ILW🚲 (INTERACTIONAL LANGUAGE WORKOUT) V0.01 DISCUSSION TOPICS
(By Ramón D. Marín)
The following are some important conclusions about language learning/teaching, given my undergraduate and graduate studies in modern languages and English teaching methodologies, my experience as an English teacher, and my almost 9 years of struggling with my English as a second language in real life situations in the United States.
"Language teachers must be willing to risk techniques, methods, or assessments that have their roots in a gut feeling, a hunch, that they are right[1]."
I am proposing a foreign language learning approach for adults in which small talk, self-teaching and spinning play the central role.
SPINNING: Technique discovered by professor José Orlando Ramos from Colegio Normal de la Presentación in La Palma (Cundinamarca, Colombia); which he used to teach himself English when he was in college. It consists of the steps described in this link: SPINNING: AN ILW🚲 (INTERACTIONAL LANGUAGE WORKOUT) TECHNIQUE. It is an excellent option, given the lack of real life situations in which the language can be learned in a more natural environment.
Before being a tool for conveying a message, a language is primarily a means for social interaction among the members of a community of speakers. This principle which is declared here is totally opposed to the communicative approach. This principle and the failing of the communicative approach to achieve results in spite of its highly valuable and true assumptions are the centerpiece of the discussion that is intended here.
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What if it was possible to create a method that proves to be able to achieve twice in half (or less) the time? The reason why most people do not learn a second language is because most methods just dont work (dont show results). Consider this: "I have tried every possible method available and I just dont learn."
People prefer planes because its the fastest way from point A to point B. Remember how long it took for humans to learn how to fly and not long before this was achieved, somebody had said that it wouldnt be achieved before 200 years.
Everybody wants to learn a second language. But this is an enterprise that is not only costly but also very time-consuming; let alone the misconception that it is difficult and only for people with special intellectual abilities. But the easier the better. Why making something difficult when it can be made easy?
A grammar oriented approach makes it hard by turning language into complicated formulas. No matter what has been said about grammar orientation and the communicative approach, most language courses and teachers turn grammar into their preferred way of teaching.
There's the need to create a self-teaching approach to language learning; one that really shows results in a short period of time.
We are confronted with the mission of finding a method that can compensate for the lack/insufficiency of real life opportunities for interaction in the target language to take place.
PROPOSED RESEARCH: Any method that proves to be able to achieve more in shorter time would, no doubt, be the most important news in the field of language teaching/learning in the last 50 years (the language learning process is unbearably slow by all methods).
The key to a method of the future lies on achieving tangible/practical/usable results in a comparatively short period of time.
PROPOSED RESEARCH: When facing a real life speaking situation, the student is going to need, most immediately, the interactive function of the language. Even at beginning stages of learning, the interactive function is what the learner mostly needs, if we consider that what the learner immediately wants is to be able to interact with others in the target language.
"Interactional Language is used to establish and define social relationships. It may include negotiations, encouragement, expressions of friendship, and the kind of "maintenance" language all of us use in group situations. The "setting, joking, and small talk" adults often do before a meeting begins is also an example[2]."
The language for big talk (opinion giving, lectures, long conversations, dissertations, book writing, etc.) should be made priority #2 when learning a second language. Of course, it ultimately depends on individual needs.
Repetition and communicativeness are by no means opposites. Because there is repetition, it does not mean there is no communicativity. Real life language makes use of sentences and phrases that are repeated once and again whose meaning is not as important as their function. Among adults, they have intentions such as breaking the ice, starting a conversation, involving somebody in a conversation, joking, etc. Between adult and child they can be intended for teaching purposes, playing, socializing, reprimanding, etc. Also when teaching their children how to speak, parents make use of a lot of repetition. If repetition can be used for a useful purpose, why labeling it as “rote learning.” It is a mistake to demonize it. There certainly is comunicativeness and meaningfulness in repetition.
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In real life, conversation is different when done in pairs or in large groups. Before the meeting starts, everything turns into joking. Only those who know how to make small talk have a say at this point. Those who do not know how to make small talk do not even dare to move their tongue. This observation applies to both second and first language learners.
