I have followed two language courses throughout high school and college: Italian and French. I took French in high school and enjoyed it, especially since the lessons were structured and comprehensible. However, at times they were also stressful because of the difficulty of the other courses I was taking, which made it difficult to “find” time to study. I will say, however, that during this period I did not have an efficient idea of how to study, manage my time, or reflect on my goals or mistakes. Something that I much preferred to a college setting with French is that the emphasis on communication between partners was stressed more, with more activities to develop vital listening and speaking skills. It is difficult remembering much else of French class as the last class I followed was about 3-4 years ago, but I do remember very much enjoying the process of learning a different language and the culture attached to it.
With Italian, I am finding it easier to develop specific goals and strategies in how to improve with the language. For example, I exposed myself to efficient study strategies like spaced repetition, dual coding, and recall methods that have made it easier to memorize vocab and understand how effective language learning takes place. I also appreciate the emphasis my Italian courses have on immersing oneself in the language, pushing students to read, write, listen, and speak in Italian while also engaging authentic sources to further one’s studies. One critique I would give to language courses at Richmond specifically, however, is the way in which professors encourage students to develop goals around language, because they often never do. I have thus had to determine my own goals, such as how Italian relates to my academic and personal interests, to promote a sense of intrinsic motivation that allows me to study the language despite the frustration I might experience with it. Developing goals is something I think will help continue with the language learning process, and I am glad that the articles we read emphasized this point.
Based on the Learning Styles Survey, the Multiple Intelligence Survey, and the Fire Model, it seems that I am a hands-on learner who appreciates “factual” learning. I enjoy very much learning from examples and examining what makes them correct. I also find that I am able to correct my mistakes easier when I can review from something concrete rather than thinking about why the general idea is correct. I will say, however, that I don’t entirely trust these surveys considering the pedagogical debate surrounding learning styles and whether promoting them is a detriment to the many ways a student can engage in self-directed study. Although, I am willing to drop this practical bias to determine if adopting some of the study methods they provided, like memorizing things through mnemonics, journaling, and speaking aloud may help in improving my learning.
Based on these learning styles, things like journaling (perhaps reflecting on the topics that I learned or the mistakes I made) would aid in self-directed language study. Additionally, gathering concrete examples when it comes to grammar rules in order to check for accuracy and develop my own problems could help in my comprehension of the ideas attached to these rules. Reading and writing activities like transcribing and identifying unfamiliar words could help build my vocabulary and improve my ability to interpret texts. Tips that Benny Lewis offered in his articles like learning cognates and immersing myself virtually in unconventional ways like changing my computer’s setting to my target language or utilizing online textbooks and websites that offer authentic sources (for free) may prove to be useful. Setting SMART goals is also another practical aid since it would better identify my own intrinsic motivation for learning languages. And, challenging myself to speak the language everyday might also help in making me more comfortable with making mistakes when communicating with people and understanding that those mistakes are an opportunity to learn.
I think a good place to start in expanding my language learning activities is to choose one of the aforementioned strategies in respect to the four key areas of language study: reading, writing, speaking, and listening. For example, engaging with texts that correspond to my proficiency level would help introduce appropriate vocabulary that will help me to continue my learning and eventually move on to harder material. Likewise, writing in my target language would encourage me to better understand the grammatical structures of the language and realize the mistakes that I am making (a good activity could be journaling in my target language and perhaps asking my language partner to review it). For speaking, talking with a teacher on italki would vastly improve my ability to engage in conversations across different areas so that when it comes time to engage in organic, unplanned conversation, I am able to identify how and in what manner to speak. Lastly, transcribing audio, listening to podcasts, watching films in my target language, and listening to other materials would force me to try to make sense of the words and phrases that I am hearing. I am hesitant to try some of these methods as they stray from the conventional study methods that many pedagogists promote, but I am willing to try them based on the results of the surveys and the success that Benny Lewis has had in learning multiple languages.
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