We often hear that learning a foreign language is much more difficult for adults than for children. Is it so? Children do remember words faster and it is easier for them to learn to speak with the correct accent, but adults have the advantages that only age gives: life experience and skills. Therefore, it may even be easier for them to learn the language, only they need to do it differently. Based on research in the field of psychology and linguistics, their own experience in teaching and learning languages, cognitive scientists Richard Roberts and Roger Kroes tell in this book how to form a habit of studying, what is the harm of cramming and what is useful for the state of "spinning on the tongue", as well as how not to become a language zombie, able to express himself only in memorized phrases.
You can learn a foreign language at any age, and the tips and advice of Roberts and Kroes will make learning a language especially enjoyable and effective.
Three myths about learning foreign languages.
When Richard first started learning Korean, he was frustrated by how slowly he was progressing. Try as he might, things were not particularly fast. His teachers constantly told him to try harder and remember more. Richard knew he was working hard: preparing for lessons, talking to native speakers, watching videos, and learning Korean songs. At first he thought it was all about age. Richard successfully studied German, Portuguese, French and Japanese, but he was fifty-two when he started studying Korean. He thought he might be too old for another language. By conventional wisdom, he shouldn't have hoped for success.
One day, Richard was having coffee with his Korean language exchange partner (possessingly named Welkam). Richard asked Welkam if he improved his English when he came to the US. Richard believed that the interlocutor had achieved considerable success, and he thought that he would agree with him. But Wellcome said he didn't know. When asked about the opinion of teachers, Wellkum replied that American teachers always praise students, so he does not really believe their words. He even wanted teachers to be more critical. Welkam believed that what more teacher criticizes, the more he is interested in the success of the student.
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- Teaching a foreign language in postgraduate study at a non-linguistic university, Topical issues, Monograph, Buyanova G.V., Kinderknecht A.S., Popova T.V., 2017
Roger Kroes, Richard Roberts
Foreign language for adults: How to learn a new language at any age
Interpreter I. Okunkova
Editor A. Chernikova
Project Manager L. Razzhivaikina
Corrector M. Smirnova
Computer layout M. Potashkin
Cover design S. Khozin
© Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2015
The rights to publish in Russian were obtained with the assistance of the Alexander Korzhenevsky Agency (Russia)
© Edition in Russian, translation, design. Alpina Publisher LLC, 2017
Krez R.
Foreign language for adults: How to learn a new language at any age / Roger Kroes, Richard Roberts; Per. from English. – M.: Alpina Publisher, 2017.
ISBN 978-5-9614-4630-2
All rights reserved. The work is intended solely for private use. No part of the electronic copy of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including posting on the Internet and in corporate networks, for public or collective use without the written permission of the copyright owner. For copyright infringement, the legislation provides for the payment of compensation to the copyright holder in the amount of up to 5 million rubles (Article 49 of the LOAP), as well as criminal liability in the form of imprisonment for up to 6 years (Article 146 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
* * *We dedicate this book to our parents: Michaela Whitaker and Richard Roberts, Paul and Isla Kroes
Adulthood - beautiful time to broaden your horizons by learning other languages. However, very often the pleasure inherent in this process is clouded negative thoughts and experience - past and present, real and imagined. We wrote this book for adults who want to learn a foreign language but don't know where to start.
As we age, we gain knowledge and abilities that more than make up for diminishing mental alertness. In this book, we attempt to show foreign language learners how to use their strengths. We drew data from relevant research in cognitive science, as well as our own experiences in teaching, research, language learning, work, and travel abroad. We would be very happy if this book makes adults think about the benefits of life experience, and then apply them in the study of a foreign language.
1. Terms and Conditions
If people knew how much I had to work to achieve mastery, it would not seem so wonderful to them.
Michelangelo
When you meet a person who speaks a foreign language well, you might think that he has a talent for languages (1). You probably just don't know how much work it took for him to reach that level of skill. With the exception of a few people who can be called geniuses, anyone who has taught a foreign language to adults has made considerable effort to do so. This book will certainly not teach you how to achieve quick results. But if you use certain skills and abilities acquired during your life, learning a language will give you pleasure and will be productive. The older you are, the more tools in your piggy bank that you can use to achieve your goal. Each of us has unique set skills and abilities that can be applied to the study of languages, if you get rid of wrong beliefs. We will turn to them.
Three myths about learning foreign languages
When Richard first started learning Korean, he was frustrated by how slowly he was progressing. Try as he might, things were not particularly fast. His teachers constantly told him to try harder and remember more. Richard knew he was working hard: preparing for lessons, talking to native speakers, watching videos, and learning Korean songs. At first he thought it was all about age. Richard successfully studied German, Portuguese, French and Japanese, but he was fifty-two when he started studying Korean. He thought he might be too old for another language. By conventional wisdom, he shouldn't have hoped for success.
