Making language mistakes isn't all bad!

I have been fascinated recently about how a small change in my favorite web-based language learning tool, Duolingo has made a big change in my language habits. As much as my head believes that making errors is an accepted, even necessary, part of learning a language, my heart still wants to produce perfect language. And I know I am not alone in this fantasy.

When I first started using Duolingo, about a year ago, the program was presented like a video game. In most instances, you were given three hearts in the upper right hand corner of the screen at the beginning of each exercise set. 

For each mistake you made, you would hear music with a tone going from higher to lower tone and watch a heart disappear, turning from red to grey. Losing a heart was similar to losing a life in a video game. No fun! 

When your three hearts were gone, you heard more downbeat music and received this message from an apologetic Duolingo owl.

Cursing at the owl (though I tried it frequently) had no effect on my status.  It was back to the beginning to try again.

Granted, an opportunity was available to gain a one-heart refill before you started an exercise by spending four hard-earned lingots, the currency of Duolingo.  I spent my lingots with much more abandon than I do my U.S. dollar savings account, because I really, really hated losing all of my hearts and having to start over again.  Having one extra heart gave me a little wiggle room.

One day, I logged on to Duolingo, and instead of seeing hearts at the top of the screen, I saw a bar.

In this new system, if I answer a question correctly, the bar advances.  If I make a mistake, the bar retreats. And I do hear a downbeat music sound when my answer is not accepted.  But the beauty of this new approach with the bar instead of hearts is that I can keep trying to score correct answers for as long as I want, without ever "dying" (so to speak).

You may not think this change is a big deal!  But I can assure you that it has had a positive psychological effect on my language learning! I'm free!  I can play with language, try out creative responses, and produce language at a faster pace.  If I make an error, I pay it little mind, much as I should do when practicing a new language in the real world of give and take communication.  No fear language learning is what I experience.

Because the new bar system is not yet available on mobile devices, I find I gravitate more and more to my old laptop in order to use the web-based program. Many thanks to Duolingo for being at the forefront of language acquisition.  I think it's a bunch of fun!

Correct me! Please! Really?

Do you suffer from foreign language anxiety?  You are not alone!

Most language learners I have known raise their hands when this question is put to them: How many of you want someone to tell you when you make a mistake in your new language?  "Sure," most people will respond with looks on their faces that say, "Any more dumb questions?"

The common sense logic of error correction goes something like this.  If I am learning a new language, I will naturally make lots of mistakes.  If someone will just let me know when I make a mistake, I'll correct it, and then eventually I'll speak my new language perfectly.

NOT!  

Unfortunately, language learning isn't as straightforward as all that.  Let's delve deeper into the topic of  "error correction,"  which by the way is a controversial topic in second language acquisition.

Imagine that you are trying to express a thought aloud in your new language.  Your brain is working overtime to put together new sounds, new words, and new structures in a timely manner. If someone corrects your language while you are speaking, the interruption usually has undesirable effects rather than the helpful effects probably intended.  (We'll give the benefit of the doubt to people who correct others' language, assuming  they are not just demonstrating their superiority!)

Being corrected while you are delivering language to the world is no fun, even for those of us with the toughest egos.  Language learning anxiety may set in.

Do you ever feel like this learning a new language?

Even if you feel  you are tough enough to take a correction because you really want to learn this new language, this is the thing:   The correction will most likely be of no future use to you because your brain is creating what YOU want to say, not what someone else wants to say. And even if you repeat a corrected pronunciation, or a word choice, or a grammar point, you will probably be merely parroting back the correction.  In order for the correction to be of any help to you in the future, you need to process that information in your own brain on your own terms.

Your brain at work

For example, let's say that you are learning Spanish, and you want to express the sentence "I  live in Texas." A common mistake for a beginning learner is to fail to conjugate the verb correctly (put the right ending on the verb) and say "*Yo vive (instead of the correct vivo) en Tejas."   

How horrible is this error, after all?  The listener can still understand that the learner is saying "I live" because yo means "I."  A correction or (heaven forbid!) an explanation of the concept of verb paradigms in Spanish would not be helpful here.  You may lose focus of the meaning you are trying to communicate.  You may also feel confused or guilty because your verb endings aren't correct yet.

So, how do we ever start putting the correct endings on verbs that refer to "I"?  It happens when we hear enough examples of matching "yo" with an "o" on the end of the verb, that the correction is made in our own minds.  "Oh," we may say internally,  "I must be saying that verb wrong, because everyone else puts an "o" where I have been putting an "e."  Self-correction is more gentle and, much more importantly, more lasting than correction by someone else.

I can imagine a reader's mind whirling at this point. processing the idea that self-correction is better than external correction. "What if I say something that I didn't realize was really objectionable in the new language?"

Have you ever put your foot in your mouth?

I might want to be corrected in this case!  But I'm still going to keep making one request  of my conversation partners when I am learning new languages, "If you truly want to help me, please don't correct my errors!"

Can Introverts be Good Language Acquirers?

