times. It would be nice if each phrase was illustrated with a picture, from which the meaning of the phrase would be clear, because. at this stage, it is extremely important that foreign words are associated "directly" with the objects, actions and concepts that they mean, and without any interference from the native language (Russian). It is also useful to vividly imagine the situation, “around” the phrase, to imagine yourself as a participant in the dialogue. At this stage, you should look at the translation of phrases as little as possible and only to make sure that you understood the meaning of the phrase exactly.

Then, as you continue to listen to the phrase, repeatedly try to pronounce it as accurately as possible, comparing your pronunciation with the recording. At the same time, keep the text of the phrase in the target language in your field of vision.

what sounds, what letters or combinations of letters are transmitted

how the sentence is built (what follows for what)

what new words did you learn from the phrase and the whole text and how they are written

It is advisable to listen to phrases in this way every day for at least 1 hour, and at the beginning of each lesson, repeat all previously heard phrases. Try there is no need to memorize the phrases, if you listened to the phrase many times, it will be remembered automatically.

It is inconvenient to listen to tape cassettes in this way, because. have to constantly rewind. Some multimedia discs with language courses are excellent for this kind of listening. For example, discs EnglishGold, EnglishPlatinum, OxfordPlatinum, DeutschPlatinum (similar discs are also available for Italian and French). These discs contain dialogues voiced by native speakers, texts for them in 2 languages, almost every phrase is illustrated with a picture, you can listen to dialogues by phrases or in full. These discs cost anywhere from 80 to 120 rubles. You can also use TALKTOME series discs, but they are less convenient to use because they do not translate phrases into Russian.

We recommend that you listen to texts in this way, even if you are studying with a teacher or in courses, because listening to the same phrases repeatedly is very important at the initial stage of learning a language. So, by the way, students of language faculties begin to learn the language, but they, as a rule, listen all at once text several times, which significantly reduces the effect of listening: after several such listenings, it becomes quite difficult to “keep” attention on the text, attention is constantly turned off from the text.

Simply repeatedly listening to long texts in a foreign language is not effective.

After 5-7 texts or dialogues listened in this way, one should move on to individual sounds - learn to pronounce and practice the pronunciation of individual sounds and their combinations in words. It would be great if a good teacher would put your pronunciation. But finding a “decent” teacher who would agree to deal with you only phonetics is quite difficult (class teachers are usually very reluctant to teach from scratch), and for 45 minutes such teachers charge from 25 to 45 dollars (in Moscow).

Fortunately, in the same multimedia discs there is a "Phonetics" section, in which you can work out the pronunciation of individual sounds, their combinations, words and phrases. If you have a microphone and a normal sound card, the program will evaluate your pronunciation, comparing it with the ideal one. But still, due to the small number of examples for each sound, the phonetics section in these discs does not reach the level of the classical philological faculty. To practice English pronunciation, we highly recommend purchasing the disc "English without an accent, Professor Higgins" (Phonetics + grammar, costs about 100 rubles).

Practice pronunciation until you begin to pronounce sounds naturally, until the tongue and lips automatically (without the participation of consciousness) take the correct position for pronouncing the sound, and easily take the correct position for pronouncing the next sound in the word without "delays and stumbling" .

If you are learning a language with a difficult pronunciation, such as English or French, we still recommend that you take at least a few phonetics lessons from a good teacher so that he can check whether you pronounce the sounds correctly, because. if you learn to pronounce the sound incorrectly, and your speech apparatus gets used to the incorrect pronunciation of the sound, it will be quite difficult to relearn later.

Achieving "decent" pronunciation at the initial stage of learning is very important, especially if you are studying languages, the pronunciation of sounds in which differs significantly from the pronunciation of the sounds of the Russian language. In English, for example, without a “decent” pronunciation, you won’t get far. Memorization and automatic recall of words and phrases to a certain extent will depend on how close to the ideal pronunciation they were and can be pronounced by you. (Subconsciously you will know what is in the word “marriage”, and strive to get rid of this marriage, that is, of the word).

So, take the time to practice pronunciation.

