Customer Reviews

Foreign Language Education the Easy Way

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I should begin by saying that I'm a huge fan of Stephen Krashen. I think this short, excellent overview of what every foreign language classroom should look like should be required reading for every language teacher and language learner.

The book isn't theory intensive but it does provide an overview of Dr. Krashen's provocative perspective on second language acquisition: comprehensible input is supreme; grammar study and even production are quite secondary. Dr. Krashen then applies this theory to the foreign language classroom. I especially enjoyed the discussion concerning teaching language through free reading and sheltered content--advice which is helpful to me both as a language teacher and a language learner.

I await the 500-page volume of the same topic! (Hint, hint, Dr. Krashen.)

In a field where much of what is said is politically motivated hot air, Stephen Krashen is a welcome voice of common sense. Dr. Krashen, who holds a PhD in linguistics, has written many scholarly articles and books on all aspects of language learning, from teaching reading and basic literacy skills to second- and foreign-language learning.

"Foreign Language Education - The Easy Way follows in that proud tradition. Dr. Krashen gives a brief, but detailed, overview of theory before going into what a foreign- or second-language program should encompass. Finally, the author goes over issues in foreign language education, that is the conditions classroom teachers are likely to face in real life, such as a lack of opportunity to practice and communicate native speakers.

As in "The Natural Approach," which I recommend as a supplement to this short volume, Dr. Krashen urges teachers of students, elementary through adult, to provide as much exposure to the target language ("Comprehensible Input") as possible, definitely a commonsense and proven approach I plan to use with my elementary-school and adult ESL students in the future.

...I've had to learn foreign languages three times in adult life - using teachers in the U.S. and in other countries - and the experiences have often been time-consuming and expensive while being of little help to me. What I heard about Dr. Krashen's ideas struck me as a reflection of my own experiences, and I was anxious to learn more about his work. From what I picked up reading this book and skimming another of his, I'd say he definitely knows what he's talking about.

Get a fast hold on basic grammar and a rudimentary vocabulary; then dive into those situations that you want to be in in your new language. The training in formal grammar can come along later to help tidy up your efforts. And if you want to learn really fast, don't hang out with your fellow English speakers or listen to English language radio or TV.

Send Dr. Krashen to the head of the class.

For a quick review of the literature, this book can't be beat.

The book is only 55 pages long and takes less than 2 hours to read. Yet in that short time, I found a great deal which favors my side in most of my disagreements with the director of the English school where I work. Most of this data is substantiated with research. Here is what I found:

--that error correction is not beneficial (page 5). On the contrary, students who are less inhibited about speaking in the second language perform better on standardized tests (page 16).

--that writing activity does not benefit beginning students (page 7).

--that it is better to allow responses in incomplete sentences (page 11).

--that it is better not to call on students individually. Rather, it is better to allow what one researcher calls "random volunteered responses" (page 12).

--that students benefit from the teacher reading a variety of picture books (page 13).

--that students can learn at least as much from learning another subject, such as music or arts and crafts, taught in the second language, as they could from the traditional approach. Krashen calls this "sheltered subject matter" (pages 20-22).