Krashen and language acquisition

http://www.lingq.com/

Stephen Krashen make more sense than a library of books on language acquisition and ESL teaching methodology. LingQ follows Krashen's precepts with a few different features.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• foreign language
• polyglot
• hyperpolyglot
• multilingual
• grammar
• pimsleur
• rosetta stone
• tower of babel
• langues
• learn English online
• learn French
• learn Spanish online
• learn Chinese online

[tlovehater]

So my question to you Steven is, forget about the accent, is it possible to learn perfect grammar?? I don't care about having an accent, I care about the grammar, I want to know if I'll ever learn the grammar 100% and I'll be able to lead a normal life, I can cope with not having a natural accent. I see people that have been speaking english for like 20 years and still make mistakes, it's very offputting, it's like embarrassing, to see that that's where I'm going to end up

[lingosteve]

@tlovehater Possible but not likely. I do not strive for perfection but just constant improvement.

[tlovehater]

@lingosteve Then how do you explain Linus Torvalds, Joseph Conrad or Nouriel Roubini??

[lingosteve]

@tlovehater Some do achieve native like ability in writing and even speaking. but these are few, and I do not consider it a realistic goal, although something to strive for.

[pstandlee]

Hate to burst your bubble, but almost all of Krashen's Five Hypotheses a.k.a. MANIA (Monitor, Acquisition, Natural Order, Input, and Affective filter) have been largely and systematically refuted in Second Language Acquisition research. In the end Krashen's hypothesis were not sufficient to describe language acquisition and studies show that learning does take place, output is important if nor crucial, and input (comprehension) is not sufficient to measure proficiency. Read Swain, Ellis, Long...

[lingosteve]

@pstandlee Different hypotheses, different research conclusions, no refutation, and the controversy continues. I have read Swain and Ellis, and find that Krashen rings 80% true, and truer than most of what the rest of the "SLA community" has to say. Read my blog post on the subject today at The Linguist on Language.

[lingosteve]

@thedoorisunlocked no need to be so intolerant. Yes you need to work, but it is useful to work in an effective way. This, for me and many people, means a lot of listening reading and staying away from traditional instructional methods and classrooms.

[EnglishTeacherFred]

@pstandlee How many of those who supposedly refuted Krashen, have a stake in the status quo (consciously or unconsciously)? I taught English for about 7 years and it sucked. I started using Krashen's ideas a few years ago in my classroom and it was like night and day. Maybe you're one of those kinds of people who need a scientific study to 'prove' to you that an organic orange tastes better than an non-organic orange? Krashen is da bomb, no matter what the supposed 'experts' say.

[VanXIInX]

Ich werden nicht schreiben um die du.

[VanXIInX]

Ich kann diese video setzen in meine video.

[VanXIInX]

There are victorys of spirit and soul, sometimes even when you lose you win!

[ignac27]

Wie lange brauchs du eine Sprache zu erlernen!1 2 oder 3 Jahre!????

[MissLadyboy007]

I have a good memory for verbs and I can conjugate verbs very easily including obscure verbs. I don't mention this to boast it is just the way my mind works. However, I do agree that vocabulary is MORE important that grammar. I have studied Italian on and off for some time and while I am a master of all the tenses. I can only string together a 4 or 5 word sentence because my vocabulary is so limited. Learning nouns and adjectives is the best way to start increasing your vocabulary.

[zzukizzz]

@tlovehater , what about those people who speak local dialects (which are sometimes very different from the standard variety of the country), but learn to speak the impeccable standard pronunciation when the need arises. Also, try and watch Al Jazeera English some day. Most journalists and news presenters working there are non-native speakers of English and I believe many of them grew up not in the UK. However, all of them speak with perfect British pronunciation. Everything is possible!

[Aeux]

@tlovehater you already have a good level of english. if you are dead-set on getting "perfect" or native-level grammar, I'm sure you can do it provided you put forth the necessary effort. a good way would be to read some novels, and while reading pay special attention to how sentences are worded. read a novel per week or month, and you'll find that after 1-3 years you won't be making anymore grammar errors or at least you'll be making them with the same frequency as a native speaker would

[EnglishTeacherFred]

@pstandlee How many of those who supposedly refuted Krashen, have a stake in the status quo (consciously or unconsciously)? I taught English for about 7 years and it sucked, then I started using Krashen's ideas a few years ago in my classroom and it was like night and day. Maybe you're one of those kinds of people who need a scientific study to 'prove' to you that an organic orange tastes better than an non-organic orange? Krashen is da bomb, no matter what the supposed 'experts' say.