A Few Brief Suggestions on Effective Practice Techniques

Learning a foreign language is not a matter of reading some grammar rules and memorizing some vocabulary words—although those are important activities not to be ignored. Acquiring a language is learning a skill, not a body of information. It's as much like learning to swim or ride a bike as it is like learning about the Second World War. That is, you must not only understand the ideas and concepts, have information at hand, but also make your body accustomed to using that information in physical activity: in this case the physical activity involved is speaking, listening, writing and reading.

You need, then, not only to memorize and understand, but also to practice!

Here are a few brief suggestions on effective practice/ study techniques.

1. Make your mouth or hand do what your mind is learning. Study out loud. Do go to the lab and work on the tapes. Study with a friend, thus involving yourself in speaking and listening. Try to write sentences or a short paragraph using the skills you have practiced orally.

2. Study day-by-day. You cannot get by in a foreign language course by cramming at the last minute. You may be able to "learn" vocabulary items that way, but you cannot teach your mouth to use them in sentences.

3. Occasionally go back and review "old" topics and vocabulary. Language learning is cumulative. You learn new skills on the basis of old ones. The more you "recycle" familiar information and skills, the better you will be able to absorb new ones.

4. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Self-consciousness can be a mighty obstacle to learning a language. Perhaps part of the reason small children readily acquire languages is that they are not afraid of making mistakes.