| A READER'S RESPONSE: | | | | that your "yet-to-speak anything other than goo-goo |
| "It has been documented that the older one gets the | | | | and ga-ga" child understood far more than he was |
| more difficult it becomes to learn a foreign language." | | | | letting on? |
| MY COMMENTS: | | | | A chief problem is in the phrase, "language learning." |
| Actually, there is no credible evidence to show that | | | | What most people do not realize is there is a |
| the older one becomes the more difficult it is to learn | | | | difference between language acquisition and language |
| a foreign language. This belief is almost an urban | | | | learning. Language acquisition, the ability to engage in |
| myth and is not linguistically sound. | | | | spoken fluency, involves a different area of the brain |
| It is an emotional issue that prevents adults from | | | | than does language learning. |
| trying and succeeding to learn Spanish. | | | | Language learning is what happens when you learn |
| Researchers Krashen, Long, and Scarcella showed | | | | grammar rules, syntax, and constructions. It is what |
| that, | | | | someone does when he wants to learn to become |
| "Studies comparing the rate of second language | | | | an exegete of written text. Language acquisition is |
| acquisition in children and adults have shown that | | | | the development of spoken fluency and is what |
| although children may have an advantage in achieving | | | | most of us want to do: Speak the Language! |
| native-like fluency in the long run, adults actually learn | | | | One comes before the other. Acquisition comes |
| languages more quickly than children in the early | | | | before learning. Long before you knew the |
| stages. (Krashen, Long, and Scarcella, 1979)." | | | | difference between a verb and a pronoun, you had a |
| The conclusion this study draws is adults can develop | | | | high degree of spoken fluency. |
| a working ability in the target language much faster | | | | Think of my little friend Diego. When I met him here |
| than a child can. So just where did this hideous | | | | in Guanajuato, all he could do was say words. He |
| stereotype about adults learning foreign language | | | | could not construct a sentence. He was too young. |
| originate? It came from some very old science. | | | | But, he did what we all did when we learned our first |
| There used to be a theory on "brain development" | | | | language: we listened. This is how language acquisition |
| from the 1960's that taught that there was a "crucial | | | | comes about. We have an intense period of just |
| period" an individual had before the brain lost its | | | | listening. Then we try words. Soon, we experiment |
| "plasticity," making learning a second language too | | | | with sentences while continuing to listen to everyone |
| difficult. (Lenneberg, 1967) | | | | around us until one day we can speak. |
| It was a belief that if you didn't get your second | | | | Diego, from the time he was born (and maybe even |
| language learning done before puberty, your goose | | | | in the womb) until his fresh six years he has now, all |
| was pretty well cooked. Modern studies have shown | | | | he did was hear Spanish. Non-stop bombardment of |
| though some differences between how a child and | | | | his native tongue. Never once during his young six |
| an adult learns a second language do exist, the older | | | | years did he know a part of speech. Never did |
| learner has the distinct advantage. The adult learner | | | | anyone require him to parse a verb, write a |
| of Spanish can learn the language faster because of | | | | sentence, or recite the parts of speech. He still can't |
| the following: | | | | read but is recognizing words. He has developed a |
| The adult's maturely-developed brain has the superior | | | | HIGH DEGREE of spoken fluency and still cannot read |
| ability to understand the relationship between | | | | or write a word of Spanish or tell you the parts of |
| semantics and grammar. | | | | speech. |
| The adult's brain is more mature in its ability to | | | | This is where we adults screw up. We take the |
| absorb vocabulary, grammatical structures, and to | | | | unsound, grammar-first approach and develop an |
| make more "higher order" generalizations and | | | | ability to interpret and translate written text. |
| associations. | | | | However, we can hardly string two words together |
| The adult learner's better-developed brain is better at | | | | in speech. We are taught incorrectly. We are, in |
| "putting together all the pieces" with a more | | | | traditional classes, taught using the wrong approach. |
| developed long-term memory. | | | | Just think of having the spoken fluency of a |
| The biggest obstacle for the adult is the emotional | | | | 6-year-old Mexican child! I would kill for that. And yet, |
| factor. Adults have bought into the myth that they | | | | what do we adults do? We pay for classes that |
| just cannot do it. They are also afraid of making | | | | require us to learn translation techniques and wonder |
| fools of themselves. I have often thought this is the | | | | why we spent all that money when we cannot |
| reason children seem to learn Spanish faster than | | | | speak the language? |
| adults do-they are not afraid of the embarrassment | | | | A school in Zacatecas, Mexico, uses the Krashen, |
| factor. | | | | Long, and Scarcella approach. Its textbooks utilize the |
| Children also seem to learn Spanish faster because of | | | | linguistic science I have alluded to in this article. I |
| the natural method to which they resort. They | | | | would recommend this school above all others since it |
| approach learning a foreign language in the identical | | | | is sound in its science and teaches language |
| manner they did when they learned their native | | | | acquisition first and then language learning second. |
| language. If you have children, you witnessed this | | | | Go to Google and type in: Fenix Language Institute. |
| event. Was there not a time when you just knew | | | | |