The interactive function should be made centerpiece of learning a foreign language: Knowing how to make small talk gives you not only the ability to socialize and interact, but it also gives you self-confidence because when you have achieved a good mastery of this skill, you feel you really know how to speak and interact in the target language. Self-confidence has been said to be a very important intervening factor in the second language learning process.
Small talk (socialization) is done differently in every language. The easiest way to learn it is by listening and watching how it is done in real life (theres no way you can do it if you havent heard/seen others doing it). In the absence of real life situations, you can always learn from recorded materials. Eventually you are going to create your own idiolect.
Interactional language is mostly a set of sentences, language "devices" and tricks that you have at hand so you can use them when the need arises.
ILW🚲 (Interactional Language Workout) sees language learning as the acquisition of a collection of small talk "devices" to have them at hand so you can use them as the need arises, organized in a situational fashion. The portion of language that is not embraced by this description can also be acquired by the spinning technique.
By learning the interactive function of language, you not only learn the language but also the way socialization is done in L2. You incorporate both language and social skills into your everyday life.
As you learn the interactive function, you can use it in real life and improve it by interacting with others.
Knowing a sufficient portion of the interactive function since the beginning ensures that the communicative process is not interrupted before it even starts.
Big talk is comparatively easy to learn and easy to produce. Small talk is not that easy, is even more important to a language learner and has been overlooked and widely underestimated.
"Some highly sophisticated methods of language teaching have failed to accomplish the goal of communicativity in the learner by overlooking the social nature of language[3]."
Being able to actually do things with what you have learned is highly encouraging. The interactive function is the one skill that you are going to need first when using a second language. It is pure interaction in L2.
The interactive function is different at different ages and changes throughout time.
The trivial exceptions they are talking about in the quote below are what is called the interactive function. The interactive function must be made center-piece to second language learning because it is pure socialization. Socialization is undoubtedly the main reason why language exists. No matter how much of a second language you have learned, you just cannot socialize if you have not acquired the interactive function skills.
"A theory based on conditioning is hard-pressed to explain the fact that every sentence you speak or write with a few trivial exceptions is novel, never before uttered by you or anyone else![4]."
Big talk is not as attached to feelings and emotions as small talk; for this reason, it's easier to produce since the brain doesnt have to coordinate as many elements at once. That means it can be naturally learned from reading which makes the process faster. Small talk has to be paid special attention to.
PROPOSED RESEARCH: The big-talk portion of a course can appeal even more to self-learning, since big talk involves less social interaction than small talk.
PROPOSED RESEARCH: Good socialization skills go hand-in-hand with good small talk skills. Which is the result of which is a chicken and egg question.
PROPOSED RESEARCH: Being good at socialization means being good at making small talk. Having a good set of small talk devices at hand turns socialization into piece of cake; this even applies to first language speakers. Good small talk makers usually learn it from their parents, other relatives or friends, even from TV.
Mastering the interactive function is difficult even in your first language.
Some courses incorporate activities to develop the interactive function skills, but very little.
PROPOSED RESEARCH: When using the interactive function, even the pitch of the stream of language conveys meanings, feelings, and emotions. It varies from one culture to another; it might be useful to learn examples from different English speaking countries since many small talk "devices" can find meaning throughout different cultural contexts. Spinning on small talk imprints into your brain the way socialization is actually done in real life and then you easily and naturally reproduce the many samples in your everyday conversation. Even if you learn some expressions that are not in vogue anymore or that are used in regions other than where you are speaking, or expressions that have been transferred from other languages, your interlocutor is going to be understanding enough once he notices you are not talking in your first language. The idea is that you acquire the tools necessary to get you started.
Even though speaking is a creation process rather than a repetition one; the only way of producing the language with as close as possible to native proficiency is by internalizing the words and expressions, the pronunciation, the grammar, etc. The classroom cannot provide enough realistic communicative opportunities for the internalization of so many aspects that are necessary for effective communication. Spinning does the trick for you.
Repetition is necessary for learning to take place. Take any kind of learning and see that one only event of something is not enough for the learning to take place. Usually in the language classroom, there are very few oportunities for a certain phrase, expression, pattern or word to be repeated/recycled to ensure internalization.
