Foreign Languages
Strategies For Learning A Second Language
Issue: How can I be an active learner with the language I am studying this semester?
Suggestions:
Find opportunities for involvement with the language.
Be aware of your learning style and use this information to facilitate your learning
Look for a connection between what you do and the results you get.
Exchange ideas with others about learning language.
Issue: How can I organize my language learning?
Suggestions:
Knowing your purpose will help you make decisions about what is right for you to do. Ask yourself this question: What do I want to learn? Consider areas such as vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, punctuation, reading, writing, speaking, listening, culture, etc.
Understanding how learning occurs will help you make decisions about how to use your time efficiently and effectively. Ask yourself this question: How can I organize my studying so that I can achieve my goals?
Consider:
Language is learned in small bits.
Learning must be continuous; establishing a regular schedule and sticking to it will give your learning a chance to sink in.
Distributed practice has a greater impact on language learning than lengthy study sessions.
All hours of the day are not equal; choose to study at times when your mind can be receptive to learning.
Issue: What strategies can I use for studying?
Suggestions:
Since people learn in different ways, it’s important that you experiment with different options and discover what works best for you. Once you identify strategies that work well, continue to use them; discard strategies that are ineffective for you.
1. Avoid over-reliance on the dictionary; let the context help you.
Pay attention to the relationships between individual words.
Use phrase or sentence context to derive meaning.
Use conversational context to derive meaning.
2. Learn to make intelligent guesses.
Look for the big picture.
Focus on the important parts.
Use probabilities to help you guess about missing pieces
Assume that what a person is saying is directly related to the experience under discussion.
3. Learn gestalts.
Memorize idioms, expressions, proverbs, etc. Often such phrases can’t be analyzed and must be used as self-contained wholes.
Use expressions from textbook dialogues. Not only do these dialogues provide language for real-life situations, but also they provide patterns for constructing your own conversation.
Learn formalized routines such as phrases for beginning and ending conversations, expressions that show you are paying attention, or ways to ask for help.
4. Aid your memory by using mnemonic devices to organize individual items into patterns. Consider such tools as:
Rhyming
Alliteration
Word associations
Antonyms
Synonyms
Classes of words
5. When learning vocabulary, experiment with several options:
Make two columns on your paper, one for the new vocabulary word and the other for its translation. Study the list from beginning to end, and then study it backwards.
Put the words and their definitions in isolation; then study them in the context of sentences.
Say the words aloud as you study them.
Write the words over and over again.
Tape record the words and their definitions; then listen to the tapes several times.
Underline with a colored pencil the words that cause you the most trouble so that you can give them extra attention.
Group words by subject matter - for example, furniture, professions, dairy products - and study them together. Use a highlighter to color-code different categories.
Associate words with pictures or with similar-sounding words in your native language.
Associate words with situations - for example, medicines with illnesses.
6. When studying pronunciation, experiment with these options:
Listen carefully and repeat aloud after your teacher or a native speaker on tape or in real life.
Repeat silently to yourself.
Tape record yourself and compare your own pronunciation with that of a native speaker.
Ask native speakers how a specific sound is formed and watch when they speak. Then go home and practice in front of a mirror.
Practice a sound separately at first; then use it progressively in words and sentences.
7. When learning grammar, note whether you retain a rule better when you do specially designed exercises or when you are required to communicate a message in speaking or writing. Determine which exercises seem to help you most: translations, mechanical drills, answering questions, etc. Also note whether you find written or oral exercises more helpful and whether you retain a rule better when it is given to you before practice or when you deduce your own rule.
Issue: How can a positive approach influence my success with learning a second language?
Suggestions:
Since success breeds success, it’s important that your approach to studying your new language is one that works for you rather than against you. Many students find that motivation (and energy) to study a new language increases if you can:
Learn to tolerate your moment(s) of ignorance.
Have the courage to be a fool.
Make your errors work.
Use your linguistic knowledge.
Find ways to have fun with the language.
Bibliography: Many of the strategies listed in this handout are discussed in How To Be A More Successful Language Learner by Joan Rubin & Irene Thompson.