Introduction

Welcome to Approaches to Learning! Congratulations, you’ve made it to the second chapter.

Before we get started, we have a question for you. Have you ever questioned how you have been learning language? Have you paused and wondered if the ways you’ve been learning match your own preferences or goals?  For example, you might ask whether memorizing flashcards for a written test about vegetables in your Mandarin class will help you to be conversationally fluent. Or you might wonder if studying dialogues in French class was a good approach to learning to recognize grammar patterns. Or you may question whether your decision to learn Spanish just by talking with your friends will work for you in the long run.

In fact, all of these can contribute to language learning in different ways. Many people believe that learning a language is a long, tedious process. Well, it’s true that it IS a long and sometimes tedious process, but you, the learner, can decide whether to make it also really fun and to make the effort worth it.

As a preview to this chapter, let’s look at the example of Tim Doner. He’s a polyglot who describes his learning process in detail without glamorizing the language learning process. Most of us are not teen polyglots like Tim, but there is plenty to learn from his story.

In the video, notice the many different ways of learning that Tim talks about. Most of his languages were learned on his own or ‘in the wild’ outside of a classroom, but he also has experience with French in a formal setting. He mentions different memory strategies for vocabulary learning as well as interacting with people to practice everyday phrases and gain cultural awareness.

This chapter will explain some of the learning theories and mechanisms behind how we learn, including successful learners like Tim. These include being aware of our own learning preferences and the differences between learning something deliberately or more subconsciously. We also connect these theories to common ways of teaching language. In later chapters we focus on culture and questions of language power and access, which Tim also mentions at the end of his talk.

Let’s dive in!

References

Kline, M. (1972). Mathematical Thought From Ancient to Modern Times. Oxford University Press.