Как быстро выучить язык: занятия по методике comprehensible input
Сегодня многочисленные курсы и реклама предлагают наперебой всем желающим быстро выучить язык. Но, правда состоит в том, что большинство таких обещаний являются лишь маркетинговым ходом. Ведь невозможно освоить иностранную речь и грамматику за 3, 5, 7 дней или месяц. Однако эффективные методики существуют.
Comprehensible input – лучший способ выучить любой язык
Термин comprehensible input в буквальном переводе на русский язык звучит, как «понятный ввод». Выражение стало популярным благодаря известному лингвисту Стивену Крашен. Он провел немало лингвистических экспериментов. Результатом исследований стал вывод о том, что мы не можем выучить язык, потому, что мы должны не учить его, а приобретать (впитывать) через чтение и прослушивание речи.
Крашен понял, что можно сколько угодно изучать иностранную грамматику и пополнять словарный запас. Но, если вы не слышите речи и не читаете текстов, то вы никогда не сможете выучить язык, не то, что быстро, вы, скорее всего, не сумеете никогда понимать и свободно общаться на нем.
Как учат языки дети
Посмотрите на маленьких детей. Они еще не знают грамматики, но уже свободно говорят на родном им наречии. Но, они не посещали для этого языковые курсы! Просто они каждый день слышат речь, общаются с людьми. В результате этого они не учат, именно приобретают языковые навыки.
Мнение о том, что дети способны быстро выучить язык, в отличие от взрослых, не имеет никаких доказательств. Дело в том, что в освоении иностранной речи помогает не возраст, а именно подход, то, как мы изучаем.
Почему не эффективно обучение иностранной речи в школе
Возьмите среднестатистического российского школьника или студента. Он изучает английский много лет в школе, затем продолжает это делать в ВУЗе. Но, что мы видим в итоге? Мало кто из детей, изучавших школьную программу, говорит на иностранном языке свободно. Хотя, занимаются дети очень много лет. Но, в том, что они не достигли успеха, не их вина. Проблема состоит в неправильной системе обучения.
В школе и университетах английский язык преподается по учебникам, в которых упор делается на грамматику. Понять и выучить все эти правила получается далеко не у каждого. Ученики совершают ошибки, получают за это плохие оценки. Они теряют интерес к предмету, боятся уроков иностранного.
Но, способ изучения любого языка по грамматике делает невозможным его быстрое освоение. Знания грамматики должны быть результатом знакомства с речью, а никак не наоборот.
В чем проблема взрослых
Главная проблема взрослых людей, не знающих, как легко и быстро выучить любой язык, это логическое мышление. Они хотя понять сразу всю грамматику. Но, для ее понимания нужно не усердие, а терпение.
Например, многие иностранцы признаются в том, что изучить русскую грамматику им удалось, лишь читая и слушая русскую речь, а не заучивая теоретические правила.
Как быстро выучить язык по принципу comprehensible input
Мы уже знаем, что заниматься лучше всего по системе comprehensible input. Остается понять, как это сделать.
Для изучения любого языка (английского, французского, итальянского, корейского и т. д.) по принципу comprehensible input нужно выполнить два условия:
Слишком скучная тема видео или аудио или очень непонятная не будут захватывать все ваше внимание. Вы будете отвлекаться. Приобрести навыки иностранной речи вы сможете только тогда, когда понимаете большую часть текста. Вы не обязаны знать каждое слово. Но вы должны понимать смысл текста.
Если вы будете проводить такие занятия самостоятельно регулярно, то будете все больше и больше понимать и научитесь говорить.
Вывод
Если хотите быстро выучить язык, найдите интересную книгу в аудио формате и слушайте ее 1 час в день. Если будете делать это регулярно, то поймете, что начинаете больше понимать. Ведь вы будете слушать каждый день фразы, которые повторяются. Со временем вы начнете сами находить закономерности в грамматике. После года таких тренировок вы поймете, насколько выше стал уровень ваших знаний иностранного языка.
Comprehensible input for kids
Comprehensible input or input hypothesis is one of the main principles introduced in the theory of the second language acquisition by Stephen Krashen. Comprehensible input is when the listener understands the general idea of the message without knowing all words or grammar structures in it. Krashen states that it is only through comprehensible input that we can acquire the language. Comprehensible input doesn’t necessarily assume that the conveyed message includes words and expressions already known to the students. On the contrary, comprehensible input tries to combine new words and phrases with familiar ones to make input a bit complicated but understandable. In fact it provides enough known information for the learners to understand the message and acquire the language together with new linguistic data.
But how to make the input comprehensible for the learners? Here we offer several ideas of bringing comprehensible input into primary school.