Besides the basic principles of communicative language learning (the communication principle, the task principle and the meaningfulness principle)[6], ILW🚲 (Interactional Language Workout) proposes three more principles:
The Interrelation Principle: The interrelation principle means that the way in which internalization takes place is by linking meaning, significant, and referent by all possible means, as many times as necessary.
PROPOSED RESEARCH: The Sufficiency Principle: The sufficiency principle means that, most times, its necessary to interrelate significant, meaning and referent several times for the brain to be able to incorporate the forms, functions and meanings into their structures (it has been established that about n number of times should be enough for most learners). If the experience is intense enough, one only interrelation can be enough. This principle compensates for the lack of real life situations in most foreign language learning situations.
The Assertion Principle: The assertion principle says that the more the interrelation takes place, the better the learning process.
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While a microchip has not been invented that can be put into somebody's brain with a good amount of the tools needed for communicating in a language, ILW🚲 can fulfill that function: without any worry about learning by heart (and recalling) the many syntax, morphology, pronunciation, and even sociolinguistics rules and their exceptions, all of a sudden, you realize that the forms, functions, and meanings are being imprinted in your brain, silently.
PROPOSED RESEARCH: Learning with movies and video or audio recordings in a systematic way (by the spinning technique) can compensate for the lack of real life situations and be as effective in imprinting the forms, functions, and meanings on the brain.
The need for repetition in the learning process is more obvious when it comes to the interactive function, since the many sentences and expressions, that comprise this important part of language, need to be learned by heart; especially when learning a second language.
In regular language learning contexts a good amount of the meaningfulness has to be found in motivation; because most communication in formal language instruction is highly unnatural.
Audio and video recordings are usually underused, disregarding their real potential.
PROPOSED RESEARCH: In adult language learning, since every person pronounces differently (a sound is never pronounced exactly the same twice), then watching in writing what you listen to (after you have listened) is very helpful to learn the standard forms, as a point of reference.
PROPOSED RESEARCH: It seems that adults learn easier if the stream of discourse is broken down into words that they can see besides of hear. Visual (written) images of the words seem to be useful in speeding up internalization/memorization.
- In second language learning, listening to or producing a pattern a couple of times is not enough. It is way a more effective method to combine listening, reading, producing and writing a pattern a good amount of times. By doing so, you get to internalize the grammar (morphology and syntaxs mechanisms), vocabulary, pronunciation, and understanding (listening). As long as the learning takes place, it is legitimate to use whatever resource you can take hold of to achieve it. Spinning does the trick.
PROPOSED RESEARCH: Seeing the transcript or translation while you are listening (e.g.: TV. with captions) interferes with learning. Both processes (reading and listening) should be carried out separately. Seeing the words written in the way they are pronounced is harmful to the learning process also (e.g.: some courses available in the market provide as "help" the pronunciation of the words in regular letters).
PROPOSED RESEARCH: Meaningfulness can still be found in ILW🚲 in as much as it is found in a classroom situation. It can also be found in motivation thanks to the fact that the learner sees the learning is actually taking place at a pace much faster than in a classroom situation.
Nobody can claim that there is no communicativeness and meaningfulness in reading and listening.
PROPOSED RESEARCH: A good number of hours working systematically with a bunch of videos/recordings. vs. the same number of hours in a regular classroom course.
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Brain Training: If they are doing it, why can we not? https://www.cognifit.com/.
This is a proposed way to present ILW🚲:
We are introducing ILW🚲 (Interactional Language Workout) V*.*: a gymnasium to build the linguistic and sociolinguistic structures that make up language. We are also introducing the Personal Interactivity Machine (PIM). PIM is a group of techniques and elements that combined turn into an authentic gym at home. When you exercise PIM a deep impression is produced silently in your brain of the forms, functions, meanings, and tools indispensable to achieve an excellent performance in all the activities that demand a high mastery of your socialization skills in the language of your choice. The miracle is done by you (with your effort and dedication) and ILW🚲 V*.* as a team. ILW🚲 achieves in hours what would take long years if you were doing it, at an astronomical cost, in a total immersion environment.
