Ask Dr. Katie: Why is real-world context important in learning a language?

EnGen’s science-based approach to English instruction is optimized for the needs of working adult English 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: Why is context so important in language learning? Don’t learners need to focus on first mastering basics like verb tenses and basic vocabulary?

A: One of the first things I do when I get to a new country, especially after a long overnight flight, is to stand in line behind people ordering coffee, so I can hear what they’re saying. And then I repeat what they’ve said so that someone will give me a cup of coffee, too. Nearly every language textbook I’ve seen has a dialog or two for how to order coffee, but almost none of them captures what people actually say. Think about the last cup of coffee you ordered. Did you ask for an Americano? A house drip? A double decaf dirty chai latte?

Those are all things I’ve heard people ask for in real life, but I’d bet that there isn’t a language textbook in the world that prepares people to order a double dirty chai latte.

Now, imagine a language course that lets learners listen to audio clips of real people ordering real drinks in a real coffee shop. Sure, the language might be nonstandard. It might be hard to understand. There might be an unfamiliar accent to decipher. But those are things that will happen to language learners in real life the very first time they order coffee in a coffee shop. If learners have only ever read or heard that the barista behind the counter will ask, “what size would you like?” then they will be thrown for a loop when asked “small or large?” instead.

Why not move that moment of confusion into the safe confines of a language course, when learners can listen to recorded exchanges of actual people ordering coffee? This content might be complex. It might involve vocabulary words the learner hasn’t learned yet, and it will almost certainly involve a mix of verb tenses. That’s okay. It doesn’t hurt learners to read or listen to things they don’t understand. If they are appropriately prepared for authentic content and understand that they won’t – and don’t have to – understand every word, then they can have a language experience that much more closely mimics what happens in real life.

Language acquisition experts agree that one of the most effective ways to learn a new language is to practice reading and listening to “authentic content” – and that’s exactly why real-world dialogue, texts, and materials are at the heart of EnGen’s platform. Our “Introduction to Workplace Safety” course for example, includes authentic content from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), preparing learners to understand and respond to the materials they’ll encounter at work. Our “English for Digital Literacy” course helps learners navigate the websites they’ll encounter when opening email addresses or logging into a workplace time-keeping system. And our suite of “English for Customer Service” materials help learners understand the questions that they get from clients at work and how to answer them.

The EnGen Solution

EnGen’s authentic content helps learners advance in career and credential pathways too: For aspiring nurses, content from EnGen’s “English for the NCLEX-PN” and “English for the NCLEX-RN” courses mirrors material used in the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX), a nationwide examination for the licensing of nurses in the U.S. Courses in our manufacturing pathway were built with materials from the Certified Production Technician (CPT) credentialing process.

Using authentic content helps save precious time for learners, because it allows them to practice with materials that they want to read and understand anyway. It also saves time for teachers, who shouldn’t spend their time writing dialogues or simplified paragraphs when they can find real examples of the target language to use instead.

Ultimately, using authentic content keeps the goal in sight; learners can see right away that what they are learning can be applied to their goals. From ordering a cup of coffee to establishing careers in high-demand fields like healthcare or manufacturing, working with authentic content and context helps learners meet their real-world goals, at work and at home.

Learn more about EnGen’s real-world content. Request a live platform demo: https://getengen.com/demo