Instruments to make input comprehensible
Gestures and mimes have always been one of the useful methods of making one’s speech more understandable. Children are usually visual learners. They remember and learn the words better and easier with the help of gestures. Hence while teaching kids use them alongside with your speech. Even if they do not know most of the words, they will understand the message conveyed through your gestures and mimes. In the following video the presenter provides some effective gestures to be applied in the ESL classroom.
Pictures can be utilized not only for introducing new words and phrases but also for making the content comprehensible. For instance, if you tell a fairy tail to your kids, use appropriate pictures and point to the important things or people while telling it. In this regard sequencing pictures turn out to be useful, too.
Check the video to find out more ways to use pictures in ESL classroom to make the message understandable.
Have story time. It goes without saying that everybody loves stories, especially kids. Moreover, stories can be found to be the best comprehensible input sources, as they provide detailed information. Nevertheless, while picking up a story, you should be careful with your choice. Make sure that the story is linguistically appropriate, which means most of the words and expressions in it are known to your students. Otherwise, because of many new words your kids may get confused.
Another thing to bear in mind is that stories may also be culturally related. These kind of stories will not be only interesting and sometimes even funny for your kids, but also they will give them an opportunity to share and introduce their personal ideas on the topic, to speak about their own culture.
Listen and draw is a perfect activity to check the understanding of your kids. To implement this activity give a clear description of a picture to your students. Then ask them to draw it. This task can also be done in pairs. Here is an example of this activity.работала
After they draw, you can show them the picture and ask them to compare it with their ones.
Sing songs and dance showing actions. While teaching a new song to your kids, show actions that express the meaning of the context. It will help your students understand and memorise the words. In the following videos you can find some good examples of action songs for kids.
Play games. There is a wide range of conversational games, such as “Conversation cubes”, “I am going on a picnic” and “Bingo”.
“Conversation cubes” is a fun icebreaker game, which also gives your students a chance to think, understand the message — the question on the cube, and then answer it. The rule is very simple — each student rolls the cube and answers the question
“I am going on a picnic” is an alphabet memory game, which can be played with at least two people. To start the game, one person says, «I’m going on a picnic and I’m bringing…» followed by something that you can eat that begins with A, such as «…apples». The second player repeats what the first person said, but adds a food that begins with B. «I’m going on a picnic and I’m bringing apples and bananas.»
“Bingo” is another interesting game that can be used as comprehensible input technique. However, there are different types and ways of playing it, which can be found in this video.
If you apply the tips mentioned above, please share the results in the comments!Comprehensible Input and Compelling Input (CI)
What is CI?
What is meant by comprehensible input in language learning? Stephen Krashen uses this term, as well as the term compelling input, to refer to the kind of language exposure we need in order to learn a language. The term CI, in language learning, can apply to both. What do they mean?
Comprehensible input is language input that can be understood by learners even when they don’t understand all the words and structures in a given text, or bit of audio they are listening to. It doesn’t have to be 100% comprehensible. It has to be mostly understandable, with the means to gain a greater level of comprehension by looking up words, reading again or listening again. It is sometimes described as being just one level above the level of the learner. According to Stephen Krashen’s theory of language acquisition, giving learners plenty of this kind of input helps them acquire language naturally, rather than learn it consciously.
Language Learning and the Input-Based Approach
I make quite a few videos in languages other than English at my Youtube channel. I am often asked to provide subtitles or a transcript for the videos I do in these languages. Regrettably, I simply don’t have time to do this.
However, these videos in Japanese, or Spanish, or Mandarin, or French, usually cover the same ground as my English videos. What’s more, these videos have subtitles in those languages, and using the LingQ browser extension, these videos can be imported into LingQ as lessons. So any learner of these languages who follows my channel, and is interested and familiar with what I have been saying, can study these videos on LingQ as lessons, read them, listen to them, look up words and phrases, listen again, and in this way this content becomes comprehensible input for learners who have a sufficient level in those languages to almost but not quite understand the first time. Comprehensible and hopefully compelling input!
I believe strongly with Stephen Krashen, that massive input of CI is the key to language acquisition. That doesn’t mean there is no need for output, for speaking and writing, nor that people needn’t look at grammar from time to time, but it means that the bulk of the learning time should be spent on listening and reading and building up vocabulary.
Why do I think this is a better way to learn languages? I have five reasons.
It works very well
Look at the best polyglots on the Internet. If you study their methods you’ll see that they generally involve a lot of reading. This is the case today and was the case 100 years or 150 years ago. Of course, today with the availability of new technology, mp3 technology and smartphones etc., listening has become as important as reading, or even more important simply because it is so much easier to do. In my own case, it’s worked for me.