Today I participated in a webinar with the somewhat intimidating title of "The Radically Common Phenomena Called Language:  How the human mind creates and acquires it,"* featuring the well-known applied linguist John De Mado.  It was great.  I could have chosen to sit in front of the computer in my robe and slippers sipping a fresh cup of coffee, but I wasn't completely sure that I wouldn't be required to use my webcam to participate.  (Has anyone figured out how to look halfway decent using a webcam?) But the webinar was all audio, so I was pleased to be able to relax and learn more about language acquisition.

As John De Mado discussed three main personality traits that are helpful for acquiring language, I started to squirm in my chair.  The first trait is Risk-Taking.  To acquire language, you have to talk to people - lots of people, the more the better.  He pointed out that it takes a lot of nerve for a non-native speaker to strike up a conversation with a native speaker, who is by definition much more in control of vocabulary, grammar and accent.

The second trait is Vulnerability.  A language acquirer must be able to be vulnerable enough to make errors - lots of errors, because there is no way to acquire language without them. If we clam up at the first wrong word choice, incorrect verb ending, or botched pronunciation, all is lost. We will not make progress toward our goal of acquiring a second language.

So why was I squirming in my chair?  It is because I am an introvert, and introverts have lots of trouble complying with the first two traits! Now in case you belong to the two-thirds of Americans who are classified as extroverts, you may not understand an introvert's world. The best way I can describe it is that if you and I were Energizer Bunnies, after a long conversation the extroverted bunny would feel charged up and ready to go.  The introverted bunny would be very, very tired and need some alone time to recharge.  So introverts are going to be especially reluctant to take a risk and strike up a conversation, especially in another language.

Now that you may be viewing the world through the eyes of an introvert, you can imagine how making an error in another language is not what an introvert wants to do. Communication in itself makes an introvert vulnerable to the world.  And not being understood because you have made a mistake!  Horrors!  Where's my shell to hide under?

Thank goodness the third personality trait mentioned by John De Mado is Intuition.  In order to understand what other people are saying to us (even in our native language), we have to filter what they say through our own knowledge and perceptions. People are often communicating much more than their actual words would indicate.  I can do this!  I am a good listener!  At last, something an introvert can do well!

So, can introverts be good language acquirers?  Yes, we can choose to be with a little pre-planning. My goals are: force myself to talk to more people in more different circumstances but allow myself a nice, long recharging time afterward;  if I am obsessing about the errors I made, write them down and think what I would have said differently; rejoice in the fact that I can pick up communication clues because I prefer to listen rather than talk.

Hmm.  Perhaps I'll sign up for an online language program where I would have conversations with a real native speaker.  At least I could log off quickly if things get uncomfortable!

*Webinar courtesy of Association of College and Research Libraries and Mángo Languages.

      

"Correct me if I'm wrong." Really?

Once we take the plunge into acquiring another language, what we think we want is a patient tutor who will correct everything we say wrong in the new language.  (I'm imagining a Siri-like being who will listen  ad infinitum at the push of a button!) 

Maybe it's an incorrect pronunciation we are choosing, or a wrong word form, or a non-standard grammar usage. If our patient tutor would just let us know when we make an error, we could reach our goal of becoming a fluent second language speaker.  This reasoning makes a lot of sense, right?  Do something wrong, get corrected, do it right the next time. The problem is, with language acquisition, that simplistic formula generally does not have the desired effect.  What, you say?

Let's start with children.  Most parents don't correct their child's grammar. Although they may correct information, like "We are going to Aunt Sally's house, not Grandma Sue's,"  they don't correct form.  As a matter of fact, parents think it is pretty cute when their baby makes an 'error' and says, "Two footses."

Their child is on the way to genius status.  The child has started forming a mental grammar that says in English we put an ending on a word for the concept of plural.  And the child has acquired not one ending, but two, -s and –es!  Soon the little one will start matching the correct plural sounds to words that end in different sounds (like coats and churches).  And at some point the little linguist will realize that adults don’t even use the logical rule for this plural.  Instead, adults use a similar word (feet) with a different sound in the middle, and those illogical adults don’t even attach the ending the baby has so carefully worked out in the brain.  Whew!  Do you see why parents should just let children build their own language in their own brains?  And the good news is, no normal adult that I know still says “footses.”  Children will eventually match their language to that of the surrounding environment.

But how about those of us who are no longer children?  We already speak our native language, we have world knowledge, and we are capable of thinking about language.  Does this mean that an adult second language learner should be subjected to a barrage of error corrections? Wouldn't you like to acquire a language at your own pace, formulating and testing what you think are the grammar rules of that language in your own brain?  If you make some errors along the path of learning your new language, is it the worst possible thing that could happen?  It seems that a sadder scenario would be for the adult learner to become so discouraged by trying to use the language so perfectly at the beginning of language study that the person gives up completely.

How about asking other people not to correct you when you speak your new language?  Tell them you just want to communicate with them, and that you are working out how the language works by listening to their responses.  Your conversation will be much more satisfying as true communication rather than a language lesson disguised as real language use.  Acquiring a new language, after all, should be an enjoyable experience!