In the previous entry I have thought about the phenomena I called "Point Break" in language learning and the way it makes the difference between literacy and iliteracy when it comes to the use of languages.
Now I would like to think more about the question of what is it that spuns the further development of language learning beyond the "Point Break".
I have argued that for many people, the question of learning a language is simply the question of gaining control over some kind of human interaction that goes on in that language. Only a relative minority of people study the language as such, for the very understanding and appreciating of its rules, structures, irregularities and bizzare details.
Now, that said, its quite obvious that many people learn the languages while striving for quite other objectives. Historically one of the first ways people learned foreign languages must have been simply by coping in a foreign society. Such an medieval artisan quite often went abroad while being an aprentice but very few could had gotten any formal linguistic education at all. But being suddenly exposed to a different environment and having to survive within it, I am sure these guys did their best and eventually gained a SKILL sufficient to get around.
Because language IS rather a SKILL than a KNOWLEDGE! Lets say it is a skill of social communication using a special instrument that we were not brought up using. SKILL is something of the ranks of swimming. As the above stated example of medieval artisans illustrates, you can't learn to swim without getting wet, that is without actually getting in to the environment where you'll have to use the newly acquired skill. Now as it makes learning swimming much quicker if you actually dip into a pool, it also makes it a lot easier to learn German if you submerge into German speaking environment. On the other hand, whats the point of learning swimming in the Sahara dessert? Use it or lose it, we have all heard that... so why invest enermous energy into something we will not use? I think this definition of the lack of motivation in student must ring in ear of every teacher.
But lets get back to what we said before, that is, that people mostly learn foreign language in order to achieve quite another objectives. Its instrumental. It was instrumental for the medieval aprentice, as he needed to wander around and learn about the latest things in his trade, not starving to death meanwhile.
That said, we come to the central questions of contemporary teachers as well, that is the question of MOTIVATION. Motivation in fact is nothing else but the external objective that a person wants to achieve through the "instrumental" study of a language. As it was said, few people are attracted to the very beauty of the language itself. So in most cases, motivation is the key element, as where it is missing, the students naturally gravitate back to language ignorance.
On the other hand, even a rather "lowly" motivation (regardless of the general "elevated" rhetorics linked to fostering and thus education) works perfectly, as it attracts the student to the language. Thus, I know people, who learned their English, because the videogames were in English. There are people who learned languages to extend their romantic adventures during vacations, many learned while searching for meaning of song lyrics or simply by spending too much time in front of television and video! It almost happened as an accident to them! But, there are also learners, who learned a language because it was their only bet for survival or better life - that is the story of countless immigrants to the US. The latter invested dedicated effort, the former rather large amount of time and attention to what was going on on the screen. Doubtless, internet is one of the great promotions of language learning these days.
Therefor, the minimalistic tasks for a successfull language teaching could be guiding the students to their "Point Break" and helping them to identify and reinforce their own motivation if necessary, thereby starting a continuous process of learning which should be rather SPONTANEOUS abd SELFSUPPORTING.
The problem with modern language teaching lies in that its quite hard to work with a group of students and to make the very diverse individual motivations work at the same time. Its hard to conceive without vast application of the cooperative approach, which is not so common yet. The often mentioned CLIL (Content Language Integrated Learning) approach in fact tries to ressurect this beneficiary aspect of language learning. The same was once suggested by my vice-dean for the matters of study, who suggested he learned foreign languages most by studiing the books in the bibliography of his final thesis. I have read a lot of books and magazines in a few languages because of my interest in cars.
Without our interest for our very personal content, the spontaneity in learning can hardly be achieved.
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