Language Acquisition
Hi everyone I hope you are having a great weekend!
When the program began, I was researching online about how a teen, Tim Doner, used technology to aid his fluency and accuracy with languages with authentic exposure. For example, the teenager in the clip uses the Internet to draw elements of blended learning before engaging in conversation with others using the foreign language he acquired. In addition, he would also elicit responses for pronunciation by posting YouTube clips of himself and then gets the feedback from native speakers in the chosen foreign language.
If you are short for time to watch the whole clip, his learning strategy is in minutes 4:15 to 6:00. I hope you enjoy the clip!
https://youtu.be/Km9-DiFaxpU
When the program began, I was researching online about how a teen, Tim Doner, used technology to aid his fluency and accuracy with languages with authentic exposure. For example, the teenager in the clip uses the Internet to draw elements of blended learning before engaging in conversation with others using the foreign language he acquired. In addition, he would also elicit responses for pronunciation by posting YouTube clips of himself and then gets the feedback from native speakers in the chosen foreign language.
If you are short for time to watch the whole clip, his learning strategy is in minutes 4:15 to 6:00. I hope you enjoy the clip!
https://youtu.be/Km9-DiFaxpU
I think it's the most extremely rapid learning new languages that I found astounding!
ReplyDeleteAmazing...
ReplyDeleteI think it's a new point in history of language capability with the advent of technology and rapid access and instant visual correlation to vocabulary. In not just this with clip with Tim Doner! I have also seen numerous other footage of teens on Youtube tackling new languages with the same approach!
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone think that technology is the key?
That's a very good point, Kevin! I believe as long as there is some motivation in learning and there is access to the authentic resources by any means, learning can happen easily even naturally in young ages. I believe this fact doesn't apply solely to language field. Many inventions happened through experimenting simple tools, and this means that we should consider this platform as a stage to promote what we offer to them to facilitate their learning process.
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ReplyDeleteThanks Saeedeh, You also make a nice point about what we offer then to facilitate their learning process. It's amazing the advances being made so rapidly over the last ten years. I certainly wish that I had grown up in this present time frame for learning languages. For example, after Tim's Bar Mitzvah at the age of 13 he decided to study Hebrew. If I had wanted to study any other language at that age I would have had to cycle 10km to the nearest public library and go through the stacks to see if they even had the relevant material. In contrast, Tim just accesses the Internet and learns his favorite language by way of watching television programs that he enjoys!
ReplyDeleteYou're absolutely right, Kevin!
DeleteI do agree that technology has had a great impacts on education and earning however as Saeedeh mentioned motivation plays a very important role! You may have access to tons of authentic sources but what if you are not motivated? So depending on the learner types and their goals learning will hapen differently!
ReplyDeleteThanks Negar, You make a great point about the affective filter of motivation playing a very important point in the learning process. When we spark the student's motivation by showing them the way and all that is possible perhaps we will see the rapid evolution of language development! With a very highly motivated student such as Tim, we can see that when he combines his motivation with technology he is an unstoppable!
ReplyDeleteOMG, I love him. He seems highly motivated, obviously, given that he does this all day (I wish I had that kind of time), and I think that's what it comes down to, that intrinsic motivation, but technology sure is awesome these days and makes it so easy just to play around with language. It's amazing how much you can learn from a couple of hours on Duolingo! He's lucky to live in NYC where he had access to every language out there because you also have to practice regularly.
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