One day, Richard was having coffee with his Korean language exchange partner (possessingly named Welkam). Richard asked Welkam if he improved his English when he came to the US. Richard believed that the interlocutor had achieved considerable success, and he thought that he would agree with him. But Wellcome said he didn't know. When asked about the opinion of teachers, Wellkum replied that American teachers always praise students, so he does not really believe their words. He even wanted teachers to be more critical. Wellcome believed that the more a teacher criticizes, the more interested he is in the student's success.
This conversation was a revelation for Richard. He realized that the lack of progress in learning Korean was the result of his ideas about what successful study foreign language. Richard measured his success by the number of things he didn't know. It seemed to him that the glass was half empty, and he forced himself to memorize more and more material. But relying only on memory in this matter is a very bad idea.
Of course, when mastering a foreign language, memorization is indispensable, however, memorization exercises (for example, listening to a text and repeating it verbatim, learning a long dialogue or the content of training cards) put an adult student at a disadvantage in terms of the cognitive process. Memory deteriorates with age, and if you focus too much on memorization, you will be frustrated, demoralized, and eventually quit altogether.
The question arises: if learning by heart is a very bad idea, then what is the worst? The thought that you are too old to learn a foreign language. We want to dispel this myth, and at the same time a couple more - those that surround the study of a foreign language in adulthood.
Myth 1. Adults cannot learn a foreign language as easily as children.
On the contrary, there is evidence that adults learn new languages much more easily. Children are superior to adults in only two respects. The first is the ability to acquire the right accent. However, adults are quite capable of achieving the fluency of a native speaker. But even if an adult is more likely to speak with an accent, don't get too upset if it doesn't interfere with your understanding. And the second advantage of children is that learning a foreign language does not cause them anxiety. In other words, they are not hindered by the belief that they are not capable of mastering another language. Children are free from such defeatist thoughts(2).
Myth 2. Adults should learn foreign languages the same way children do.
Children's brains are different from adults. Therefore, children and adults should not be expected to use the same teaching methods. This is not true. But, unfortunately, adults sometimes try to learn a language by abandoning all the strategies and experiences that helped them succeed. They try to take over foreign language"naturally", just as they mastered their own. It's impossible. Such attempts inevitably lead to disappointment, and you are likely to give up on your goal. For adults, it will be more fruitful to rely on the accumulated learning experience and don't try to imitate children.
Myth 3. When learning a foreign language, try not to use your native language
Some adult learners feel that they should never, ever translate from their native language into a foreign language. But such advice deprives them of one of their main advantages - freehold native language. Of course one language won't simple translation the other, but many aspects of one can be directly transferred to the other. These aspects cannot be completely ignored, and it should not be done.
For example, an adult native English speaker learning Portuguese is unlikely to fail to notice that Portuguese word insidioso, which describes something that gradually causes harm, looks suspiciously like English word insightful. It is pointless to pretend that your knowledge of your native language in this case useless. It is clear that the words common origin are not found in all languages and sometimes their meaning does not match, as, for example, in English rider(rider) and French rider(rumple). Still seek general concepts, categories and templates are very useful, and in this adult students have advantages over children.
Unfortunately, any of these myths can prevent even the most motivated adult from embarking on the path of learning a foreign language. A lot of research has been devoted to these incorrect statements. The results obtained in the field of cognitive science will be useful to all adults who study a foreign language.
This conversation was a revelation for Richard. He realized that the lack of progress in learning Korean was the result of his ideas about what it means to successfully learn a foreign language. Richard measured his success by the number of things he didn't know. It seemed to him that the glass was half empty, and he forced himself to memorize more and more material. But relying only on memory in this matter is a very bad idea.
Of course, when mastering a foreign language, memorization is indispensable, however, memorization exercises (for example, listening to a text and repeating it verbatim, learning a long dialogue or the content of training cards) put an adult student at a disadvantage in terms of the cognitive process. Memory deteriorates with age, and if you focus too much on memorization, you will be frustrated, demoralized, and eventually quit altogether.
The question arises: if learning by heart is a very bad idea, then what is the worst? The thought that you are too old to learn a foreign language. We want to dispel this myth, and at the same time a couple more - those that surround the study of a foreign language in adulthood.
Myth 1. Adults cannot learn a foreign language as easily as children.
On the contrary, there is evidence that adults learn new languages much more easily. Children are superior to adults in only two respects. The first is the ability to acquire the right accent. However, adults are quite capable of achieving the fluency of a native speaker. But even if an adult is more likely to speak with an accent, don't get too upset if it doesn't interfere with your understanding. And the second advantage of children is that learning a foreign language does not cause them anxiety. In other words, they are not hindered by the belief that they are not capable of mastering another language. Children are free from such defeatist thoughts.
Myth 2. Adults should learn foreign languages the same way children do.
Children's brains are different from adults. Therefore, children and adults should not be expected to use the same teaching methods. This is not true. But, unfortunately, adults sometimes try to learn a language by abandoning all the strategies and experiences that helped them succeed. They try to learn a foreign language "naturally", just as they have mastered their native language. It's impossible. Such attempts inevitably lead to disappointment, and you are likely to give up on your goal. For adults, it will be more fruitful to rely on the accumulated cognitive experience and not try to imitate children.
