The Role of Interaction to Acquire a Second Language

The Role of Interaction to Acquire a Second Language

In our previous article we described a typical scenario that most adult second language learners face today. They want to master a language and they want to do it fast. After some brief research on the Internet, they decide to invest a huge amount of money on the latest "failure-proof" Spanish course supposedly created by experts that made so many people speak overnight! (One wonders where these speakers are!) After working hard watching videos and doing grammar and vocabulary exercises time and again, they come to the conclusion that, although they may have learned lots of vocabulary and phrases, if they had to engage in a real conversation with a real native speaker of the language, they would be in deep trouble.

I am sure that many of you will feel identified with this situation and unfortunately, this is a common scenario nowadays. Adult learners are usually lured by the mere thought of learning Spanish (or any other language!) without any kind of physical boundaries or time constraints. The idea of learning a language at any time and in the comfort of their living rooms, bedrooms or even their bathrooms sounds appealing to them. Time or place are not that important, they say. Why working with a teacher if you have everything you need inside one little CD or DVD? There so many videos there, native speaker voices, vocabulary drills, audio exercises, pronunciation practice and so on and so forth that the idea of having an instructor to actually "teach" you anything seems to be a thing of the past.

However, no matter how much time, money, and effort you could put into making this program work for them, soon enough you will be confronted with the harsh fact:

Fact #1

You cannot learn a language without interaction.

Empirical research in First Language Acquisition and Second Language Acquisition clearly shows that without interaction, language acquisition cannot take place. Clear and simple, right? Leading linguists and neurolinguists specializing in language acquisition agree on this: interaction with another human being is essential to acquire a language. If you did your homework and read the articles I suggested last week, you may have a clearer picture in this respect now. The following passage is a quotation from an article published by TIME magazine on January 8th, 2006 entitled "Want a Brainer Baby?," based on studies carried out by Patricia Kuhl, PhD. Dr. Patricia K. Kuhl is a Co-Director of the University of Washington Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences. Her research focuses on language acquisition and language processing by the brain.

" CDs and DVDs designed to teach a baby Spanish or Chinese are also problematic. Patricia Kuhl, who studies acquisition at the University of Washington, conducted an experiment comparing the effects of Chinese audio recordings for children and a Chinese-speaking human. She had a native Mandarin speaker play with a group of babies while speaking Chinese for 12 sessions of 25 minutes each over a four-week period. Later she tested the babies and was able to demonstrate that they recognized Mandarin sounds. But when she repeated the experiment with three control groups - one set of babies that saw the Chinese speaker play with babies on video, another that listened to an audio recording of the Chinese woman playing and a third that had no exposure to the Chinese speaker - none seem to perceive Mandarin sounds. Apparently, the presence of a living, breathing human was essential. There's a lesson there for any parent who wants to encourage early learning. Most experts agree that what matters most is not what toy the baby plays with, but the ways in which you interact with your child.(...) But the good news is none of this costs any money. Babies prefer humans over anything inanimate.

One Key difference between human interaction and even the most sophisticated educational tool is that interpersonal exchanges engage all the senses - sight, sound, smell, taste and, very important, touch."

What are the implications of Dr Kuhl's research for you, a student interested in acquiring a second language? Even though her research is based on first language acquisition AND in babies, and although there are some differences between first and second language acquisition as well as child and adult language acquisition, a fact remains the same:

In order to acquire a language you need someone to interact with!

This raises too many questions about the effectiveness of those so called "failiure-proof" language programs on DVD or CD roms, aimed at replacing the teacher or even any contact with the real Spanish world. Why? Because even if they were the best materials that money can buy, there is something they cannot provide you with:

INTERACTION

Many say they are interactive, just because you have to do something yourself for the computer to continue or assess you. But is that really interaction? Not in the least. No program at present has the capability of following even a basic conversation with anyone, either native or non-native speaker. They can just process simple responses and offer no real sample or feedback on how the language is used in the real world. Those materials could be considered, in the best of cases, good supplements to a language course given by a real human being. However, stating that they are the "ultimate solution" or "the only tool you will even need" or even stating that they "Immere you completely in your new language so you'll learn quickly and retain what you learn" is downright false.

Dr Kuhl's findings go in line with those of Stephen Krashen's, probably the most authoritative word in the field of Second Language Acquisition. Stephen Krashen (University of Southern California) is an expert in the field of linguistics, specializing in theories of language acquisition and development. Much of his recent research has involved the study of non-English and bilingual language acquisition.

After extensive research on second language acquisition, he came to the following conclusions:

"Language acquisition does not require extensive use of conscious grammatical rules, and does not require tedious drill."

What do most language courses offer almost exclusively? Grammatical rules, and LOTS of drilling (and when I say LOTS I mean it!)

"Acquisition requires meaningful interaction in the target language - natural communication - in which speakers are concerned not with the form of their utterances but with the messages they are conveying and understanding."

What do ALL courses on DVD and CD rom offer? A total focus on the form of the utterances. How you say something is more important for them than the context in which it is said.

What don't those courses offer? Meaningful communication. You cannot communicate with anyone simply because there is no one there for you! You are just talking to some language software. Is that real immersion in the language? Would you consider the main focus is to get students conveying meaning and understanding?

"The best methods are therefore those that supply 'comprehensible input' in low anxiety situations, containing messages that students really want to hear. These methods do not force early production in the second language, but allow students to produce when they are 'ready', recognizing that improvement comes from supplying communicative and comprehensible input, and not from forcing and correcting production."

Traditional courses on DVD and CD Rom FORCE students to produce from the very first contact they have with the new language. There is only ONE and NOT two or three answers. Communication is not the focus. It is form. Does this seem to go in line with these empirical findings on how languages are acquired? Definitely not!

"In the real world, conversations with sympathetic native speakers who are willing to help the acquirer understand are very helpful."

Can you actually have a conversation with a CD Rom or a DVD? You can repeat and hopefully learn a few phrases at best, so does a parrot. Does that mean that a parrot can communicate? Does that mean that YOU will learn to speak from those sources alone?

In conclusion, as we have seen, any successful language program has to incorporate real chances for students to interact, to engage in meaningful communication.

Think and reflect upon the two questions we asked in our previous article:

1) Why do most language courses fail time and again?

2) Are audio and video courses per se enough to make you a proficient speaker of a second language? What does research on first language acquisition say about this issue?

If you have any comments about this article, do not hesitate to contact me.

Your feedback and suggestions are more than welcome. I will be looking forward to hearing from you.

I hope you have enjoyed this first issue as much as I did while creating it.

¡Que tengan una semana fantástica!