| Introduction | | | | fluency and that is by Comprehensible Input." |
| In the 1990's when I was contemplating learning | | | | "Comprehensible input means that students should be |
| Spanish, I was told repeatedly by well-meaning friends | | | | able to understand the essence of what is being said |
| that if I really wanted to learn Spanish I would have to | | | | or presented to them." (What Is Comprehensible Input? |
| live in a country in which Spanish was the dominate | | | | Excerpted from Teaching English-Language Learners |
| spoken tongue. If you Google "Spanish Immersion," you | | | | with Learning Difficulties) |
| will get 1,790,000 hits. After exhausting myself by | | | | We met this lovely woman in a bookstore here in |
| reading about 250 websites, all of which tried very | | | | Guanajuato. After telling us she and her husband were |
| hard to get me to enroll in their costly Spanish | | | | in Guanajuato to study Spanish for six months, I asked |
| Immersion Courses located in various | | | | her how her classes were going. What she said |
| Spanish-speaking countries, which would have required | | | | perfectly describes the Comprehensible Input problem. |
| me to re-mortgage my home a billion times plus hope | | | | She told me that she and her husband were enjoying |
| some rich philanthropist would bequeath me the | | | | the experience of being in the city and seeing the |
| entirety of his off-shore accounts, I decided to include | | | | sights. However, she went on to say, she wished that |
| this quote representing the consensus of what | | | | she could actually understand what her teachers were |
| "Spanish Immersion" means: | | | | saying and she wished she had the linguistic skill to ask |
| "It is learning a foreign language the same way we | | | | questions. |
| learned English (or whatever our native language is): by | | | | In the attempt to achieve the highest degree of |
| living it. In a typical language immersion school, the | | | | spoken fluency in the targeted language, you must be |
| student doesn't study only in the formal sense - he or | | | | exposed to meaningful, understandable, and highly |
| she lives the language. Classes are taught entirely in | | | | comprehensible input. Progress is made when input is |
| Spanish, speaking in another language at any time is | | | | introduced that is at a slightly higher level...a little more |
| discouraged, and the student lives in Spanish-speaking | | | | difficult than the input you've mastered...and so on and |
| environment." (Spanish Immersion School FAQ, Schools | | | | so on. |
| Help You Combine Study and Travel, By Gerald | | | | Comprehensible Input, by the way, does not have to |
| Erichsen, About.com) | | | | occur in a foreign country where the targeted or |
| With an idea similar to this quote as the definition of | | | | desired language is spoken. You can do this wherever |
| "Spanish Immersion," my wife and I, who also wanted | | | | you live. Having to "Live in the language" or in the |
| to learn Spanish, sold all our earthly belongings and | | | | country in which the language is the dominate tongue is |
| moved to Guanajuato, Mexico in the year 2003 to "live | | | | a myth. |
| in the language." After four months of Spanish classes | | | | "The best methods are therefore those that supply |
| (five days a week and three hours per day) and four | | | | 'comprehensible input' in low anxiety situations, |
| years of living here, we could not speak or understand | | | | containing messages that students really want to hear. |
| Spanish any better than we could before we came to | | | | These methods do not force early production in the |
| Mexico. Though we could tell you the differences | | | | second language, but allow students to produce when |
| between the verbs estar and ser and when to use | | | | they are 'ready', recognizing that improvement comes |
| the subjunctive, we were not anywhere close to | | | | from supplying communicative and comprehensible |
| fluency though we lived in the language as full-time | | | | input, and not from forcing and correcting production." |
| expatriates. | | | | (Krashen) |
| We suddenly and very disturbingly had an "Oh my | | | | And this quote leads nicely into the next myth. |
| God, what have we done" moment! | | | | Myth # 3 |
| Being the person I am, I went into research mode | | | | Language Acquisition is different than Language |
| (research which led to many books and about 600 | | | | Learning |
| articles, by the way) to take apart and dissect the | | | | Language learning looks something like this: |
| points of the uniformly-accepted definition of what | | | | You enroll in a class. The only difference between a |
| "Spanish Immersion" or "Language Immersion" | | | | Spanish class in Mexico and one in the States will be |
| meant...the true meaning! | | | | the Mexican class will be conducted entirely in Spanish. |
| Many tourists we've met in Mexico, when they learn | | | | You will be given a book, maybe a workbook too, and |
| just how long we've lived in Mexico, invariably make | | | | begin to learn the Spanish parts of speech-all taught in |
| the statement, "I bet you are now 100% fluent in | | | | Spanish! |
| Spanish", to which we were forced to reply, "Then you | | | | "American systems concentrate so heavily on |
| would lose that bet." I would ask these folks what they | | | | memorizing "surface" grammatical rules that they |
| thought fluency meant. They would give all manner of | | | | provide only a set of limited vocabulary items." (Winitz) |
| replies with the basic idea conveyed that because we | | | | Whether you are in you home country or in the |
| "lived in the language" and that somehow, perhaps as | | | | country where the language you want to learn is |
| if by magic, we had managed to absorb the language | | | | spoken, you will be sitting in a classroom in which |
| like a sponge. | | | | grammar is disseminated. |
| Myth # 1 | | | | That is a situation in which something might be learned |