Myth 3. When learning a foreign language, try not to use your native language
Some adult learners feel that they should never, ever translate from their native language into a foreign language. But such advice deprives them of one of their main advantages - fluency in their native language. Of course, one language will not be a simple translation of another, but many aspects of one can be directly transferred to another. These aspects cannot be completely ignored, and it should not be done.
For example, an adult native English speaker learning Portuguese is unlikely to fail to notice that a Portuguese word insidioso, which describes something progressively harmful, looks suspiciously like the English word insightful. It is pointless to pretend that your knowledge of your native language is useless in this case. It is clear that words of common origin are not found in all languages and sometimes their meaning does not match, as, for example, in English rider(rider) and French rider(rumple). However, it is very useful to look for common concepts, categories, and patterns, and this is where adult learners have an advantage over children.
Unfortunately, any of these myths can prevent even the most motivated adult from embarking on the path of learning a foreign language. A lot of research has been devoted to these incorrect statements. The results obtained in the field of cognitive science will be useful to all adults who study a foreign language.
What is cognitive science?
Cognitive science is an interdisciplinary scientific field that began to develop in the 1960s. and achieved notable results in the 1970s. Cognitive science is at the intersection of a number of areas that explore the nature of the mind. At their center are disciplines such as psychology, linguistics, philosophy, neuroscience, artificial intelligence, and anthropology. Today they also include pedagogy (see Fig. 1.1).
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- About the book
- About authors
- Reviews (4)
- Reviews
Quote
Learning only from the bearer is like climbing Everest with a person who was born on top of it and shouting instructions to those below. The sounds may be right, but that won't help you find a stable footing amid shaky boulders and dangerous crevices. You need your Sherpa: a non-native speaker who fought the language and defeated it.What is Foreign for Adults: How to Learn a New Language at Any Age about?
We often hear that learning a foreign language is much more difficult for adults than for children. Is it so? Children do remember words faster and it is easier for them to learn to speak with the correct accent, but adults have the advantages that only age gives: life experience and skills. Therefore, it may even be easier for them to learn the language, only they need to do it differently. Based on research in the field of psychology and linguistics, their own experience in teaching and learning languages, cognitive scientists Richard Roberts and Roger Kroes tell in this book how to form a habit of studying, what is the harm of cramming and what is useful for the state of "spinning on the tongue", as well as how not to become a language zombie, able to express himself only in memorized phrases.You can learn a foreign language at any age, and the tips and advice of Roberts and Kroes will make learning a language especially enjoyable and effective.
Why the book "Foreign for Adults" is worth reading
- Why is there such a gap between the use of language in the classroom and the real world? big difference? How to turn knowledge into action? What is the best way to start learning a language and how often do you need to study? How many words do you need to learn and most importantly - how best to learn them? You will find answers to these and many other questions here.
- This book is not about any specific languages, but about general approaches and psychological tricks to study anyone (even the one you started learning and quit)
- After reading, you will feel more confident and free, both in the process of learning the language and in conversation.
Who is this book for?
For those who want to learn a language but don't know where to start.For those who are already studying or have studied the language before and abandoned it.
For those who themselves give lessons to adults.
And even for those who are simply interested in the word and language as an idea, this is an extremely interesting read in itself.
The authors
Richard Roberts taught psychology at universities in Europe and Asia for twelve years and during this time he mastered German, Portuguese and Japanese. He also studied French, Japanese and Korean at the Foreign Service Institute of the US Department of State. Roberts works at the US Embassy in Seoul.
Roger Krez - Psychology teacher with more than a quarter of a century of experience, He has done research in cognitive gerontology at Duke University. Studied German and Old English. He is the Associate Dean at the University of Memphis.
Review from Galina KurchenkovaAdmit it, at least once in your life you promised yourself that "here, tomorrow, I will start learning English." Instead of "English", you can substitute "French", "German" or "Chinese". But the result is the same. Tomorrow comes and... we try not to remember our promises and plans. What prevents us from learning a new foreign language? Why do we diligently postpone its study or do not move further on Tue ... Read more
Review from Pavel TkachenkoThe easiest way to learn a language, which I personally know in practice, is to learn it at the age of 2-3 years as you master this world. Ukrainian was like that for me. The following methods are associated with some kind of mental effort - immersion in the environment, attending lessons, cramming words and rules. Such for me were Russian and (much later) English. These examples look...
Current page: 1 (total book has 12 pages) [available reading excerpt: 3 pages]
Roger Kroes, Richard Roberts
Foreign language for adults: How to learn a new language at any age
Interpreter I. Okunkova
Editor A. Chernikova
Project Manager L. Razzhivaikina
Corrector M. Smirnova
Computer layout M. Potashkin
Cover design S. Khozin
© Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2015
The rights to publish in Russian were obtained with the assistance of the Alexander Korzhenevsky Agency (Russia)
© Edition in Russian, translation, design. Alpina Publisher LLC, 2017
Krez R.
