Critical Languages Program
STUDENT STUDY GUIDE
written by Carol Lou Yaeger, NASILP Board of Directors
Georgia Perimeter College
Dunwoody Campus
| Dr. Dina Foster Director (770) 274-5196 Office D-1312 |
Ms. Keiko Ackerman Office D1304 |
Use the following bookmarks to get to the different sections of the study guide. For a printable version of the Student Study Guide, click here.
Introduction
| The Textbook | The Tapes
| The Drill Instructor |
Drill Sessions |
Drill Session Checklist |
Evaluation |
Program Guidelines |
Conclusion
Learning a language in a modified self-instructional language program is probably unlike any other course you have taken before. In a regular language course the teacher can be counted on to provide the organization, set the pace and give necessary guidance and explanations. In the Critical Languages Program, although the organization and the pace are set by NASILP and the Program Coordinator, the responsibility for learning falls directly on you, the student. Because of the nature of this program, you will find that it requires a great deal of time, energy, and self-direction as well as self-discipline.
Over the years many students have achieved admirable success in self-instructional language programs at Georgia Perimeter College as well as at other colleges and universities. Self-instructional language study really does work. Whether or not it works successfully for you depends on how well you understand and adapt to the unique nature of the Critical Languages Program.
Three important facets of the Critical Languages Program should be kept constantly in mind:
1. You are your own teacher. Thus, successful
language mastery
depends critically on you - on your attitude and
participation, and
especially on your self-discipline and work habits.
2. The drill instructor in the Critical Languages
Program is NOT a
teacher. The drill session should not in any way be
equated with a
typical class. Do NOT assume, as you might in a
normal course,
that you are coming to drill sessions to be taught.
The drill session
is for the practice and correction of material that you
have
ALREADY done in tape work.
3. Language learning with the Critical Languages
Program is based
on TAPE WORK. The core of tape learning is supported on one
hand by the text, and on the other by the drill session and
the
native drill instructor, but these components should be
treated as
supplementary to the tape work.
Read the introduction of the book carefully, since most authors include basic information about how the text is used. The text is a primer, the starting point for tape work.
The following steps will be
useful for you in preparing for tape work:
a. Read through the dialogues.
b. Study the grammatical explanations.
c. Note which patterns are being demonstrated in the
dialogues.
d. Note how the words are being used in the dialogues.
e. Note what is being said with respect to the
communication
situation.
f. Test yourself, verbally, in English, to see if you
really understand
the grammar, vocabulary usage, etc.
For example:
* How do I
form a question?
* What
pattern do I use to compare two things?
*What are the
restrictions on using this word?
*How do I
express an apology in this language?
g. Never stop here! Proceed to the tape and
work on the dialogues.
h. After dialogue work, go on to the drills in a similar
manner. Make
sure you understand the point of the
drill before you do it on the
tape.
If you have studied the text carefully and understand all the grammar rules and usage conventions, you cannot automatically count on a good grade in the course. You will not be tested on how well you know the grammar of the language, but rather on how well you can speak and comprehend it. KNOWING ABOUT the language and USING it are quite different. The latter involves skill acquisition with tape work.
There is a tendency to misunderstand the function and use of the tapes. They are often thought of as a poor substitute for the native drill instructor and something to be avoided if learning can be accomplished in any other way. However, remember: the tape work is the core of the Critical Languages Program. ANY ATTEMPT TO SKIMP ON TAPE TIME IS A FALSE ECONOMY and, in the Critical Languages Program, COULD WELL MAKE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SUCCESS AND FAILURE. The tapes will repeat the same material over and over indefinitely without the slightest change in pronunciation or construction. This makes it possible to receive in a relatively short time the exposure to the countless repetitions you need to imprint a foreign language utterance in your mind. From this point of view, it is almost impossible to overdo the tape work. An hour every day of the semester should be thought of as a minimum. Do NOT concentrate the tape work into a few long sessions a week. It will never work! Tape work requires such intensive concentration that it can only be effectively sustained for short periods of time. Invariably, attention span and concentration waiver in marathon sessions. Find the limit of your own "tape attention span." It may be as short as 20 to 30 minutes at a given time.
REMEMBER: Tape work should be spread evenly over the entire week. Many short sessions, even on a given day, are preferable to one long session. Incidentally, experience has shown that "catching up" on tape work, unlike doing so in reading, is virtually impossible. So, do not procrastinate! Whatever you do, do not fall behind.
