ALG: The Most Unique Language Learning Method

Summary

This video explores why language learning is easier for children than adults, debunking common beliefs about brain development. It highlights how the experiences and approaches to learning differ significantly between the two groups. Dr. J. Marvin Brown's innovative method, Automatic Language Growth (ALG), is discussed as a way for adults to learn languages as effortlessly as children by focusing on comprehensible input and avoiding early speech. The video urges the creation of more opportunities and research to help adults learn languages effectively and enjoyably.

Takeaways

• 🌍 Language learning outcomes vary greatly between children and adults, with children often acquiring new languages more effectively.
• 🧠 The belief that children have a superior ability to learn languages due to brain development is challenged by the fact that early childhood learners do not outperform those who start later.
• 👶 Children benefit from a lot of comprehensible language exposure, which aids in their natural acquisition of language.
• 👨‍🦳 Adults often struggle with language learning due to less comprehensible exposure and a tendency to focus on abstractions rather than context.
• 🎓 The traditional adult approach to language learning, which includes studying grammar and practicing speaking, may not be as effective as the immersive, experiential learning seen in children.
• 👂 Dr. J. Marvin Brown's discovery suggests that language fluency comes from understanding the language, not just studying or practicing it.
• 📚 His ALG (Automatic Language Growth) method emphasizes the importance of comprehensible input and learning through enjoyable, meaningful experiences.
• 🤔 The effectiveness of language learning is not solely due to age but also the type of experience and approach taken by the learner.
• 📉 There is a lack of opportunities and research that supports adult language learning through methods similar to those of children, which could break the cycle of ineffective learning.
• 🔄 The vicious cycle of limited opportunities and lack of research needs to be transformed into a virtuous cycle that promotes effective language learning at any age.
• 🌟 The potential for adults to learn languages as effectively as children exists, and with the right approach and resources, this can be realized.

Q & A

Why do children generally learn new languages more easily than adults?

Children often have more exposure to understandable experiences with a language and focus on what's happening around them rather than consciously trying to learn the language. This natural, immersive experience helps them pick up the language more easily.

What is a common belief about language learning that the script challenges?

The script challenges the belief that children's brains are naturally better at picking up languages and that adults lose this ability as they grow older. Instead, it suggests that the differences in experiences and approaches are more significant factors.

How does the language learning experience of children differ from that of adults?

Children are exposed to a lot of understandable language related to their immediate surroundings, which helps them learn naturally. Adults, on the other hand, often have less exposure to such experiences and focus more on abstractions and study, which makes learning harder.

What did Dr. J. Marvin Brown discover about language learning in adults?

Dr. J. Marvin Brown discovered that adults can become fluent in a new language without study and practice by focusing on understanding the language through immersive experiences. He found that adults who listened first and didn't try to speak initially learned languages more like native speakers.

What is the Automatic Language Growth (ALG) approach developed by Dr. Brown?

The ALG approach focuses on giving learners a lot of understandable, engaging, and memorable experiences with the new language. This helps them pick up the language naturally, without conscious effort or study, leading to more fluent and accurate language use.

What did Dr. Brown's program suggest about the role of speaking early in language learning?

Dr. Brown's program suggested that trying to speak early in the language learning process can interfere with developing a clear mental image of the language, leading to issues like accents and broken grammar. Listening and understanding first is more effective.

Why might adults struggle more with language learning according to the script?

Adults struggle more with language learning because they often focus on studying and practicing the language rather than experiencing it naturally. They also tend to consciously think about the language, which can hinder the natural learning process.

What is a major difference in language learning between children and adults mentioned in the script?

A major difference is that children usually spend a lot of time in environments where they can understand the language being spoken around them, while adults often don't have as much exposure to understandable language input.

What does the script suggest about the research on language learning in adults?

The script suggests that there is very little research controlling for the differences in experiences between children and adults. It emphasizes the need for more research to explore how well adults can learn languages when they are given the same types of experiences as children.