Foreign language for adults: How to learn a new language at any age / Roger Kroes, Richard Roberts; Per. from English. – M.: Alpina Publisher, 2017.
ISBN 978-5-9614-4630-2
All rights reserved. The work is intended solely for private use. No part of the electronic copy of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including posting on the Internet and in corporate networks, for public or collective use without the written permission of the copyright owner. For copyright infringement, the legislation provides for the payment of compensation to the copyright holder in the amount of up to 5 million rubles (Article 49 of the LOAP), as well as criminal liability in the form of imprisonment for up to 6 years (Article 146 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
* * *
We dedicate this book to our parents: Michaela Whitaker and Richard Roberts, Paul and Isla Kroes
Prologue
Adulthood is a great time to broaden your horizons by learning other languages. However, very often the pleasure inherent in this process is overshadowed by negative thoughts and experiences - past and present, real and imagined. We wrote this book for adults who want to learn a foreign language but don't know where to start.
As we age, we gain knowledge and abilities that more than make up for diminishing mental alertness. In this book, we attempt to show foreign language learners how to capitalize on their strengths. We drew data from relevant research in cognitive science, as well as our own experiences in teaching, research, language learning, work, and travel abroad. We would be very happy if this book makes adults think about the benefits of life experience, and then apply them in the study of a foreign language.
1. Terms and Conditions
If people knew how much I had to work to achieve mastery, it would not seem so wonderful to them.
Michelangelo
When you meet a person who speaks a foreign language well, you might think that he has a talent for languages. 1
The notes to this book contain references to Scientific research that support our ideas. If you are not interested in the sources, you can skip the notes.
You probably just don't know how much work it took for him to reach that level of skill. With the exception of a few people who can be called geniuses, anyone who has taught a foreign language to adults has made considerable effort to do so. This book certainly won't teach you how to achieve quick results. But if you use certain skills and abilities acquired during your life, learning a language will give you pleasure and will be productive. The older you are, the more tools in your piggy bank that you can use to achieve your goal. Each of us has a unique set of skills and abilities that can be applied to language learning if we get rid of wrong beliefs. We will turn to them.
Three myths about learning foreign languages
When Richard first started learning Korean, he was frustrated by how slowly he was progressing. Try as he might, things were not particularly fast. His teachers constantly told him to try harder and remember more. Richard knew he was working hard: preparing for lessons, talking to native speakers, watching videos, and learning Korean songs. At first he thought it was all about age. Richard successfully studied German, Portuguese, French and Japanese, but he was fifty-two when he started studying Korean. He thought he might be too old for another language. By conventional wisdom, he shouldn't have hoped for success.
One day, Richard was having coffee with his Korean language exchange partner (possessingly named Welkam). Richard asked Welkam if he improved his English when he came to the US. Richard believed that the interlocutor had achieved considerable success, and he thought that he would agree with him. But Wellcome said he didn't know. When asked about the opinion of teachers, Wellkum replied that American teachers always praise students, so he does not really believe their words. He even wanted teachers to be more critical. Wellcome believed that the more a teacher criticizes, the more interested he is in the student's success.
This conversation was a revelation for Richard. He realized that the lack of progress in learning Korean was the result of his ideas about what it means to successfully learn a foreign language. Richard measured his success by the number of things he didn't know. It seemed to him that the glass was half empty, and he forced himself to memorize more and more material. But relying only on memory in this matter is a very bad idea.
Of course, when mastering a foreign language, memorization is indispensable, however, memorization exercises (for example, listening to a text and repeating it verbatim, learning a long dialogue or the content of training cards) put an adult student at a disadvantage in terms of the cognitive process. Memory deteriorates with age, and if you focus too much on memorization, you will be frustrated, demoralized, and eventually quit altogether.
The question arises: if learning by heart is a very bad idea, then what is the worst? The thought that you are too old to learn a foreign language. We want to dispel this myth, and at the same time a couple more - those that surround the study of a foreign language in adulthood.
Myth 1. Adults cannot learn a foreign language as easily as children.
On the contrary, there is evidence that adults learn new languages much more easily. Children are superior to adults in only two respects. The first is the ability to acquire the right accent. However, adults are quite capable of achieving the fluency of a native speaker. But even if an adult is more likely to speak with an accent, don't get too upset if it doesn't interfere with your understanding. And the second advantage of children is that learning a foreign language does not cause them anxiety. In other words, they are not hindered by the belief that they are not capable of mastering another language. Children are free from such defeatist thoughts 2
On how adults learn language more easily than children, see David P. Ausubel, "Adults versus Children in Second-Language Learning: Psychological Considerations," Modern Language Journal 48(7) (1964): 420–424; Stefka H. Marinova-Todd, D. Bradford Marshall, and Catherine E. Snow, "Three Misconceptions about Age and L2 Learning," TESOL Quarterly 34(1) (2000): 9–34; and Mary Schleppegrell, "The Older Language Learner" (Washington, DC: ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics, 1987), http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED287313.pdf.