When I was learning Czech, for the first eight months I only listened and read and then gradually started speaking. I stepped up my speaking just prior to going to Prague, via the Internet. When I arrived in Prague I could understand almost everything. My speaking ability, which was at a low intermediate level, quickly progressed to an intermediate level. I had acquired the vocabulary and familiarity with Czech that enabled me to activate my passive vocabulary and enjoy interacting with people in Czech. I was able to do that because I had a sound basis in the language and that sound basis comes from a lot of listening and reading, from massive exposure to CI.
So it’s effective, number one.
It’s easy
You can do it anywhere. You can do it listening in your car, washing the dishes as I do or exercising. You just have it with you, you’re waiting somewhere and you do it. So it’s very easy. Similarly with reading, particularly now. I use LingQ. I can read on my computer or iPad, looking up words and saving them and then read or listen on my iPhone. I can even do so on the lighter iPod touch which I use for listening while jogging. Everything is synced. Everything is available, portable, with me wherever I am. It’s so flexible. I don’t have to go to a classroom, with half an hour to get there, sit in the class for an hour, and then take a half an hour to come back home.
Also, in terms of effectiveness, I just wanted to mention if you’re listening or reading, you’re 100% with the language. In a classroom, half of the time you’re having to listen to other students who may not use the language as well as you do and so, to my mind, it’s much less effective than time you spend with the language.
You’re not making mistakes
A lot of people are afraid to make mistakes. If you’re forced to speak, you’ll make mistakes. You’re listening; you can’t make a mistake when you’re listening. You might misunderstand something. It might be a little fuzzy at times. You may have the wrong interpretation when there are words you don’t understand.
None of that matters. That’s part of the process and things that are unclear and fuzzy at an early stage will eventually start to become clearer. So you’re not really making mistakes, but you’re in that stage of your learning where the brain is gradually becoming more and more familiar with the language. You’re learning more and more words and, of course, things are going to be unclear to you. So that’s an advantage.
Another advantage of listening and reading is you can do things that are interesting because you can choose what you want to listen to and read. Obviously, the first month or so you’re stuck with beginner material which is often not very interesting, but I certainly encourage people to move beyond the beginner material as soon as possible to get into things of interest. I certainly find that if I find something of interest, even if there are a lot of unknown words, I’ll work hard with that text because it’s of interest to me. So you can be doing stuff that’s of interest.
In the case of my Czech learning and my Russian before that, I was able to learn so much about Czech history, the history of Central Europe, the political situation in the Czech Republic, so that when I got to Prague I had all this wonderful background. So you’re doing stuff that’s interesting and you’re learning other things besides just the language itself, which is more interesting than sitting in a classroom.
Since my experience with Russian and Czech, I have repeated this process with the following languages:
If anything, my learning has accelerated with the addition of the mini-stories to LingQ’s libraries in these languages. The mini-stores, or point of view stories with circling questions, provide so much repetition that this low intermediate content becomes comprehensible very quickly, even when I am a beginner starting from scratch. I am able to move on to more authentic, more intrinsically compelling input sooner than before. I am able to start speaking sooner than before.
Learning via an input-based approach is cheaper
You don’t have to spend much. You can go to the library. You can find CI on the Internet. You can use LingQ. You can buy or borrow language books to supplement your CI activities. You needn’t spend a lot of money, at least compared to going to a class.
It is often said that for learning using comprehensible input to be effective, the learner needs to be motivated. It also helps if the learner has the confidence to succeed. This is often the problem with inexperienced language learners who have never really become fluent in another language. They can’t visualize themselves as fluent, so they are defeated before they start. They think they’ll never get there and if you think that then you probably won’t. You have to be a positive, confident, motivated, independent learner.
If a learner is not motivated, however, in other words doesn’t have all the qualities needed to be an independent learner and to take advantage of listening, reading and input-based learning, that learner probably won’t be successful in the classroom either. A classroom can provide social benefits and feedback, but even if you’re in a classroom make sure that your main emphasis is on listening, reading and building up your vocabulary, in other words, learning from comprehensible input.
Comprehensible Input: The Key to Language-Learning Success
OUR TOP PARTNER COURSES
120hr + Full Tutor Support
10% off with ESL102021
120hr Online TEFL Course
Best Online Option!
120hr Digital TEFL Course
120hr Online TEFL Class
This post may contain affiliate links (at no extra cost to you). Please read our disclosure for more information.
Everyone Can Learn a Second Language
Language learning can be daunting. Many students have tried and failed because of outdated and boring teaching techniques. But with comprehensible input, you can change your students’ frustrations with language learning into successes. What’s better, they may even start to get more enjoyment out of learning a new language.
