“But I already learned that…”

Any foreign language teacher will be quite familiar with this complaint — usually delivered in a whiny voice which grates like an “Urkel” catchphrase…  Teaching ESL again this last week (in lieu of my academic-year teaching of English composition to both international students and native English speakers) has quickly reacquainted me with the perils of students’ attempts at self-assessment.  Language assessment is a rather inexact science, at best, but all of us in my profession try our best to place students in classes where they have the best opportunity for growth and development.  Inevitably, however, there will be students who object to their placements — and 99% of all such complaints are from students who think their placement is too low.  There are a variety of ways by which students come to decide that their placement is much too low for their liking.  Many students get upset at perceived level differences between themselves and their classmates.  Often, they will decide that because they cannot understand (or be understood) by classmate from “country X,” they must be waaaay higher in level.  Sometimes this is the source of some high comedy, as the student that they are basing this comparison upon may, in all reality be the superior student.  More typically, it’s a matter of what skills they choose to base such comparisons on.  For example, the student may think because his/her oral fluency is higher than anyone else in the class, that he/she should be bumped up, but the student remains grossly ignorant that his/her grammar skills are amongst the worst in the class.  I once had a student who made that exact argument and was chastised to discover that the student whom he was using for comparison had consistently outperformed him in grammar and reading tests by a factor of nearly +50%.

The most common means by which students try to assess their own level, however, is usually the criterion of what the teacher is covering in class.  Namely– is the teacher covering new material or not.  Ever so many students become almost personally offended whenever a teacher tries to cover a subject that “we already know that..”   The important thing to realize in language study is that language proficiency is not merely the sum of acquired knowledge….  Indeed, if it were, all one would need to do to learn a language would be to read one good-sized manual on the rules and constructions of the language.  Clearly this is not the case in the real world.  There is a sizable difference between “studying” a language and “learning” a language.  There is an even bigger difference between “learning” and “knowing” a language.  In order to “know” a language — or even an isolated grammar point — one has to drill the point again and again to the point of automaticity.  It takes a long time to be able to productively use grammar points and phrases — hence in formal lessons, one can reasonably expect to retread the same exercises and points again and again.  For example, when I was in 5th year Spanish, we certainly upon occasion were expected to perform exercises that were straight from 1st and 2nd year texts.  There was never any question of whether we had seen the material before, but until the points came automatically when speaking, they were well worth practicing.  The funny part is that students will often make multiple errors in a certain grammar point while complaining that they “already know” it.

So, a little advice to all people doing formal FL studies…  Don’t fret if you find yourself covering points that you’ve seen before.  Copious and frequent review is imperative if you truly expect to ever “know” the language.

Hi there!

Well, I know it must be hard to have EVERYONE on EXACTLY the same level in class, and it certainly does make sense to me that even though one student may appear to have a great knowledge of the language because of their oral skills, they may, as you said, not have a terrific grasp of grammar. Everyone learns differently, at a different pace, some needs more practice than others, and to me it seemed like some students in my class just “got things” a lot quicker than I did. I had to study study study if I wanted to remember my vocab from class. I always repeated activities and vocab from class, later on that day just to reiterate what I had learned. I don’t think that’s a bad thing.

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About three times a month, I find myself telling a student that, “It’s nice to have language here” - hands on top of head - “but it doesn’t really count till out comes out right and automatically here” - cup hands around mouth as if to shout. I add, “Knowing language here” - hands back on head - “is nice, but if you’re talking with an important client and the words aren’t coming out automatically here” - hands back to mouth - “they’re not going to know whether the problem’s with your language or your message, but…” and then I shrug my shoulders. The usual response is a thoughtful pause, a brief look of terror and an acknowledgment that a little more practice wouldn’t hurt. I don’t do this with students who don’t need it, but if the student’s at risk of making himself look like an idiot - and your program look like a joke - sometimes you have to do what you have to do.