For children's ability to acquire native accents, see Stephen D. Krashen, Michael A. Long, and Robin C. Scarcella, "Age, Rate, and Eventual Attainment in Second Language Acquisition," TESOL Quarterly 13 (4) (1979): 573–582.
For the ability of adults to acquire the fluency of native speakers, see David Birdsong, "Ultimate Attainment in Second Language Acquisition," language 68 (4) (1992): 706–755.
For lack of anxiety about language learning in children, see: David P. Ausubel, Educational Psychology: A Cognitive View(New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1968); Gregory K Moffatt, The Parenting Journey: From Conception through the Teen Years(Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood, 2004); Schleppegrell, "The Older Language Learner."
Myth 2. Adults should learn foreign languages the same way children do.
Children's brains are different from adults. Therefore, children and adults should not be expected to use the same teaching methods. This is not true. But, unfortunately, adults sometimes try to learn a language by abandoning all the strategies and experiences that helped them succeed. They try to learn a foreign language "naturally", just as they have mastered their native language. It's impossible. Such attempts inevitably lead to disappointment, and you are likely to give up on your goal. For adults, it will be more fruitful to rely on the accumulated cognitive experience and not try to imitate children.
Myth 3. When learning a foreign language, try not to use your native language
Some adult learners feel that they should never, ever translate from their native language into a foreign language. But such advice deprives them of one of their main advantages - fluency in their native language. Of course, one language will not be a simple translation of another, but many aspects of one can be directly transferred to another. These aspects cannot be completely ignored, and it should not be done.
For example, an adult native English speaker learning Portuguese is unlikely to fail to notice that a Portuguese word insidioso, which describes something progressively harmful, looks suspiciously like the English word insightful. It is pointless to pretend that your knowledge of your native language is useless in this case. It is clear that words of common origin are not found in all languages and sometimes their meaning does not match, as, for example, in English rider(rider) and French rider(rumple). However, it is very useful to look for common concepts, categories, and patterns, and this is where adult learners have an advantage over children.
Unfortunately, any of these myths can prevent even the most motivated adult from embarking on the path of learning a foreign language. A lot of research has been devoted to these incorrect statements. The results obtained in the field of cognitive science will be useful to all adults who study a foreign language.
What is cognitive science?
Cognitive science is an interdisciplinary scientific field that began to develop in the 1960s. and achieved notable results in the 1970s. Cognitive science is at the intersection of a number of areas that explore the nature of the mind. They focus on disciplines such as psychology, linguistics, philosophy, neuroscience, artificial intelligence, and anthropology. 3
For the disciplines that make up cognitive science, see Howard Gardner, The Mind's New Science: A History of the Cognitive Revolution (New York: Basic Books, 1985).
Today they also include pedagogy (see Fig. 1.1).
Cognitive science as a scientific movement is remarkable in that it represents a deliberate departure from extreme specialization. It actively promotes the incorporation and application of new viewpoints, and this cross-fertilization is leading to hundreds of important new research programs. However, cognitive scientists will still be specialists in one of the disciplines shown in Fig. 1.1.
For example, Richard and Roger studied psycholinguistics in experimental psychology programs, but they will also be cognitive scientists because they studied cognitive science in graduate school, and these interconnected disciplines influenced their research and ideas.
Before moving on to a more detailed discussion of how cognitive science relates to adult language learning, a terminology needs to be defined.
When describing thought processes, cognitive scientists often divide them into descending and ascending. In downstream processes, also often referred to as processes, driven by the concept, already known as a result of perception and understanding is used. For example, experts solve problems differently than beginners because they have more knowledge and experience in a particular area.
The top-down process refers to cognition in general, but it also plays an important role in understanding spoken language. We rarely talk in silence - remember your last meeting with friends in a restaurant. Even in relatively quiet place background noise will be present and the voices of others will be heard. And if your ears had to capture every sound uttered by the interlocutors, you simply would not understand most of the words, since you would have to overcome too much noise. Fortunately, the cognitive system is able to fill in the missing information, and you are not even aware of this. This is why background noise bothers beginners more than more experienced learners—without extensive knowledge of the language, a top-down process cannot fill in the gaps.
The downstream process is very important, but that's not all. Ascending is a process data driven, – complete opposite descending. This term refers to situations where you perceive a stimulus without prejudice or assumptions about what you are experiencing. Instead of relying on experience, upward perception relies solely on information received through the five senses. For example, seeing and hearing will be ascending processes as long as the brain understands what you see and hear. If you wear glasses, you are making up for the data gap that your eyes need to receive in order for your brain to see. Points correct the problem of the downward process.
Almost all language skills require the interaction of top-down and bottom-up processes. An example would be reading and understanding short story. You need to decipher the letters and words on the page and match them to the value stored in long-term memory, which will be a bottom-up process. However, you also need to use knowledge of the story, character motivations, and plot development, which will be a top-down process. 4
For top-down processing in reading comprehension, see, for example, Arthur C. Graesser, Cheryl Bowers, Ute J. Bayen, and Xiangen Hu, “Who Said What? Who Knows What? Tracking Speakers and Knowledge in Narratives," in New Perspectives on Narrative Perspective, ed. Willie van Peer and Seymour Chatman, 255–272 (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2001).