If you find that you are putting in a lot of tape time, but nothing is sticking, the problem is undoubtedly that "putting in tape time" meant that you became a sort of sponge and time was all that counted for you. Students often "put in time" by mindlessly repeating material while their attention drifts away. This is known as "tape hypnosis," and often results from undirected, unfocused tape work, or from trying to do too much at once. The cure is short, sharply focused tape sessions.
As you do your tape work, remember to repeat everything on the tapes out loud. You cannot learn to speak just by listening. After all, you want to learn to SPEAK this language. Silently mouthing the language (or mumbling it) to yourself or a native speaker will never work, unless he or she is an excellent lip reader. Learning to speak a language means speaking aloud! Repeat tape material in a strong voice, with vigor.
When you do tape work, do it with the text closed, unless specifically requested on the tape. The point of the tape work is to train your mouth and ears! Of course reading along with the tape is easy - you are letting your eyes do all the work. Unfortunately, you won't have access to a teleprompter when communicating with native speakers. As a rule, the text (dialogue or drill) should be read BEFORE the tape work, but should not be open during the tape work. Tape work means weaning yourself from visual crutches. If you seem to have trouble with comprehension in the tape work, you will have to spend some extra time listening to utterances, and then stopping the tape to check yourself closely on how well you really understood what was said. Did you get it the first time? Drills, exercises, dialogues - just about anything on the tapes - can be used for this sort of intensive comprehension work.
Never give up on a tape that you don't understand. Try listening to it and repeating it several times without the text in front of you. Then, if it is still unclear, refer to the text for an explanation. Do not be put off by differences in pronunciation between the speech of your native drill instructor and that on the tapes. They are both within the range of permissible variation, and you should be able to understand both. No matter what your first reaction may be, the tapes are not too fast, and you must be able to follow them at that speed.
If, while working with your tapes, you experience difficulty in mastering long sentences, you might try the "backward build-up" technique: Divide the sentence into short phrases, and begin drilling the final phrase. When you are comfortable with it, add the phrase (or few words) immediately preceding, and so on, until you have reached the words which start the sentence - at which point, you will be reciting the entire statement without error or hesitation. You may need to rely on visual material initially, but do not consider the job finished until you can say the entire utterance without any help.
When doing the tape work, try to duplicate precisely the utterance on the tape, and not merely to make a "reasonable" approximation in your own accent. Think of yourself as an actor learning to play a character role, and attempt to copy in every possible detail the utterances you hear on the tape.
Remember that the drill instructor is not expected to function as a teacher in the strictest sense. The drill instructor does not give quizzes or exams, assign grades, give grammatical explanations, talk about the language, or introduce new material. The drill instructor WILL demand and check for thorough mastery of dialogues, check on mastery of vocabulary and patterns, conduct drills and exercises, constantly demand accurate pronunciation, demand fluent performance in oral work, and provide for a great deal of repetition at conversational speed, with constant correction. Your drill instructor will use only the target language in drill session. Where else can you get such a wonderful gift?
PLEASE NOTE: Avoid the impulse to ask your drill instructor for grammatical explanations and linguistic insights. Explanations, which would have to be in English, take time away from the learning process, and all too often require the drill instructor to fulfill a role for which he or she is probably not prepared. For example, consider a situation in which an international student asks you why there is no plural "furnitures," and how s/he can tell when other English words take no plural. The chances are that you could not give a definitive explanation on the spot. You should expect the same thing from your drill instructor.
It is your responsibility to avoid time-consuming questions on grammar that STALL the drill sessions. You must do everything you can to keep the drill instructor speaking his or her own language, and correcting your attempts at it. If the drill instructor, for some reason, wants to speak English in class and spend time on grammar, it is up to you to discourage this as politely as possible, and to show that you want to continue the lesson in the foreign language. Be prepared to work through the material, even if there is an occasional point of grammar that you do not fully understand. A rule which might seem harsh but which is very effective is: during drill session ask questions only when you can both phrase the question and understand the answer in the foreign language. Anything else you must consider a waste of time for you, your drill instructor, and the other students in the group. If you have a question about grammar, check your text carefully. Ask yourself if your question is really critical for mastering the material at hand. Most "Why..." questions are interesting but do nothing to help you speak the language. Many questions will be answered as you progress through the material. If you are not 100% clear on a grammatical rule, remember: for the purposes of the Critical Languages Program, you need not have an exhaustive intellectual understanding of every grammar rule to learn the material at hand or to speak the language. We learn a foreign language largely by DOING - by example and extension of example.