Mikhail Shestov in his book: YES! YOU CAN LEARN ANY LANGUAGE AND
TEACH YOURSELF TO LEARN EFFECTIVELY" reveals a terrible teaching secret": until the level of pronunciation is close to the standard, at least by 70%, the student's vocabulary practically does not develop.

When pronouncing a word, imagine every letter, even the unpronounceable. This will help you remember the word better and write it without mistakes.

Write out new words from each text / dialogue and ask someone to dictate them to you (dictate in Russian - you write in a foreign language). Then carefully check and analyze the errors.

Let's depict a detailed description of "listening" with a brief diagram:

listen to the phrase look at the picture compare with the meaning / meaning

listen to the phrase look at the foreign text look at the Russian text

Take from films in the target language (scripts for films can be found on the Internet) simple phrases that you also use or can use in everyday life and learn them. These phrases are usually remembered very easily.

It is also very useful not only to listen to the phrases, but also to see how a native speaker pronounces the phrase. Watch news releases, or some educational programs in the language you are learning and watch the facial expressions of the announcer or presenter. Record several news releases on a videotape, watch it several times, while watching, say familiar words after the speaker, trying to copy the speaker's facial expressions and imitating him.

How to learn words

What does it mean to know the word:

be able to pronounce the word correctly

be able to spell the word correctly

know the meaning of the word / the main meanings of a polysemantic word

remember the most exact equivalent of a word in Russian / equivalents for polysemantic words

Foreign words must be associated directly with the objects, phenomena or actions they mean. For example, to remember an English word apple(apple), imagine an apple and repeat apple, apple, apple... Thus the concept of "apple" is directly associated with the word apple.

Attempts to remember a foreign word as a translation of a Russian word, i.e. repeat apple- Apple, apple- Apple, apple- apple, will lead to the fact that in the future you will not be able to use this word spontaneously, which is necessary in order to speak the language. This wrong way of remembering words is very often used by children when they are just starting to learn a foreign language.

In order to remember the word better, you need to make the association of the word with the image as “strong” as possible. For this:

take our word apple, repeat apple, apple, apple, apple and at the same time

visualize an apple clearly and clearly

imagine that you take this apple and hold it in your hand, fix the sensations

Smell the apple

take a bite of an apple, feel the taste of an apple

hear the sound of an apple being bitten

imagine or, as it were, “quickly write in your imagination” the letters “ a p p l e"

To memorize long words that do not designate an object, you can use this method:

Form an image to a foreign word, repeat the word and imagine this image, at the same time:

Mentally write a word, imagine it spelled

determine the color of the letters in the word or color the word

feel each letter in the word

Maria Golod, Academic Director of the Linguistic Center of the Institute of Foreign Languages, tells us about some interesting methods of teaching foreign languages.

Throughout the history of mankind, a great many different educational methods have been developed. At first, all methods of teaching foreign languages ​​were borrowed from programs designed to teach the so-called "dead languages" - Latin and Greek, in which almost the entire educational process was reduced to reading and translation.

It is this method, the foundations of which were laid by the enlighteners at the end of the 18th century, that took shape by the middle of the 20th under the name "Grammar-translational method" (grammar-translational method).

According to this method, language proficiency is grammar and vocabulary. The process of improvement is understood as a movement from one grammatical scheme to another. Thus, a teacher planning a course on this method first thinks about what grammar schemes he wants to cover. Then, texts are selected for these topics, from which individual sentences are singled out, and everything ends with a translation. First - from a foreign language to the native, then - vice versa. As for the text, it is usually the so-called artificial text, in which practically no meaning is given to the meaning (it is not so important what you say, it is important how you say it).

A good example of such a text is the "conversational topic" that everyone remembers from school days called "Bob's family", within which the following material is worked out: "Bob's family is very good. His father is a worker, his mother is a doctor. They have a dog. At the end of the week they have a week-end where they all eat Sunday pudding."