| Living in a country in which your targeted language is | | | | about the language but it will not come close to |
| predominately spoken guarantees nothing! | | | | language acquisition, which is what we all want, do we |
| There truly is this universal belief by every language | | | | not? |
| student or tourist we've interviewed that they think | | | | "Acquisition requires meaningful interaction in the target |
| there is some magic osmosis that occurs when you | | | | language - natural communication - in which speakers |
| live in Mexico. You will wake up one day and be native | | | | are concerned not with the form of their utterances |
| fluent. You will be able to rattle off Spanish at the | | | | but with the messages they are conveying and |
| "Speed of light and a hearty Hi-Ho Silver" with the best | | | | understanding." (Krashen) |
| of them. And, really with the false and misleading | | | | What comes first in the language acquisition process is |
| definition of what "language immersion" means posted | | | | listening, not speaking. Many do not or cannot make |
| all over the Internet, how can you blame the | | | | the distinction between acquiring a language and |
| uninformed? | | | | learning a language. There is a difference. One |
| Coming to the country where your targeted language | | | | engages the development of speech in the speech |
| is spoken will not necessarily work to give you fluency. | | | | centers in your brain while the other engages the |
| Coming for a week, or forever, will not mysteriously | | | | cognitive portions of your brain. If what you want is the |
| empower you with fluency. One reason is one we've | | | | acquisition of speech, then you need to engage in the |
| observed now for more than five years of living in this | | | | process that gives it to you. You will not find speech or |
| country. | | | | language acquisition in a classroom using a textbook. |
| The vast majority of Gringo students come with good | | | | You just won't! Long before you begin to form words |
| intentions but one of the very first things they do is | | | | and sentences, you need to listen-a silent period! |
| form friendships with their fellow Gringo students. They | | | | The Silent Period |
| hang out together for their entire time in the country. | | | | "Observations and studies of children's |
| Though they go through classes, afterwards, in their | | | | second-language acquisition (see Krashen 1985) have |
| free time, they associate mostly among themselves. | | | | revealed that in the initial phase of the language |
| They hang out with those who are from their home | | | | acquisition process, there is typically a 'silent period' |
| country practically the entire time they are here. If | | | | during which children acquiring a new language in |
| "Immersion" was, and it is not, "living in the targeted | | | | natural settings are silent and concentrate on |
| language," then the typical language student who has | | | | comprehension. And they may respond, if necessary, |
| spent a fortune to come here defeats the purpose, | | | | only in a non-verbal way or by making use of a set of |
| don't you think? | | | | memorized phrases. This phenomenon is also |
| The only way coming to Mexico to study Spanish will | | | | observed when we see how children acquire their |
| work for anyone is to have the highest degree of | | | | mother tongue." (Taeko Tomioka) |
| spoken fluency in Spanish before coming to study | | | | This same phenomenon must be engaged in the adult |
| Spanish. | | | | learner in order to acquire speech in the targeted |
| Confused? Read on... | | | | language. |
| Myth # 2 | | | | "In a study by Petoskey, 1974; Winitz, 1981; J. Gary and |
| Immersion in a foreign language means "living in the | | | | N. Gary, 1981, they postulated that the most effective |
| country in which the targeted language is spoken." | | | | methodology for the adult learner of a second |
| Not so! | | | | language is one in which listening (that "period of |
| Nor does immersion, when applied to second language | | | | silence") is the focus before any speaking is done." |
| acquisition, mean "grammar-translation courses taught | | | | (Learn How to Learn Spanish: Bower) |
| in concentrated periods of time." (Winitz) | | | | Listening first, and I mean lots and lots of intensive |
| What it means to be "Immersed" in any language other | | | | listening to comprehensible input, and speaking second |
| than your own, for the purpose of second language | | | | is how you, Mr. Adult Bilingual Wannebee American, |
| acquisition, "refers to massive amounts of input with | | | | learned English. You must use this same method to |
| meaning, similar to the way we are exposed to and | | | | learn Spanish or any other language you choose to |
| learn our first (native) language." (Winitz) | | | | learn. |
| To further expand on this correct definition, "True | | | | "A number of experiments were conducted to test a |
| Immersion refers to massive amounts of | | | | 'silent period' hypothesis and results reported seem to |
| Comprehensible Input, which is the exact manner in | | | | constitute arguments in favor of a 'silent period' in initial |
| which we all learned our native language." | | | | stages of L2 learning even in the formal environment. |
| Many times I've had people tell me that there are | | | | There are also several researchers who have |
| hundreds of methods of language learning in which you | | | | developed teaching strategies based on a 'silent period' |
| can enroll or purchase for home study. I reply to that | | | | hypothesis. The purpose of this paper is to search |
| by saying "There are hundreds of language-learning | | | | through the literature concerning such experiments and |
| courses that will teach you something about the | | | | researches and to consider the possibility of introducing |
| language but there is only one way to achieve spoken | | | | such strategies in ESL/EFL classrooms. |