Considerable effort has been expended to locate a native-speaking drill instructor so that the drill session can be a valuable opportunity to enter the world of the new language. Using English with the drill instructor, with each other, and even in whispered asides and comments, undermines the very purpose of the session.
REMEMBER: English will not be used during drill session. After all, since the drill instructor is not a teacher, since grammatical questions are out of place, since learning is dependent on your prior tape work, WHY should you want to use English? You will find that not using English is easier than you think, IF YOU SIMPLY TRY! If you find that your drill instructor seems to have a slightly different accent from the voice on the tapes, remember that variations in language are to be expected. Even among your English-speaking classmates, it is unlikely that everyone speaks the same way. Any variation would be well within the range of your learning capabilities.
If you find that your drill instructor is speaking too fast for you, do not ask him or her to slow down. Your comprehension skills are developed through the tape component, and you can stop your tape machine and listen to an utterance, said exactly the same way, over and over until you understand it. If you do have problems understanding your drill instructor, ask yourself the following questions:
*Am I spending a great deal of time studying the material visually rather than using the tapes?
*Am I using the tapes with my book open, so that my eyes are really doing the comprehension work, rather than my ears?
*Am I concentrating on learning single words rather than on conversational utterances?
You will be constantly corrected in drill session. The drill instructor will not be embarrassed in correcting you, and you should not be embarrassed in being corrected. You will be very embarrassed if native speakers cannot understand you after a semester or two or a year of work in the language! The drill instructor will be very embarrassed if your poor abilities reflect on her or him. Try to develop a positive attitude about correction. It will be one of the drill instructor's key functions, and it is certainly in your best interest as a potential language user.
It will be important to CLOSE or put away your book during the drill session. In studying a language, many of us are much better in the visual mode than in the oral/aural mode. Our "eye memory" seems ever so much more reliable than our "mouth and ear memory." The idea is not to avoid or forego visual work, but rather to use it as a preparatory step for oral/aural work. Please do not use the visual crutch in tape work and in drill session, since your goal is to speak and comprehend the language in face-to-face communication. If you find that your first impulse, when called on in the drill session, is to open the book, you can be sure that you are not using the tape component properly.
Most of the drill session time will be devoted to pattern drills and exercises. There will be virtually no "free conversation," since this assumes full control of the very basics that you will be learning. Drills and language-use exercises are part of a learning design to insure that, at some point, you will be able to carry on a free conversation.
You might feel limited at first because of the vocabulary. Textbooks purposely restrict vocabulary - the easiest thing to master in a foreign language - so that you can concentrate on the more difficult components of learning: pronunciation, sentence structure, and fluency. A massive vocabulary is of no purpose if you cannot use the words in a grammatical sentence with accurate pronunciation and smooth delivery. Additional vocabulary can be easily learned after you are over the major hurdles.
You will be asked to memorize, or more properly stated, "overlearn," certain dialogues. You are not being asked to memorize because one day you will need to know how to ask for the 3:15 train to Gölmarmara. You are asked to "overlearn" dialogues for the following reasons:
1. to promote fluency and intonational accuracy
2. to allow you to internalize
examples of patterns for later
expansion through drills and exercises
3. to demonstrate how words are actually used in sentences and social contexts
4. to introduce formulaic and idiomatic expressions (e.g., salutations, introductions, apologies, etc.), and to show the appropriate usage of such expressions in communication situations.
The following is what you should expect in your drill session. If your drill session is not conducted this way, I need to know immediately, so that your drill session will be productive and the academic integrity of the course can be protected.
1. Students' books were closed during the drill session.
2. Driller avoided the use of English.
3. Driller was well prepared for the session.
4. Students had mastered the material to be drilled.
5. Driller used visual aids whenever possible.
6. Driller encouraged active participation.
7. Driller kept drill moving rapidly and varied activities to keep students interested.
8. Driller checked student comprehension.
9. Driller maintained good eye contact with students.
10. Driller's voice was clear and loud enough for easy listening.
11. Students were required to pay careful attention and participate throughout the session.
12. Responsibility for studying grammatical explanations was clearly delegated to the students.
13. Assignments were clear and understandable and followed the Syllabus.
14. The driller was in control of the drill session at all times.
Adapted from "Less-Commonly Taught Languages Program," Linda Bunney-Sarhad, California State University, Stanislaus, Turlock, CA
You will be evaluated once a semester by an outside examiner, i.e. a qualified instructor of the language in an established university level program. During your individual oral interview, you will be graded on the following criteria:
Formulation time
How long does it take you to express yourself? Are you
consciously
constructing utterances word by word and applying one rule
after
another, or can you express yourself smoothly and
automatically?