Adult learners of foreign languages achieve excellent results in top-down processes due to their extensive knowledge of the world and life experience. For example, since you already understand the basic narrative structures (“boy meets girl, boy loses girl, girl goes back to boyfriend”), you can put your knowledge to good use. options while reading, while younger readers do not 5
On the ability of adults to use wide knowledges about the world and experience, see for example: John B. Black and Robert Wilensky, "An Evaluation of Story Grammars," Cognitive Science 3 (3) (1979): 213–230.
With age, hearing and vision become less acute, but adults compensate for this deficiency with more knowledge of the world. Tips from the field of cognitive science will help you with this.
What does "meta" mean?
Before you begin to understand how cognitive science research can help you learn a new language, you need to be familiar with the concept meta. Meaning of words knowledge, memory and linguistics is straightforward, but you may not be familiar with the concepts metacognition, metamemory and metalinguistics. Let's look at them and discuss why they will be so important in the following chapters.
Metacognition is, quite simply, knowledge about knowledge, and metamemory is knowledge about memory. Most of the time, cognitive processes run so smoothly and effortlessly that we rarely think about them. But when we are deceived optical illusion, or we're trying to figure out how a friend failed to follow simple directions, or heard something wrong, we can stop for a second and think about how the mind works (or how it fails us for a moment). This is an example of metacognition that will be the strongest point of adult learners.
It is difficult to say what children know about their mental processes. Of course, their cognitive skills are constantly improving as they gain new experiences. All parents know that change comes in leaps and bounds. However, the full set of metacognition and metamemory skills does not develop until adulthood. 6
On the notion that metacognitive abilities and metamemory are not fully developed until adulthood, see Wolfgang Schneider and Kathrin Lockl, "The Development of Metacognitive Knowledge in Children and Adolescents," in Applied Metacognition, ed. Timothy J. Perfect and Bennett L. Schwartz, 224–260 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002).
This is not surprising since young children do not have enough experience of cognitive success and failure to make generalizations. Therefore, the consequences bad memory in young children are rarely serious. They have an incredibly precise external memory device (more commonly known as "mom" or "dad") that keeps track of everything they need to do or remember. If the child forgot something or did not understand, parents come to the rescue.
Adults have developed a deeper understanding of their cognitive processes, but this is imperfect and may vary depending on the topic. 7
For adults' improved understanding of their cognitive processes, see Ethan Zell and Zlatan Krizan, “Do People Have Insight into Their Abilities? A Metasynthesis," 9 (2) (2014): 111–125.
For example, adults know they can remember a seven-digit phone number, but not a twenty-digit postal parcel ID. They know it's good to mentally repeat instructions given or use strategies to make it easier to remember passwords on a computer. However, one may not intuitively understand how to use metacognitive abilities when learning a foreign language.
The understanding of metalinguistics is somewhat different. It means understanding how the language works, not just knowing it. Metalinguistics is not about the history of a language or knowledge of the origin of words, but rather the ability to use language for various purposes (for example, being polite, lying or joking). And adults again achieve significant success in this area, even if they do not realize that they own similar knowledge. But these skills are not born. For example, it is known that politeness is learned in childhood from parents who ask to say " Magic word before leaving the table 8
For childhood politeness formulas, see Jean Berko Gleason, Rivka Y. Perlmann, and Esther Blank Greif, "What's the Magic Word: Learning Language through Politeness Routines," Discourse Processes 7 (4) (1984): 493–502.
As an adult, metalinguistic knowledge can be surprisingly accurate. For example, understanding the difference between a witty pun and a bad joke means a fairly high level of metalinguistic skills.
However, when you start learning a new language, you don't need to acquire new metacognitive skills. You just need to take the metalinguistics, metamemory and metacognition skills already developed in your native language and apply them to learning a foreign language.
2. Set yourself up for success
A good start is half the battle
A good start is half the battle.
Attributed to both Aristotle and Mary Poppins
Imagine an adult who has just signed up for their first Japanese lesson. He decided that the best way to learn modern ninety-two signs cana1
Kana - Japanese syllabary, which exists in two graphic forms: katakana and hiragana. - Note. ed.
Representing the sounds of the Japanese language is to start a workbook. For each sign, he highlights separate page. At the top, a kana sign is drawn with a diagram showing the order in which the lines are drawn. The rest of the page contains empty cells for writing practice. The student collects these pages into two notebooks (one for hiragana and one for katakana) under attractive covers to take and practice when he is free time. The disadvantage of this strategy is that one spends all of one's time preparing for the study of kana rather than the study itself. What seems like good preparation to him will actually be a waste of time (and paper). By the second week of classes, the student begins to fall behind the others and eventually drops out in the middle of the semester. It is clear that he started badly. But what exactly did he do wrong?
