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  • Anyone who has tried to learn a language

  • knows that there are a million different learning systems

  • and methods out there

  • and a million different people trying to sell them to you

  • But after a while you will probably notice  one idea that everybody seems to believe in  

  • and that is the importance of input

  • Sometimes entire learning programs are based

  • only on providing input

  • and on the idea that input is the only thing

  • you need to learn a language

  • The main reason this idea is so powerful

  • is due to the influence of one man

  • Stephen Krashen, who is often viewed aslegendary figure in the world of language learning

  • He proposed the input hypothesis back in the  1970s and his ideas have been enormously popular  

  • and very influential on the world of  language learning during the last 50 years  

  • and in 2021 you will still find him

  • repeating his now famous mantra

  • that we acquire language in only one way

  • when we understand it

  • Here is Krashen in his own words

  • "The core contribution, I think,

  • is that we acquire language in only one way,

  • when we understand it

  • Most people call that comprehensible input

  • We don't acquire language when we speak

  • We don't acquire language when we study it

  • We don't acquire language when we memorize lists of verbs, etc

  • We don't acquire language when we get corrected

  • All those thingslike grammar, vocabulary, are the result of getting comprehensible input"

  • It sounds great, right?

  • No speaking, no study, just input

  • It's the dream of any language learner

  • There's just one little problem with the input hypothesis

  • It's total b*******

  • Now, I know this is dangerous ground

  • because I am talking about a person that is highly respected

  • and his ideas are the foundation

  • of a lot of language learning programs

  • But I truly believe in the principle of error correction

  • created by the great sociolinguist William Lebow

  • who said that "a person who becomes aware of an idea

  • with important consequences that has errors,

  • has an obligation to talk about those  errors with the widest possible audience

  • and because i think that the input hypothesis

  • has errors and negatively affects millions of people

  • trying to learn a language,

  • I have an obligation to talk about it

  • So, let's get specific

  • What exactly is the problem with the input hypothesis?

  • The first problem is that the hypothesis  can immediately be shown to be false  

  • by a specific, but very common group  of people, called receptive bilinguals  

  • They are people who have a highly proficient  understanding of language

  • but they cannot speak or write it

  • This situation is really common

  • among the children of immigrants

  • The family moves to a new country

  • and the parents continue to speak the language

  • of the old country, but the children will  adopt the language of the new country

  • and in that situation, it's common that  the children will be able to perfectly  

  • understand the language of their parents, but  will have a varying ability to express themselves  

  • Now, you cannot argue that these children are  not receiving comprehensible input

  • and not only is it comprehensible, but it is meaningful

  • It is input from their own parents about their own life

  • yet some of these children cannot speak  or write the language of their parents  

  • And this is just one example  of asymmetrical bilingualism  

  • In fact, in general, bilingualism is misunderstood

  • It is extremely, extremely rare

  • that people who speak two or more languages

  • will have equal abilities in all of them

  • And even though this is a well-known fact

  • and also totally natural,

  • this creates a great deal of shame

  • for some people, who want to honor their parents

  • and honor their culture through language

  • But the fact that people do not have equal  abilities in all their languages

  • is not surprising to me... at all

  • because I know something that everyone knows

  • if they take a moment to reflect

  • You get good at what you practice

  • and that's why I have an obligation

  • to talk about why this obsession with input is so dangerous

  • because it doesn't explain the full story

  • and I think, mainly, it's a problem of definitions

  • First let's ask two vital questions

  • One, what does it mean to acquirelanguage?

  • and two, what do you want?

  • Okay, so first, what does it mean to acquirelanguage?

  • If you define language acquisition,

  • if you define knowing a language as being able to comprehend it

  • and process it and understand it,

  • then I suppose that the input hypothesis is correct

  • But that is hardly what most language learners want

  • It's not an accident that people call themselves

  • English speakers or Japanese speakers

  • when they talk about their language abilities

  • The ability to speak, of course,

  • is quite valued, and in my experience

  • considered a fundamental skill

  • I wonder how many learners

  • would believe in a teacher that says,

  • "in my classroom you will learn to acquire languagebut not produce it"

  • Let's do a thought experiment

  • So, I sit down and I watch a video on YouTube

  • from a surgeon that shows me how to perform brain surgery

  • I totally comprehend the video

  • and everything that the surgeon does

  • Have I acquired the knowledge of this operation?

  • If not, how many videos would I need to watch

  • before I acquired the knowledge

  • Is that knowledge useful?

  • And how many videos would I need to watch

  • before you feel comfortable  with me operating on your brain

  • But, apart from that think about how  the idea of selling

  • the importance of input

  • discriminates againstmajority of the world's languages

  • The fact is that most of the world's  languages have never been written down... ever

  • But we have all become indoctrinated

  • into the idea that recorded language is king

  • that if it's written in a book or recorded  as a podcast or put on television

  • then it is real language that needs to be digested

  • and once you've done that you have acquired the language

  • Well, apart from a tiny percent of languages on the planet

  • that attitude won't get you very far

  • Apart from the fact that most languages produce  hardly any output,

  • so there is little or no input to digest,

  • how will you ever use that language

  • if you don't know how to speak it or write it

  • How do you think you will be accepted

  • as a human being and a member of a community

  • or a culture if you can't participate

  • in the most fundamental of all human actions

  • sharing

  • And maybe that's the part that upsets  me most about the input hypothesis  

  • It's not generous

  • It doesn't seek to contribute

  • It doesn't add anything

  • It just wants to suck on language like a parasite

  • and that brings us to the second question

  • and by far the most important

  • What do you want?

  • That is the first question that any good teacher asks

  • and so it's also the first question

  • that should be considered by any good teaching theory

  • If you want only to acquire language

  • then please spend all of your time and energy

  • on comprehensible input

  • But if you want to use language for the reason it was invented

  • communication

  • then you need to follow that basic logic of

  • "You get good at what you practice"

  • If you want to get good at reading

  • read more

  • If you want to get good at speaking

  • speak more

  • If you want to get good at writing

  • write more

  • and getting good at all of those things will require years

  • of hard work and a healthy dose of deliberate practice

  • Please don't let the promises

  • of false prophets and profits

  • rob you of the gift of language

  • which isn't about understanding language

  • but about understanding other people

  • and understanding yourself

  • and making a contribution to society

  • because now more than ever

  • the world needs to hear what you have to say

  • I'm Christian, this is Canguro

  • and I'll see you in class

  • [Music]

Anyone who has tried to learn a language

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A2 初級

The myth of input | How NOT to learn a language

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    S に公開 2023 年 12 月 08 日
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