Daily Excerpt: Think Yourself into Becoming a Language-Learning Super Star (Leaver) - Introduction
Excerpt from Think Yourself into Becoming a Language Learning Super Star! by Betty Lou Leaver, PhD.
INTRODUCTION
This
is not your typical tip book on how to learn foreign languages. It does not
tell you to do a list of 15 things and assure you that you will become the
language classroom star because typical lists of tips do not work for all
leaners. Sometimes, almost none of the traditional tips and tricks work for
some people.
This
book does not offer you learning strategies for reading, listening, writing,
speaking, memorizing for vocabulary, and getting good with grammar. There is no
need for yet another book on the topic of learning strategies. Good books
exist. The best on, in opinion, is Teaching and researching language
learning strategies: Self-regulation in context (Oxford, 2017). You should get it, use it, and keep it handy. You
will not need a better guide for learning strategies than that. Oxford (1986)
has also produced a well-vetted instrument: Strategy Inventory for Language
Learning.
What this book offers
This
book is different. While it does include some traditional tips that have
usually worked for most people, including some strategies, it mostly focuses on
you, who you are, how you learn, and what you, personally, can do to make your
learning easier, faster, and more fun. Most important, it is about you think
and how changing your thinking can help you become a much better language
learner overnight.
You
are not some average Joe. You are a special, unique person with specific
strengths and particular weaknesses. The source of your strengths can be
maximized if you can identify the source and know how to maximize what is
working for you and should work for you even better. Likewise, you can minimize
your weaknesses if you know what is not working for you and what might work
instead. That is the point of this book.
Who wrote this book
So,
who am I to write this book? I have taught hundreds of students as a teacher of
Russian and ESL. As an academic administrator, the focus of most of my career, I
have overseen dozens of language programs, thousands of teachers (literally),
and tens of thousands of students (again, literally). I have overseen US
government programs for three government institutions (Foreign Service
Institute, NASA, Defense Language Institute), as well as for university,
for-profit institutes, and non-profit organizations.
Maybe
even more important, I am and always have been a language learner. What I
suggest in this book is a sharing of both what I have done as a successful
language learner and also what I have seen as an administrator of language
programs. As a language learner, I have been tested at near-native in French
and Russian, professional level in German and Spanish, and (estimated by a
proficiency tester) working level in Czech. In total, I have studied 19
languages. So, in short, I think it is safe to assume that I know whereof I
speak.
This
experience has provided me with shortcuts and easier ways to learn languages. I
have watched many students struggle unnecessarily and hope that you will not be
one of them, thanks to this book.
How this book is structured
It can be difficult to divide the kinds of information in this book into neat little compartments of information because whatever categories one might use, they will overlap. For example, chemicals affect health, and chemical affect. And health itself affects memory. Metacognitive strategies can help improve health but are probably more important for how they can help improve cognition and choice of cognitive strategies (for reading, listening, speaking, etc.).
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For more book excerpts, click HERE.
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