When we are talking about learning a foreign language, good start does not start on the first day of class or with arrival in another country. It starts with a decision to learn a language, and if not thoughtfully approached, the process can be surprisingly difficult. A bad decision can cause doubts about one's abilities, which leads to a decrease in motivation and even more problems with the language. Such sliding down an inclined plane leads to disappointment and disillusionment. Because cognitive scientists study how people make decisions, research in this area can help you decide where, when, and how to learn a foreign language. This is the best way to start well.
Some people count the pros and cons, which is not good for difficult decisions concerning the study of a foreign language. As in most life situations When it comes to such decisions, there is no exact formula to follow. Decisions on complex issues such as learning a foreign language should be approached with flexibility, as they are invariably made in the face of insufficient information. One of the reasons why language learning is frustrating is that decisions are often made without a realistic assessment of the effort required to succeed—or lack of clear definitions of success. Whether they know it or not, even people who have successfully learned one foreign language need to think carefully about the decision to learn a second one. The situation when a person has mastered a “super-complex” language like Chinese, but cannot cope with a “world language” like French, is much more common than one might think.
When making decisions, big or small, under conditions of uncertainty, people rely on a cognitive strategy called heuristic. Such accelerated or practical methods are suitable when a decision needs to be made with a lack of information (which most often happens). And quite often, using a heuristic method will be a good option.
One useful heuristic strategy is called availability heuristic, according to which the faster and easier you can mentally imagine examples of a phenomenon, the more common it will be. Let's try. Which name is more common in the US, Mary or Matilda? One way to answer this question is to search the Internet for statistics on baby names. But in this case, you are unlikely to do this, since you can give the correct answer faster using the availability heuristic. You will probably say that the name Mary is more common, since remember more mary than Matild. That's the beauty of the availability heuristic: it's quick and easy, and will most often lead to an answer that works under the circumstances. If you doubt the effectiveness of heuristic strategies, keep in mind that they are so useful and effective that cognitive scientists working in the field of artificial intelligence have long been looking for ways to train computers to use them. 9
For availability heuristics, see: Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman, "Availability: A Heuristic for Judging Frequency and Probability," cognitive psychology 5 (2) (1973): 207–232.
For the use of heuristics in artificial intelligence, see for example: Herbert A. Simon, "The Structure of Ill-Structured Problems," artificial intelligence
4 (1973): 181–201, http://www.public.iastate.edu/~cschan/235/6_Simon_Ill_defined_problem.pdf.
Unfortunately, like all heuristics, the availability heuristic is not immune to misuse. For example, people are more likely to buy earthquake insurance right away. after earthquakes. But over time, they stop paying for it, as the memory of the earthquake fades and insurance ceases to seem necessary. Although in fact, the longer an earthquake does not occur, the higher its probability 10
For the likelihood of buying earthquake insurance as memories fade, see: Riccardo Rebonato, Plight of the Fortune Tellers: Why We Need to Manage Financial Risk Differently(Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2010).
The point is not to avoid using the availability heuristic—this is impossible—but rather that, for all its strengths, it also has weaknesses that can break the most best plans. This is especially true for learning foreign languages in adulthood.
Related to the availability heuristic simulated heuristic, which is similar but can inadvertently lead an adult language learner to frustration. According to the modeled heuristic, the faster and easier we can imagine the scenario in which an event occurs, the sooner we can assume that it will actually happen. For example, how likely is it that you will become President of the United States? To answer this question, you need to create mental image and think about everything that needs to happen for you to become president: what more events should happen, the less likely it will seem to you.
As with the availability heuristic, in order to imagine yourself as a president, you need to consult your memory for the necessary information. By doing this, you will appreciate how quickly you get the information and how plausible the scenario you get. Easily learned experience like this scenario will give you confidence. For example, if you were elected to the post of governor of a state, it will be easier for you to imagine winning the presidential election than if you were successfully elected only once - in high school to the position of prefect.
Similarly, the decision to learn a foreign language requires a visualization of the effort that needs to be made to reach the desired level. But if you've made the decision to learn a foreign language and haven't reached your goal, is it because you, as an adult, have learning difficulties, or have you been let down by a simulated heuristic? Let's look at the weaknesses of the simulated heuristic that can be avoided in order to more accurately predict the effort needed to successfully master a foreign language.
One of the reasons why the model does not always match the real result is a trap called planning error11
For the planning fallacy, see Roger Buehler, Dale Griffin, and Michael Ross, "Exploring the "Planning Fallacy:" Why People Underestimate Their Task Completion Times," 67(3) (1994): 366–381; Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, "Intuitive Prediction: Biases and Corrective Procedures," Technical Report PTR-1042-77-6, 1977, http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA047747.
This is the name given to the tendency to underestimate the amount of time, effort, or money required to achieve a goal. The planning error arises from the fact that we are usually too confident in our ability to achieve the goal and incorrectly estimate the necessary resources. One need only look at one news release to see examples of how a planning error affected the expected results.
We are vulnerable to the planning error when we focus too much on all the good things that will happen when we reach a goal, and not enough on the resources needed to achieve it. For example, when deciding to learn a foreign language, you might think about how great it would be to order food at a restaurant, flirt, or read the local paper. Thinking about results can motivate you, but they shouldn't form the basis for making a decision. One way to avoid the planning error is to separate the causes desires master the language from the specific steps that should be taken for this.
