Blogs

In Part 1, I began a brief history of modern language teaching, starting with the Reform Movement in Europe in the nineteenth century and pausing at...

The Audiolingual Method

The Audiolingual Method (ALM) of language instruction was derived out of strong theoretical conclusions in the field of linguistics and psychology. Through the findings of structural linguists and behavioral scientists, ALM claimed that language is a system of rule-governed structures arranged hierarchically, and that learning is a process of habit formation, where skills are learned by analogy and not analysis...

I feel it's worthwhile to establish some context for language students to the world of language teaching. A modern history of language teaching will give you an informed perspective on your own particular learning process, what your teacher is doing, and what makes for effective language teaching.

The following, therefore, is a very brief history of language teaching that emphasizes the period starting from the innovative, theoretical developments of the nineteenth century Reform Movement up to the present.

A sufficient perspective on this period of 100+ years would not exclude the background out of which the Reform Movement arose however; therefore, a cursory review of the pre-theoretical ‘Dark Ages’ of language instruction will introduce this history...

Beginners to the Japanese language don’t often realize how simple it is to pronounce.

The voicing of sounds in words follow a regular set of rules, and using them you can quickly figure out the pronunciation of a word without even having to hear it. The only time pronunciation becomes difficult is in advanced word forms, due to the quick repetition of one particular sound.

That said, let’s take a look at the basic rules for Japanese pronunciation...

Graham Stanley is an English language teacher interested in emerging Web technologies. Watch this interesting presentation he's made...

Graham mentions something called Second Life, which is a virtual 3D online world that has enormous educational potential, including language-learning.

Let’s say that you’ve just decided to start learning a new language.

Let’s also say that language is French, simply for the sake of an example. So, you head on over to the local bookstore and buy the biggest book on French you can find. It’s huge, maybe around 800 large pages, and really makes you feel that you’re about to accomplish something. Or, maybe it intimidates you simply due to its sheer size and comprehensiveness. "How can I possibly learn all that?" you wonder.

This, however, is the wrong question. The question you should be asking is...

Let’s take a look at the basics of Japanese grammar. First, and most importantly, Japanese is a Subject Object Verb language, or SOV. Conversely, English is a Subject Verb Object, or SVO language. An example of this in English is “I ate dinner.” In Japanese, however, you would say "I, dinner, ate," or...

When learning a language, or any skill for that matter, the most important rule to follow is daily study.

Maybe you’ve heard this many times, and perhaps you chose to ignore it. After all, your weekday schedule is busy and there’s no way you can fit in anything else, much less something “boring” such as studying languages. Many people would rather spend a few hours on the weekend, when they’ve got the time. Days off are relaxing, and theoretically more conducive to learning and deep thought. Plus, an entire day can be spent studying away. While this may be a great way to build a deck, it’s not really all that great for picking up a language...

A report by Mark Lindsey from 'School Scene' on Sony language-learning software being used in an American high school. The main demonstration of the technology is from a Japanese class.

The Sony software being used in this video will soon be out-of-date in the bleeding-edge world of multimedia technology, but the point on how this technology is opening up the potential for interactive computer learning is well made.

When asked to name the most difficult languages to learn, most people would rank Japanese pretty high on that list. On the surface it seems to be an intimidating language, what with its strange kanji characters, quick mode of speech, and varying levels of “politeness.” What a lot of people don’t realize is that basic Japanese is actually relatively easy, and for at least three reasons...

Are you struggling to stay motivated in your language learning endeavours?

These two videos (parts 1 and 2) present a fantastic idea for anyone who's into being entertained (who isn't?) and struggling with their motivation to learn a language...

I have noticed a surprising growth in the industry of video games devoted to learning skills. I shall be following this development and reporting on it again.