What does the script propose to improve language learning opportunities for adults?

The script proposes creating more opportunities for adults to pick up languages naturally, through interesting and understandable experiences, without relying on study and practice. It advocates for a shift in research and teaching methods to better support adult language learners.

Outlines

00:00

👶 Language Learning Differences Between Children and Adults

This paragraph discusses the phenomenon where children tend to learn languages more effectively than adults. It presents the common belief that children have an innate ability to pick up languages easily, which seems to diminish with age. The script challenges this notion by suggesting that the difference in language acquisition is not solely due to biological factors but also to the type of experiences and approaches that children and adults have towards language learning. It highlights the importance of 'understandable experience' and the natural way children learn languages by focusing on the meaning rather than the language itself. The paragraph also introduces Dr. J. Marvin Brown's work and his discovery that adults can learn languages more effectively by listening and understanding first, rather than by studying and practicing.

05:03

🌟 The Automatic Language Growth (ALG) Approach

The second paragraph delves into the Automatic Language Growth approach developed by Dr. Brown, emphasizing the significance of providing learners with a wealth of understandable and engaging experiences in a new language. It explains that by focusing on meaning and creating strong neural connections, learners can naturally begin to speak the language without conscious effort. The paragraph also addresses potential questions about how to learn a language using this method and the lack of research supporting it. It calls for a change in the cycle of language learning opportunities and research to better understand and facilitate adult language acquisition, ultimately aiming to create a virtuous cycle of learning and discovery.

Keywords

💡Language Learning

Language learning refers to the process of acquiring new languages beyond one's native tongue. In the video, it's the central theme, illustrating the differences in how children and adults learn languages and the challenges adults face due to their learning methods and experiences. The script mentions how children learn languages effortlessly in a new environment, unlike adults who struggle, suggesting that the approach to learning is crucial.

💡Comprehensible Input

Comprehensible Input is a concept in language acquisition theory which posits that learners acquire a language when they receive input that is slightly more advanced than their current level but still understandable. The video emphasizes the importance of this concept, stating that children benefit from a lot of understandable language experience, which makes language learning easier for them compared to adults who often lack this kind of exposure.

💡Fluency

Fluency in the context of language learning refers to the ability to speak a language smoothly and with relative ease. The video discusses Dr. J. Marvin Brown's mission to help adults achieve fluency in a second language without effort, highlighting the contrast between the natural fluency children develop and the struggles adults have in attaining the same level of proficiency.

💡Accents

An accent in language learning is a distinctive way of pronouncing a language, often associated with a particular country or region. The script uses the term to describe the pronunciation issues that adults face when learning a new language, suggesting that starting to speak too early without a clear mental image of the language's sound can lead to persistent accents.

💡Grammar

Grammar refers to the set of structural rules governing the composition of sentences, phrases, and words in a language. The video contrasts the traditional adult approach of learning grammar as a primary method with the child's more immersive and experiential approach, which does not focus on grammar but on understanding and usage.

💡ALG (Automatic Language Growth)

Automatic Language Growth is a method developed by Dr. J. Marvin Brown that emphasizes learning a language through understandable experiences rather than formal study. The video describes ALG as a key to unlocking the ability of adults to learn languages as easily as children, by providing rich, enjoyable, and memorable experiences in the target language.

💡Mental Image

A mental image in the context of the video refers to the internal representation or concept of a language's sound and structure that a learner forms. It is suggested that children develop a clear mental image by listening first, which helps them to speak like native speakers, whereas adults often interfere with this process by trying to speak too early.

💡Experience

In the video, experience is highlighted as a critical factor in language learning, with a distinction made between the types of experiences that children and adults typically have with a new language. Children have more 'understandable experiences' where they hear language used in context, while adults often lack this, leading to a less effective learning process.

💡Abstractions

Abstractions, in the context of language learning, refer to concepts or ideas that are not tied to immediate sensory experience. The script notes that adults often encounter language through abstractions, such as theoretical discussions, which can be less conducive to language acquisition compared to the concrete, contextually grounded language experiences of children.