If you focus your mental modeling on what it takes to achieve a goal, you plan the process better than if you focus on the results you get. Such planning leads not only to a higher probability that you will achieve the goal, but also reduces stress. 12
For the benefits of process-focused planning, see: Shelley E. Taylor, Lien B. Pham, Inna D. Rivkin, and David A. Armor, "Harnessing the Imagination: Mental Simulation, Self-Regulation, and Coping," American Psychologist 53 (4) (1998): 429–439.
In other words, when deciding whether or not to study French, think about whether you can find time in your schedule for classes, and not about how great it will be to sit in Les Deux Magots and make witty remarks.
Another reason wrong planning is that when we create a mental image, we often present the results overly optimistically. Modeling often depicts an ideal situation where everything goes exactly as intended and no factors are taken into account due to which plans can be disrupted. For example, Richard decided to spend a month in Brazil learning Portuguese. He thought that this would be enough time to reach the level required to be tested by telephone in Portuguese at the Foreign Service. Richard went to Rio de Janeiro and signed up for language classes. On the first day he was robbed. The Portuguese language, of course, was not to blame, and the incident may have benefited him, as he has since become more cautious, but he spent more time in the hotel than interacting with people. As a result, Richard did not improve his knowledge Portuguese did not pass the phone test as quickly as he had hoped and was forced to spend another month in Brazil a year later. The moral of the story is not to beware of thieves (though that's good advice too), but to take the contingency into account when planning your course of action. Then you will be less likely to be disappointed if things don't go according to plan.
And finally, because the simulated heuristic is most effective when it doesn't help, people blame their own ability, or worse, the ability of others, but don't acknowledge it. real reason problems: how they used heuristics. Feelings of guilt can be exacerbated by so-called counterfeit thinking – mental modeling, which is happening backdating and shows how events could develop. What do you think, which of the athletes standing on the Olympic podium is more satisfied - the one who won the silver or the bronze medal? Although silver medal above, the bronze medalist usually smiles wider as he can easily imagine the situation he was in fourth, while the silver medalist can just as easily imagine that he got the gold 13
On counterfeit thinking, see Victoria Husted Medvec, Scott F. Madey, and Thomas Gilovich, "When Less Is More: Counterfactual Thinking and Satisfaction among Olympic Medalists," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 69 (4) (1995): 603–610.
Once you have made the decision to learn a foreign language, other heuristics can negatively affect the outcome. One of them is called heuristics of fixing and adaptation. It is difficult for us to move away from the initial decision, even if the real situation requires a change in plans. For example, adults who learn a foreign language may blindly follow a pre-made lesson plan, even when it becomes clear that it is not particularly effective. We can tweak the plan a bit if things aren't going well, but we're not likely to make the drastic changes that are often necessary. Surely among your acquaintances there is a person who continued to compose and memorize cards with words, even when he saw that this did not give much effect. Perhaps he corrected the process in an attempt to learn less words at once or by switching from cardboard cards to electronic format, but it never occurred to him to completely abandon them.
Another common decision-making mistake that can confuse even the most determined person is confirmation bias. People trust information that supports their beliefs and ignore or do not take seriously information that goes against their views. Confirmation bias works against groups and individuals when planning and implementing actions. By ignoring conflicting feedback, we lose the opportunity to make changes that can significantly increase the likelihood of success. And this problem can acquire, so to speak, the scale of the Titanic.
Remember the first myth from this book: adults cannot learn a foreign language as easily as children. If you meet an adult who tried and failed to learn a foreign language, his example confirms this belief. If you meet an adult who succeeds, you consider him an exception to the rule and ignore him, although in fact many people are able to successfully acquire a foreign language as an adult.
Confirmation bias creates a wide variety of stereotypes. If you know what to fear, it is easy to notice, but the situation is not easy to change. Interestingly, negative stereotypes about aging can affect not only attitudes towards learning foreign languages, but also health. For example, people who keep positive attitude in relation to age, suffer less from cardiovascular diseases 14
For the benefits of a positive view of aging, see: Becca R. Levy, Alan B. Zonderman, Martin D. Slade, and Luigi Ferrucci, "Age Stereotypes Held Earlier in Life Predict Cardiovascular Events in Later Life," Psychological Science 20 (3) (2009): 296–298.
Considering how heuristic strategies fail us, it is not surprising that highly motivated adults sometimes drop out of language classes despite their strengths. They blame themselves or their teachers for the failure, when the real reason is a misconception about the decision-making process. Perhaps the saddest thing is that after the decision to quit foreign language studies, the last heuristic rears its ugly head: belated judgment. You look back at your defeat and say, "I knew it would end like this" 15
For more on belated judgment bias, see Neal J. Roese and Kathleen D. Vohs, "Hindsight Bias," Perspectives on Psychological Science 7 (5) (2012): 411–426.
