Ask Dr. Katie: Does my first language have a role in helping me learn English?
EnGen’s science-based approach to English instruction is optimized for the needs of working adult learners. As our courses and content are different from traditional platforms, we often get questions from learners, teachers, and partners. In this blog series, EnGen founder Dr. Katie Brown will apply her three decades of research on second language acquisition to address your questions about language learning – what works, what doesn’t, and why.
Q: If you’re teaching very beginner-level students, how do you communicate if they don’t yet speak English? Should we translate learning materials to learners’ primary language?
A: I get asked a version of this question a lot: Is there a role for a learner’s preferred language in effective English instruction? Newly-minted ESL teachers puzzle over how to communicate with their very beginning learners when the learners don’t yet speak English. Learners, for their part, describe how they toggle between languages, mapping out phrases in their first language before attempting them in English.
I tell them that learning English is like learning any other skill – like playing a guitar, for example. You won’t improve your guitar skills by playing the trumpet or the accordion or the piano. You’ve got to put in the time on the guitar: You practice holding the guitar, picking notes, and building basic chords before you’re ready for your first song. If you can already play a different instrument, you’ve probably got some skills that will help you advance on the guitar more quickly, like knowing how to read sheet music or having an ear that recognizes if you’re sharp or flat.
Even still, to learn how to play a guitar, you’ve got to practice…playing the guitar.
It’s the same with language. The most effective instruction gives learners an opportunity for practice – lots of it! – in the language that they are learning. Learners may glean just a handful of words after their first immersive English class. But lesson by lesson, they’ll grow their vocabulary in their new language and start making connections between words, eventually forming sentences and holding a basic conversation.
A critical part of successful immersion is setting expectations: Learners should understand that English will likely feel very hard and confusing at first. Teachers generally have to use pantomime, repetition, visual clues, and a lot of enthusiasm to communicate in a new language with novice learners. When learners are exposed to real-world examples of people using English, they are often overwhelmed and confused. This is a normal – and necessary – part of the language learning process. If we skip this step and instead spend a lot of time talking to learners in their primary languages, we just delay the inevitable.
This all leads to my final point: Using translation as an instructional approach isn’t going to help learners gain proficiency in their new language. First, it takes too much time – an element that is both essential for learning a new language and at a premium for working adults. If learners invest time trying to figure out how to go from Spanish to English, for example, then they are losing half of their opportunity for immersion. And second, languages simply don’t work that way. Think about the first Spanish class you took, when you learned to introduce yourself by saying “Yo me llamo Katie.” Translated literally into English, that statement is actually “I myself I call Katie,” NOT “My name is Katie.”
Going back to our instrument analogy: The way you play C-major on a guitar is dramatically different from producing that same note on the trombone. Don’t rely on what works on the trombone to help you learn guitar.
The EnGen Solution
Successfully learning a new language requires practicing that language, over and over and over again. There aren’t any shortcuts to putting in the time, but there are ways to optimize instruction so that learners – particularly adult learners – can invest their time successfully.
On-demand, mobile-first platforms like EnGen cut out barriers – like transportation challenges, childcare issues, and overbooked classes – that keep too many learners from connecting with quality English instruction and practice time. If a learner has just 10 minutes to dedicate to improving their English skills, they can invest it effectively by completing a bite-sized lesson on EnGen.
What’s more, platforms that use real-world content and context are proven to help learners make meaningful progress in their new language. That’s why EnGen has created a catalog of 130-plus courses with content aligned to real goals like communicating with your child’s teacher or starting your own business or pursuing a career as a phlebotomist.
Finally, EnGen recognizes that a learner’s first language does have a place in learning English – just not as part of instruction. Via EnGen’s platform, learners can access technical assistance and key word support in more than 70 languages. They can confidently navigate the platform in the language of their choice, focus all of their instruction time on practicing English, and still have access to just-in-time translations of critical vocabulary when needed.
They say you can learn to play the guitar in as little as 10 minutes a day, so long as practice time is deliberate and focused. It’s the same with learning English: It’s possible to accomplish a lot in a limited amount of time, so long as the instruction is both immersive and relevant to learners’ needs and goals. The most effective way to learn English is by using English.
Learn more about EnGen’s approach to immersive English instruction, helping learners maximize instruction time and reach their real-world goals. Request a live platform demo: https://getengen.com/demo