The engine that imprints the forms and functions in your brain is the exercise of PIM, producing the interrelation significant – meaning, (simultaneously through as many senses as possible) as many times as necessary. If the significant is used/manipulated/produced in disconnection from the meaning, there is no assimilation. The child listens to the sounds (significant) and gets (immediately, whether he/she wants it or not) the meanings. The whether he wants it or not part is important since even if the interaction is not welcome, the impression in the brain is produced. When you exercise PIM there is always willingness, which strengthens the assimilation process.
The achievements obtained by exercising PIM are much higher than those in the classroom and even (in terms of speed) than those of total immersion.
The ALM did not work because in the classroom there are no sufficient opportunities for the interrelation significant – meaning to take place. The ALM was a total dissociation from meaning.
"It is common to observe children and conclude that they practice language constantly, especially in the early stages of single-word and two-word utterances[5]."
As a self-learning approach, ILW🚲 emphasizes the mastery of the language forms, functions, and meanings. Oral production and communication will spring up naturally as need arises.
PROPOSED RESEARCH: The effectiveness of ILW🚲 surpasses the effectiveness of a classroom in imprinting the forms, functions, and meanings on the brain.
PROPOSED CASE STUDY: A 23 year old college student who devoted himself to learn English by the spinning method. He used all kinds of recorded materials that he could put a hand on. It was back in 1989 and the impressions caused on his brain (in terms of the perfection of his learning) are such that his English is still excellent today, in spite of not having been to an English speaking country ever.
PROPOSED LITERATURE REVIEW: Many people want to learn a second language by self-learning but once they start, they realize that learning does not take place. They do not know they are using the wrong approach. It is all the methods fault: most methods just do not work. There is still no language learning method that can achieve complete fast successfulness.
PROPOSED RESEARCH: When it comes to language learning, self-teaching is, by far, faster and more effective than a classroom, especially if combined with conversation sessions (see point # 50).
When you are really in a rush, learning a second language in a classroom is the wrong approach if we consider that self-teaching is more effective. Even immersion in a natural target language environment is not enough unless you devote at least half of the time to studying the language.
Practice of the language presented is not enough in classroom courses to achieve even a minimal amount of assimilation.
PROPOSED RESEARCH: Even though adults are deductive learners, still inductive language-learning is by far more effective. A deductive approach to language learning is, in most cases, the wrong approach unless you're preparing for a traditional grammar-oriented test.
PROPOSED LITERATURE REVIEW: Children are inductive learners, adults are deductive.
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PROPOSED LITERATURE REVIEW: The role of grammar is overemphasized by most teachers and even approaches. Grammar is important but by learning grammar, the learner does not learn how to communicate, especially when it comes to speaking. Although learning grammar helps with answering written tests, traditional grammar-oriented courses achieve very little when it comes to the speaking and listening skills.
A language is not acquired deductibly, or in a strict grammatical sequence. Therefore, in language training, grammar can be presented in a separate section with references to it when necessary. The learner is going to resort and get interested in the matter as training goes.
"When Berlitz talks about 'natural laws' in the learning process, he adds up to what had already been said by Pestalozzi that the child, when learning his/her first language, does not learn grammar, nor rules, nor nothing like that and still he is able to speak a language. Besides, his/her learning is safer and more efficient[7]."
PROPOSED LITERATURE REVIEW: In large language groups, communicative practice is very unlikely to happen. Most students (especially the youngest) feel embarrassed or bored when participating in practice/speaking exercises, especially because those classroom acts of speech are by no means natural.
Thinking in the language is nothing but knowing how each idea is expressed in the target language. That can only be achieved when you have learned a sufficient amount of the expressions that make up the language. Reading in the language that you are learning accustoms the student to thinking in the language; because as you are reading you are getting the meanings and not the corresponding equivalents of your mother tongue.
"The habit of thinking in the language that you are learning is a main objective. In fact, once you have achieved that, you can already say that you have achieved a complete mastery of that language. But it is an objective which is difficult to achieve and very few do[8]."