💡Consciousness

Consciousness in the video is related to the self-awareness and deliberate thought processes that adults apply to language learning, often to their detriment. It suggests that the ability to think consciously about language can interfere with the natural acquisition process, as opposed to the more subconscious learning that occurs in children.

💡Vicious Cycle

A vicious cycle in the video refers to the negative feedback loop where the lack of opportunities for adults to learn languages like children leads to a lack of research, which in turn perpetuates the belief that adults cannot learn languages as effectively, preventing better opportunities from being created. The script calls for a shift to a 'virtuous cycle' where research and opportunities work together to improve adult language learning.

Highlights

Children learn languages more easily than adults, often achieving fluency similar to native speakers.

The decline in language learning ability usually begins around adolescence, not in early childhood.

Adults struggle with language learning due to different experiences and approaches compared to children.

Children often learn languages by hearing and understanding a lot of language before they begin to speak.

Adults often try to speak a new language early on, without first spending enough time listening and understanding.

Dr. J. Marvin Brown developed the ALG (Automatic Language Growth) approach to help adults learn languages more like children.

ALG emphasizes giving learners a lot of understandable and engaging experiences with the new language.

In Dr. Brown's program, students who listened and waited to speak ended up sounding more like native speakers.

Adults often hinder their own language learning by thinking too much about the language instead of just experiencing it.

Dr. Brown's findings suggest that adults haven’t lost the ability to learn languages like children but have lost the opportunity.

The key to successful language learning for adults may be replicating the experiences and approaches of children.

Dr. Brown's method focuses on understanding language through context, not on studying or practicing it.

Research supports the importance of comprehensible input in language learning, but opportunities for adults to learn this way are limited.

There is a need for more research on adult language learning without study or practice, similar to children's methods.

New research and content creation are beginning to explore how adults can learn languages effortlessly and effectively, leading to more opportunities.

Transcripts

Imagine a family moves to a country where a different language is spoken.

After a few years, the children are speaking the language like those who were born there.

But the parents can’t speak it nearly as well.

We see things like this all around us, and research backs up what we observe:

The older one begins to learn a language, the worse the results tend to be.

It seems as if language learning is easy for children but much harder for adults.

The common belief is that children’s brains pick up languages easily and perfectly, but we lose this ability as we grow up.

One problem with that idea is many big changes in the brain happen in the first few years of life.

But those who start learning a new language as young children still do about as well as those who started from birth.

The big decline in language learning we see only happens much later, around adolescence.

This suggests that it has to do with something other than the brain.

What we forget is there’s a huge difference between what children and adults learning languages typically experience and do.

Let’s first look at experience.

Children spend a lot of time getting experiences where people talk about what’s happening around them.

That means they hear a lot of language in ways that they can understand what is being said.

All this understandable experience with language makes it easy for them to pick it up.

Adults often spend far less time with their new language,

and much of what they hear is about abstractions and things that are happening elsewhere.

This lack of understandable experience with a language makes it harder to learn.

When adults do get a lot of understandable experience with their second language, they tend to do much better.

But they still don’t usually do quite as well as those who began as children.

To see why this might be, let’s look at what children and adults typically do.

Young children hear and understand a lot of language before they speak it much.

They focus on what they’re experiencing rather than the language they’re learning.

They pick up languages without study and only later do things like read and learn about grammar.

Adults often try to speak a new language a lot before they’ve even heard it much.

Instead of listening and understanding, they begin by learning about the language, studying and practicing it.

They get less experience with their new language, yet they try to do everything else from the start!

Could these huge differences explain why language learning seems so much harder for adults?

What if adult learners experienced and did the same kinds of things as children?

Could they then learn languages as easily, and as well?

An American linguist tried to answer these questions.

Dr. J. Marvin Brown’s mission was for adults to become like native speakers in their second languages

— to speak them correctly without effort.

