Constant review equals constant progression.
This isn’t exactly a new concept when we take the age-old adage of “practice makes perfect”, but it is something that is often neglected when learning a language.
The approach I’m going to outline is one I use for actual course material (Assimil, Linguaphone, FSI, etc.) mostly from the beginning of my language studies. Once you’ve progressed further there are other things that will probably push you along toward fluency more efficiently and for some ideas you should read the Next Step article.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch and with regard to course books, many people have the presumption that once you have “mastered” a unit you can move on and not look back. At the risk of sounding harsh… this is wrong.
I don’t believe I’ve ever read an introduction on how to use X course that didn’t paraphrase the need for review. Some publishers such as Assimil explicitly break their course into two waves; the passive and the active. Which to be honest, is an example that needs little in modification. My idea of Multiple Phases is very much akin to theirs.
Phase 1: Go through a course at a comfortable speed with no focus on producing your own structures. That is, listening to the audio and making sense of the dialogues. If I were to suggest a method for each lesson it would be to;
a) review the previous 7-14 dialogues by listening for comprehension and repeating or shadowing aloud as you see fit.
b) listen to the audio for the new lesson several times to get a feel for the rhythm.
c) read the dialogue and make sense of it.
d) listen again while reading aloud and understanding several times.
e) listen and repeat with your book closed several times.
f) shadow the audio several times.
g) listen for comprehension.
This is a method that will usually take 15-25 minutes. You are then able to listen to that particular dialogue and all older dialogues with little need for the book. You can review the audio as often as you like – the more the merrier! And don’t worry too much if it doesn’t make sense 100% of the time, you still have a way to go and your understanding will increase daily!
Phase 2: If it were an Assimil course, this would be the Active Phase and usually begins around Lesson 50 of 100. The idea is that when you reach Lesson 50, you continue with Phase 1 as usual, but also return Lesson 1 where you begin to create your own sentences.
This would look something like:
a) Phase 1, review of older material.
b) Phase 1, Lesson 50; listen, read, repeat, shadow, listen as above.
c) Phase 2, Lesson 1; read the translated material (i.e. English translation) and say the sentences in your target languages. This is the beginning of your speaking and creation of your own sentences.
d) Check your translation either by reading or by listening to the audio for the dialogue.
e) Complete the exercises in the lesson.
I also like to review the active material. By that I mean to not only to complete one dialogue per day when creating your own sentences, but also to re-create your sentences for dialogues you have previously completed. This will push your study time out by about 5 minutes; so all-up 20-30 minutes.
Phase 3: Something I’ve found that adds to my development is a third phase that operates under a similar premise to the first two.
By now you have completed Phase 1 to about the Lesson 80 mark and Phase 2 is at about the Lesson 30 mark. You are completing the translation of English sentences into your target language pretty easily, but to consolidate all of this I like to introduce the Foreign Service Institute drills. Not only will you be exposed to some new dialogues, but the drills will help to reinforce the foundations that you have been building. The only downside being that this may push your study time up another 10-15 minutes; making it 30-45 minutes.
The idea is:
a) Phase 1, review of older material.
b) Phase 1, Lesson 80; listen, read, repeat, shadow, listen as above.
c) Phase 2, review of older material.
d) Phase 2, Lesson 30; read, translate, check, exercises.
e) Phase 3, Verbal drills for Lesson 1.
f) Written drills using scriptorium method (I actually like to do this about a week after I first do the verbal drills as a further reinforcement instead of on the same day I first attempt the verbal drills.).
Through staggering your study like this you have a nice mix of new and old and there’s the attempt to keep things within your Zone of Proximal Development. Constant revision allows you to acquire the vocabulary and grammatical patterns with a modicum of effort and through having 50 dialogues of input and assimilated pronunciation practice through following the dialogues before speaking on your own, you may well sound a lot more natural. Why is this? Read the Input Hypothesis article for some ideas.
As for the other materials not outlined in the Phases above – Phrasebooks, Michel Thomas, Pimsleur, Teach Yourself and Colloquial.
I like to flick through a phrasebook whenever I have time. It can be when you’re in a queue somewhere, during the ad-breaks on TV, waiting for the kettle to boil… any time!
Michel Thomas or Pimlseur are good fun and great confidence builders for early in your language journey. I prefer to have some of Phase 1 under my belt before I pull Michel or Dr. Pimsleur out of the bag as you will already have a feel for the language as it is spoken that way and on top of that some of the Michel Thomas courses don’t have native pronunciation to model from. But of the two, I usually favour Michel Thomas over Pimsleur – personal preference only.
I actually treat Teach Yourself and Colloquial in much the same way as a phrasebook and use them whenever I have a few spare minutes; reading the dialogues, grammatical points or just some cultural notes. It all adds up and counts toward your language goals. And as I said in the Multiple Attack article, no one course holds all the answers – mix and match and find your own niche.