Stephen Krashen coined the term comprehensible input after years of observing how children learn foreign languages. The USC professor and linguist has dedicated his life to finding out how children learned a second language. As a result, his findings in the field of language acquisition continue to shape modern teaching strategies for second language learning.
From the start, Krashen seeks to put people’s mindset about the frustration of learning a new language at ease. He’s quick to point out that everybody has learned a language before, their native tongue. There’s nothing stopping anyone from doing it again. This makes the goal attainable for students who might question their foreign language learning abilities.
Krashen argues that talent has nothing to do with learning languages. Instead, everyone acquires language in the same way. It’s a natural brain activity that is the same biological and psychological experience in every human being. Those who excel at languages don’t have a biological advantage over anybody else. They simply follow this process. So, there’s hope for anyone to become fluent in a second language.
Acquiring vs. Learning
According to Krashen, there are two components to second language performance: acquiring and learning. It’s important to distinguish between the two if you want to build a lesson plan that helps your students reach fluency.
Acquiring a language means that you use your subconscious to build knowledge. This is the process children go through with their first language. Meaningful interactions and natural communication in your target language enhance their language abilities. By concentrating on the communicative act of language, students can acquire these systems intuitively.
Learning is what most people associate with language lessons. A conscious process of formal instructions, concentrating on grammar rules and vocabulary. While this approach has some benefits, outdated teaching methods limit progress. Students lack engagement and results. And over time, many students may even develop negative attitudes towards foreign language learning that reinforce the belief that they’re incapable.
While learning is a teacher-centered and deductive way of studying, language acquisition is a natural student-centered approach. It focuses on the child’s experience with the language. And he noted that, over time, the results were more effective. This is why Krashen himself favored language acquisition as a more effective approach.
Input Hypothesis
According to the Input Hypothesis, a learner improves best when the material is one step ahead of their current level. If their knowledge could be described with ‘i’, then the optimal learning level would be ‘i+1’. The materials, in short, need to be just beyond their current abilities.
Foreign language learners need to aim for that level if they want to optimize their lessons. This keeps the material engaging and challenging at the same time. Krashen also argues that the input needs to be comprehensible, or easily enough to be understood on its own. The key to language learning success is to ensure your language lessons hit that ‘i+1’ range.
It’s also important to note that comprehensible input is the part of the target language that can be understood, but the student can’t necessarily produce it yet. Context, explanation, rewording, and visual cues all help a learner understand the material. As long as the meaning of the message in the target language is understood, comprehensible input along with the Input Hypothesis helps your students progress in their language learning journey.
The Importance of Comprehensible Input
Every second language learner wants to achieve the same outcome: to speak a language fluently and comfortably. Acquiring a language through comprehensible input will help your students reach that goal much faster.
Listening is a very important part of Krashen’s theory. According to him, listening to understand before trying to speak can have many long-term benefits. In fact, young children have the same approach. They pay attention to tones, sounds, and grammatical structures before they ever begin speaking. And they only start repeating them when they’re ready.
By using repetitions, and recognizing frequent grammar structures and phrases, second language learners can benefit from the same approach. Language learning methods often fail students because they’re based on mundane and boring lessons. Approachable and engaging classes get through to learners better. No matter the subject.
It’s also important to underscore that communication is an exchange of coded messages. However, outdated language teaching techniques incorrectly focus on teaching students the code to understand the message.
A better approach is to have your students focus on the meaning of messages to break the code. That’s due to the adaptive and flexible nature of our brains. And this is what’s at the core comprehensible input. This approach combined with an increasingly difficult target level makes secondary language learning an achievable goal for everyone.
Comprehensible Input Strategies
Creating a lesson plan that includes comprehensible input can be tricky because students are so dynamic. Finding the ‘i+1’ level in students is one of the biggest challenges language teachers face. Keeping classrooms fun and engaging, yet educationally challenging is a balancing act. However, the effort will pay off in the end for your students.
Effective Strategies For Comprehensible Input in the Classroom
How to Use Comprehensible Input Effectively
Understanding the meaning of messages can happen in various ways for your students. Creating a lesson plan or learning strategy with comprehensible input maximizes the success rate of the process. Use the Input Hypothesis to your advantage by providing engaging yet challenging material for all your language learners.
Entrepreneur and Linguist, Jonty Yamisha created OptiLingo after his efforts to protect his native language, Circassian, from extinction. Using scientifically proven strategies such as Spaced Repetition and Guided Immersion, OptilLingo has helped thousands finally achieve fluency.