PROPOSED RESEARCH: Many language teachers would agree that the communicative approach looks great on paper but many of its fundamental tenets prove to be utopian/idealistic when put into practice. The characteristic that identifies it mainly (in the communicative classroom students ultimately have to use the language productively and receptively in unrehearsed contexts) is almost impracticable in an EFL context. However, we have to recognize that it is a very important language teaching advancement and that its principles are valid, even though many are impracticable.
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Communicativeness implies a real situation, which is something almost unachievable in a classroom setting. A classroom language learning situation does not quite mean communicativeness.
PROPOSED LITERATURE REVIEW: Criticism to the communicative approach.
PROPOSED RESEARCH: Error correction should be done systematically (take one kind of mistake during a period of time and then another kind).
PROPOSED LITERATURE REVIEW: When learning a second language, less than 7 hours of study in a week is almost a waste of time. In matters of language learning, the more intense, the more effective.
The complexity of the process of learning a second language is such that, after many hours of learning, the student finds himself still knowing very little and finding very little use for what he knows; this emphasized by not knowing the interactive function part to be able to interact with others.
Learning a language has substantial differences with learning other areas.
First language acquisition is a different process from learning a foreign language.
"The child is acquiring language and a concrete language.
The adult has a capacity for language well or sufficiently developed. He also has a first language acquired already.
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The child has many hours to learn, days, months, years...
The adult is in search of time economy, to learn the highest amount in the shortest time.
The child is immersed in the linguistic environment that he is learning in.
The adult is not, unless he is living in a foreign country where the target language is spoken.
The child is not conditioned by another system of communication.
The adult is. Besides, linguistic habits count and interfere with each other.
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The child acquires throughout the years his/her abstraction capacity.
The adult has already walked those steps. As a consequence the meaning that grammatical rules have for the child and for the adult is different[9]."
PROPOSED RESEARCH: Adults learn a second language easier when reading is involved.
ILW🚲 might be accused of being a reviving of the audio-lingual method, but what matters is whether it works or not.
The role of materials is to fulfill the needs of social interaction, and mastery of the forms, functions, and meanings.
ILW🚲 lends itself to the purpose of using authentic material instead of graded.
Social interaction activities can be implemented whether online or personally that include conversation and discussion sessions, dialogues and role plays, simulations, debates...
"Cinema, music and literature are rich and motivating materials, if we manage to know how to select and to present content in such a way that it will both challenge and motivate them[10]."
Chat websites should be implemented on the Internet in order to encourage the learning and practice of the small talk skills.
ILW🚲 is compatible with a functional-notional syllabus, but it might be more of the situational method style (by that meaning the way in which the contents should be organized).
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Possible ideas for complementary exercises:
VOCABULARY AND GENERAL MEANINGCheck unfamiliar content or words.
Check idioms.
Check clarity.
Check tenses.
Check use of structures.
Check word order.
Check sentence length and complexity.
Check time references.
Check the way ideas are linked.
Check the way ideas are explained.
Check the number of ideas in the story.
In the alpha stage of ILW🚲, only those learners with a high degree of motivation and perseverance should get involved in the program so we can show what the method can do.
With ILW🚲 you not only learn English but you also learn to socialize and communicate in the language of your choice.
In ILW🚲 language contents should be selected with a situational approach in mind. It might be argued that collecting enough samples of the interactive function would require a titanic effort. It is something that would have to be dealt with by designing a way for collecting as many samples as possible, asking for help from the public in general; maybe Wikipedia style or the like.
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The learners' native language has an important role in understanding the materials presented, especially at the beginning of the course. Beginners have to resort to translation in order to ensure understanding. In ILW🚲 the first level should present its contents translated; attending to the principle that why making something difficult when it can be made easy. From the second level on, ILW🚲 should present a glossary in every lesson, enough to make things easier for the learner. At advanced stages, that task might be left to the learner.
Phonetics can also be included separately so the student does not see the language learning process as something difficult.
Recyclability also has its place in ILW🚲.
ILW🚲 is not rote learning since all contents are contextualized, beginning by the situational organization of them.
