In several consecutive articles, we will try to reveal the essence of effective foreign language study. There is a lot of talk about teachers, teaching methods and the environment where it is taught. Unfortunately, we cannot expect to find the best method or the best foreign language teacher without our efforts. We have to rely only on our own strength. Something for something.
All those who set out to study a foreign language should first of all realize what their goal is, what they want to achieve with their studies. For some, it is enough if they know their way around their field, another wants to be ready when traveling abroad, another wants to make a living as an interpreter or translator. Although their goals are diametrically opposed, they all want to learn to read, write, speak and understand a foreign language. Common to all is mastering the basics – the trunk of the tree, which then branches and everyone has the opportunity to choose their goal – their way to the top of the tree.
The goal is the most important thing that we have to set at the beginning of studying a foreign language. For example: An English lecturer (native speaker) from Great Britain came to the introductory English lesson for beginners. During the discussion, he asked one of the students what he would like to achieve after a year of studying the English language. “I’d like to have a good understanding of CNN news after a year”. The lecturer replied: “I would like to know that too.” Understanding the news is a very difficult goal. The English-speaking announcer speaks quite quickly, does not repeat or paraphrase anything. If a native speaks a foreign language, he finds ten different verbal expressions for his thought and uses those for which his vocabulary is sufficient in his speech. He can think about the matter, ask for help from the listener, etc. He can even use a dictionary when writing. Basic rules that can help us orientate where we are in achieving our goal – our treetop view of our level of knowledge of a foreign language:
However, the real goals that some students set for themselves can be very different from the four basic skills (I remind you – reading, writing, speaking and understanding), e.g.:
Perhaps these goals are less noble, but people have a right to them. Moreover, if there weren’t many “repeat beginners” or if 9 out of 10 people didn’t end their foreign language studies at a much lower level than they initially set out to do, language teachers would slowly have no one to teach. Next time we’ll talk about the main points of foreign language studies.