MSI Press Blog

  Many language learners plateau at Level 3—Professional Proficiency—not because they lack motivation or exposure, but because they’ve unknowingly become trapped in a phenomenon known as linguistic fossilization. Fossilization refers to deeply ingrained errors in grammar (morphology and syntax), vocabulary, intonation, and pronunciation. These errors persist despite continued use of the language, often because they’ve been repeated so frequently that they become automatic. And here’s the catch: Level 4 proficiency demands not just fluency, but accuracy—a level of precision that fossilized habits simply can’t support. The late Boris Shekhtman, a revered Foreign Service Institute instructor and author of How to Improve Your Foreign Language Immediately , was a master at helping learners break free from this linguistic quicksand. He coined the term “self-drilling” to describe how learners inadvertently reinforce errors through repetition. His solution? Drill correct forms two to thr...

  Today's excerpt comes from  Communicative Focus  by Boris Shekhtman and Dina Kupchanka -  CF and Traits of Language Learning Individuals     The LCF individual focuses first of all on how to say what he or she wants to communicate. For this individual, how usually requires more attention and effort than what ; in other words, the mechanical plane of communication is more important than the ideational plane. As a result of this the LCF students have one main problem: pausing. Very often the pause reflects the extra time it takes for the LCF to prepare an answer using a low automated pattern. The LCF individual also has to hunt for low automated words to express his or her thoughts. This creates pauses between sentences and between words within sentences. In addition, when the LCF person makes mistakes, whether of grammar or vocabulary (because of low automaticity), he or she often notices his or her mistakes and immediately corrects them, which again give...

  Today's excerpt comes from  Communicative Focus  by Boris Shekhtman and Dina Kupchanka -  The Communicative Focus          We call the correlation between ideational and mechanical planes of speech Communicative Focus (CF). This term was introduced by Betty Lou Leaver and Boris Shekhtman (2002) in the book Developing Professional-Level Language Proficiency . CF convincingly reveals the communicative essence of a person's speech and shows that communicative quality of speech, first of all, depends on how automatic this person is in expressing his or her ideas.     This correlation may have different modes. The ideational and mechanical planes may coincide with each other, which makes CF completely automatic, and this coincidence means that ideational plan has enough controlled mechanical elements to express itself. The ideational plane and mechanical planes may not coincide with each other to this or that de...

    Today's excerpt comes from Communicative Focus  by Boris Shekhtman and Dina Kupchanka -  Communication between Native Speakers and Non-native Speakers and the Essence of Speech We are interested in communication between native and non-native speakers for one very important reason: this is the kind of communication for which all teachers are essentially preparing students. Regardless of the level of our students, whether they are beginners or already near-native speakers, if they want to use their second language, they nolens-volens enter this type of communication. We need to help them to participate in this communication with dignity and power and to close the gap between their language skills and those of native speakers. In order for us to prepare our students in this way, we must be knowledgeable about the specific nuances of verbal communication between native and non-native speakers.     The most obvious difference between the language perfor...

  Recently released - the audiobook for Communicative Focus  by Boris Shekhtman and Dina Kupchanka. In the current volume, the author describes in detail the theory and nature of the principles and practices used in his approach to language teaching. He is not afraid to talk about some aspects of language learning and teaching, such as the development of lexical and grammatical accuracy, as well as the need for memorization and the development of memory, that have been increasingly omitted from the classroom as a result of the rise in popularity of theories that debase their significance but which are very important, especially if students are to reach the highest level of proficiency. He also discusses some ideas, such as the unique nature of the connection between language and meaning that native speakers experience that non-native speakers must learn to deal with-in differing ways at differing levels of proficiency. His focus throughout is on communication and the nature of...

  Today's fortune cookie is associated with Communicative Focus by Boris Shekhtman and Dina Kupchanka. (Note: communicative is more complex than just speaking.) For more posts about this book and its author, click HERE . For more posts about our foreign language publications, click   HERE .                                    This book is on discounted sales at the  MSI Press webstore . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  reviewing  a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor@msipress.com. Want an  author-signed copy  of this book? Purchase the book at 25% discount (us...