The Huffington Post – Steve Kaufmann
“Good language learners notice what is happening in a language. They notice the sounds, the structure and the vocabulary of the language. They notice as they listen and read. They notice when they use the language. How can we train ourselves in the ability to notice in order to become good language learners? Language teaching methods too often try to force learners to notice based on explanations of grammar, drills, and other exercises and class activities. I find these approaches intrusive and stressful. I do not easily understand many of the explanations, find it difficult to remember rules and tables, and do not like to have to reproduce all of this in drills, tests, or “role-playing” or “task-based” exercises imposed in class.”(more)