Should I practice only after I feel sure about my language skills?
How our schooling fosters bad communication behavior
The question whether I should practice only after feeling
sure about my language skills reflects the effect of having been at school for years.
And at school, we have also learned many unhealthy and
unproductive attitudes and communication patterns.
Let me explain.
In most school systems, your main goal is to get good
grades. And, even in so-called reformed schools, you are still expecting a
positive evaluation from your teacher – if not in grades, then in favorable
words.
During basically all classes, except physical education,
your grades depend, to a considerable extent, on how you communicate with your
teacher. You need to impress the teacher with a flawless, quick and
intellectual manner of speaking. This happens also when you are speaking with
other students in class; you are still thinking about what the teacher is
thinking about your role in the group discussion.
The logical consequence is that before opening your mouth
you are expected t be confident about what you want to say, and how to express
it, so you can avoid embarrassment or bad grades.
What would a healthy attitude towards practicing foreign
languages be?
As an adult, if you want to become fluent in foreign
languages, you need to treat all speaking situations as training situations.
That is, the goal is not good grades, but gradually becoming more efficient in
accommodating your speech to the needs of a concrete situation or person in
front of you.
Now, if you are focusing on the needs of the other person,
you don’t need to worry to much about the imperfections of your grammar. In
most interactions, the other person would like you to assist her in solving a
problem. So, if you can understand the other’s problem and if you can
contribute in its solution, the other person will be very satisfied with how
you speak. Even if you speak with lots of mistakes. On the contrary, if the
other person has to swallow your never-ending stream of well-constructed and
perfectly pronounced sentences, the outcome will be negative.
What are the critical elements your practice of a foreign
language should contain?
Here are the five elements your daily practice should
contain. Think of it as an upward spiral, with 5 steps in each round.
1.
You need to produce spontaneous speech and
record it on audio or video.
2.
You need to detect at least one mistake you are
making; ideally, a systematic mistake.
3.
You should analyze why you make this mistake.
Maybe you have learned a wrong grammar rule, or there is an interference from your
native language – you try to use grammar structures from your native language
and apply them to the foreign language.
4.
Then, you should make specific, targeted
exercises to remediate the most important mistake
5.
At the end of the day, you should listen again
to recordings of previous days, weeks and months and to evaluate whether you
have made progress.
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Gerhard Ohrband is a psychologist, book author and language teacher from Hamburg/Germany. Starting as a shy student, he currently speaks over 21 languages and assists business executives and companies in developing better international communication skills.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/gerhardohrband/
Want to get rid of insecurity and bad feelings regarding the
foreign language(s) you have already started to learn? Want to learn a new
language, without going through various levels of standard courses? You feel
you are making no progress?
Go to Amazon and grab a copy of my classic book ”The GO
Method – breaking barriers to language learning”.
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