Fluency
Once formulated, is the utterance fluent, or jerky and
hesitant?
Pronunciation
Can you approximate the pronunciation of a native speaker?
Comprehension
How many times do you have to ask for repetitions? How long
does
it take for you to understand?
Structured patterns
Do you know how and when to use patterns properly?
Usage
Do you know the appropriate thing to say, depending on the
communication?
Vocabulary
Can you use and understand the vocabulary studied?
While this may seem a bit demanding, it is the best way to evaluate your mastery. The entire course has been focused on speaking and comprehension - learning to use the language for communication. The test will be fair and to the point. If you have understood the goals of the Critical Languages Program, and if you have practiced appropriately, the test is simply a normal, natural extension of what you have been doing all along. You might even enjoy it.
However, it is natural that you might be a bit nervous. Your examiner will be well aware of this, and every effort will be made to make you feel as comfortable as possible. The examiner's role is to let you know where you stand as far as your language mastery is concerned. He or she will not use grammar or vocabulary that you have not studied. Even if you are a bit nervous, you must realize the importance of professional feedback on your progress in the language.
1. You are
expected to attend all drill sessions and be properly
prepared for the exam. If, for any reason, you have to miss
a drill
session, please contact your drill instructor in advance.
Please do
not assume that you can schedule makeup sessions to
suit your
change in plans. Your drill instructor may also be a student
and
need time for his or her own studies. If you do schedule a
makeup
session, there will be a charge by your drill instructor, as
they are
paid by Georgia Perimeter College to meet with you at the
agreed
upon times only.
2. You will
have one final oral and written evaluation with an outside
examiner. Because the outside examiners may come from out of
town or out of state, scheduling is done a semester in
advance.
Please refer to the Critical Languages Calendar for the
semester in
which you are enrolled. There should be no schedule
conflicts.
Consequently, there will be NO makeup finals. Refer to the
"Agreement" and the "Final Exam Explanation" signed upon
enrolling
in the course.
3. Your
drill instructor will keep a record of your absences and your
performance in drill session. You may ask to see your record
at any
time.
4. Your
final grade for the course will be based on your performance on
the final oral and written evaluations. Each drill session is
like a mini
final exam. If you do well in drill sessions, there is every
reason to
expect that you will do equally as well on the final.
5. The
Student's Weekly Progress Report is to be filled out and returned
to the Coordinator every week. Your comments are
important for
identifying potential problems in the future. Please be
frank and honest
in your responses and comments.
Adapted from: "Alternate Language Study Option Program, Tutor's Edition," Dr. Daniel Gross, Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa
Make sure to master all material in the lesson being studied. Merely reading the dialogues, exercises, and grammar explanations will not accomplish this. In order for the language that you are studying to become automatic or instinctive, you must repeat all taped material numerous times, until you reach the point at which the dialogue, exercise, or drill is overlearned.
When you can understand and respond properly to all such text/tape material without hesitation, error, or prompting, you have begun to internalize the material. Your ability to control and manipulate grammatical structure and vocabulary will become automatic, and will not require conscious encoding and decoding. Learning a new language is similar to the development of such skills as driving a car or playing a musical instrument: performance and proficiency are directly dependent on regularity and frequency of practice.
The number of hours per week devoted to language practice will determine your success. However, it is important to devote time to your language practice on a daily basis - especially including actively drilling the tape material, practicing the material with another student in a different setting, or even going through the material aloud to yourself at different times during the day. Even if you cannot give more than a half-hour per day to concentrated practice, it is nonetheless necessary to work with the language on a daily basis. Under absolutely no circumstances should you let yourself fall behind, relegate your language practice to weekends, or try to cram before the exam.
Remember that constant and regular practice requires one final and most important element in language learning: perseverance. In spite of all the obstacles inherent in learning a language self-instructionally, be patient and persistent. Do not expect to speak or understand the foreign language perfectly at first try. Do not expect to be able to carry on a sophisticated conversation after a few weeks or months, or even after a semester or two. But with much patience and constant practice for automatic, smooth and comprehensible mastery, you will be able to attain your objective of building a solid oral/aural foundation in your chosen language.
Revised (Fall 2002)