Despite some well-deserved complaints, this method has a number of advantages. Firstly, it really allows you to learn grammar at a very high level. Secondly, this method is very good for people with highly developed logical thinking, for whom it is natural to perceive language precisely as a set of grammatical formulas. The main disadvantage is that the method creates ideal conditions for the emergence of the so-called language barrier, since a person in the process of learning stops expressing himself and begins not to speak, but simply combines words through certain rules. This method of learning foreign languages ​​dominated until the end of the 50s and was practically the only one with which everyone was taught. By the way, all brilliant and phenomenally educated translators until recently were trained in this way.

In the mid-1950s, it became obvious that the method did not meet the requirements of linguistics that had been formed by that time. The result was the emergence of a huge number of different techniques. I would like to talk about some of them in more detail.

According to the method called "Silent way" (method of silence), which appeared in the mid-60s, the principle of teaching a foreign language is as follows. Knowledge of the language is inherent in the person who wants to learn it, and the most important thing is not to interfere with the student and not to impose the teacher's point of view. Following this technique, the teacher initially does not say anything. When teaching pronunciation at lower levels, he uses complex color charts, on which each color or symbol stands for a certain sound, and thus presents new words. For example, to "say" the word "table", you first need to show the box that represents the sound "t", then the box that represents the sound "hey", and so on. Thus, by manipulating in the learning process all these squares, sticks and similar symbols, the student moves towards the intended goal, practicing the material covered with his classmates.

What are the advantages of this method? Probably, the fact that the level of knowledge of the teacher's language has practically no effect on the level of knowledge of the student's language, and in the end it may turn out that the student as a result will know the language better than his teacher. In addition, in the learning process, the student is forced to express himself quite freely. It should be noted that this method is very good for lovers of high technology.

Another interesting method is called "Total-physical response". The basic rule of this method is: you cannot understand what you have not passed through yourself. According to this theory, it is the student who says nothing in the first stages of learning. First, he must obtain a sufficient amount of knowledge, which goes into a liability. For about the first twenty lessons, the student constantly listens to foreign speech, he reads something, but does not say a single word in the language being studied. Then, in the process of learning, there comes a period when he must already react to what he heard or read - but react only by action. It all starts with the study of words meaning physical movements. So, for example, when they learn the word "stand up", everyone gets up, "sit down" - sit down, and so on. And only then, when the student has accumulated quite a lot of information (first listened, then moved), he becomes ready to start talking. This method is good, first of all, because the student feels very comfortable in the learning process. The desired effect is achieved due to the fact that a person passes all the information received through himself. It is also important that in the process of learning a language using this method, students communicate (directly or indirectly) not only with the teacher, but also with each other.

It is impossible not to pay attention to the so-called immersion method ("Sugesto pedia"), the triumph of which took place in the 70s. According to this method, one can master a foreign language by becoming (at least for the period of study) a completely different person. Learning the language in this way, all students in the group choose new names for themselves, come up with new biographies. Due to this, the audience creates the illusion that they are in a completely different world - in the world of the language being studied. All this is done so that any person in the learning process can completely relax, open up, and his speech becomes as similar as possible to the original. So that he speaks, for example, not like the real "Petya", but like a fictitious "John".

The next way to learn foreign languages, which I would like to talk about, appeared in the late 70s. It is called "Audio-lingual method" (audio-linguistic method). Its essence is as follows: at the first stage of training, the student repeatedly repeats what he heard after the teacher or the phonogram. And only starting from the second level, he is allowed to speak one or two phrases from himself, everything else consists, again, of repetitions.

The 70s were marked by the emergence of the so-called communicative method, the main purpose of which is to teach a person to communicate, to make his speech understandable to the interlocutor. In accordance with this method, this can be achieved by teaching a person in the so-called natural conditions - natural, first of all, from the point of view of common sense. For example, a teacher's question "What is this?" pointing to the table can be considered natural only if he really does not know what it is. The method that is called communicative, at present, in fact, is no longer it, although it pursues the same goal - to teach a person to communicate.

The modern communicative method is a harmonious combination of many, many ways of teaching foreign languages, being probably at the top of the evolutionary pyramid of various educational methods...

Vladimir Rastorguev, "Education and business"