In charge of teaching at Thailand’s premier language school, for years he tried to achieve this through study and practice.

Meanwhile, he noticed that some adults had picked up languages better and faster without studying or even trying to speak.

They just did things they enjoyed with people who spoke the language, and eventually they too could speak them very well.

Dr. Brown mostly ignored this and kept trying.

But he and his students could never speak both fluently and accurately.

Worse, he found out his students hated his study and practice.

He had hit rock bottom.

It was then that he discovered the idea that we become fluent in a language not through study and practice,

but through understanding things in the language.

In 1984, he created new classes where adults could learn Thai without study.

The students watched and listened as the teachers acted out scenes, gave demonstrations, told stories, and made jokes

—all in Thai.

Because the teachers used things like pictures, gestures, and props as they spoke,

the students could understand and pick up the language.

Now this program was very different,

but there are others that teach languages without study or translation.

What made it really unique was what Dr. Brown told the students:

just listen to the language and don’t try to speak it.

Most students ignored his advice and tried to speak from the very beginning.

But some just watched, listened, and waited until they could begin to speak without trying.

In a few years, Dr. Brown had his first results.

Remember the family of immigrants?

The students who tried to speak from the start ended up like the parents,

speaking broken Thai with bad pronunciation.

But most who just listened first ended up like the children, sounding a lot like native speakers.

Dr. Brown thought that by listening first,

children develop a clear mental image of how a new language should sound.

By trying to speak from the start, adults usually interfere with this process.

Because of this they end up with speaking with accents and broken grammar.

But some students had the same problems even though they hadn’t tried to speak.

What was happening here?

It seemed they were thinking about the language as they listened,

doing things like comparing it with their first language instead of just letting it become clear.

Dr. Brown concluded that adults haven’t lost the ability to learn languages like children.

Rather, they’ve lost the opportunities for experience that children get,

and gained abilities to consciously think about language,

and try to speak, study, and practice it.

Using these abilities gets in the way of learning languages as well as children do.

That suggests with the same kind of experience and approach as children,

adults can learn languages practically as easily and as well.

The approach Dr. Brown developed to achieve this is called ALG: Automatic Language Growth.

The key is to give learners a lot of understandable experience with a new language from the start.

This experience should be really interesting, fun, and memorable.

That keeps learners focused on meaning so they pick up the language without thinking about it.

It also creates a lot of strong connections in the brain that build

the ability to understand and then speak the language.

Learners begin to speak without trying as words and phrases come to mind automatically.

Dr. Brown wrote that those who did best with ALG were those who practically forgot they were learning a language.

Right now you might have a couple questions.

First, how can I learn a language this way?

Unfortunately, there aren’t many opportunities besides the Thai program Dr. Brown started over 30 years ago.

Researchers agree that understandable experience with language—or comprehensible input—is vital to language learning.

Yet there’s still very little of this today for adult beginners to pick up new languages from efficiently without study.

Instead of interesting and understandable experience, we get grammar books and study materials.

Second, where’s the research on all this?

Surprisingly, there’s almost no research that controls for the huge differences we’ve seen between adults and children.

We cannot conclude that age itself causes the decline we see, when what we experience and do changes so much with age.

We need research that, like Dr. Brown’s program, has adults learn languages like children

—without study or practice—to see what the results will be.

This lack of opportunities and research creates a vicious cycle.

Without the opportunities to pick up languages like children, it’s hard to find out just how well adults can learn this way.

And without this research, it’s assumed that adults just can’t learn this way, so better opportunities aren’t being created.

But this is starting to change.

People are making interesting content that adults can learn languages from without study.

New research suggests how we learn languages may matter much more than when.

Let’s turn this vicious cycle into a virtuous cycle.

One where research is showing just how well we as adults can pick up languages, and better ways for us to do it.

One where countless opportunities are being created so we can effortlessly pick up languages at any age,

while having fun doing and learning many other things.

It’s time.

To learn more, visit beyondlanguagelearning.com

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