MSI Press Blog

    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 performance of native and non-native

  excerpt from How to Improve Your Foreign Language Immediately by Boris Shekhtman -  TOOL #5: BREAKAWAY There is a second tool which can enable us to say what we really want to say. To understand the functioning of this tool, we have to understand the dynamics of knowing two languages. There is a very interesting relationship between these two languages, determined by the extent of the foreigner’s knowledge of the second language. In fact, if the foreigner knows the second language as well as he or she knows the first, it is possible there will not be any dependency at all between the two languages. These languages can exist independently of one another. Our foreigner can turn on the first language, or the second one, at will. But the relationship between these two languages can become complicated very quickly if our foreigner does not know second language as well as the first. In this case, the foreigner, as he or she encounters deficiencies in speaking the second language, relies o

Excerpt from Practices That Work by Thomas Jesus Garza.  Be Sensitive to Learning Styles   Betty Lou Leaver (Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center) Madeline Ehrman (Foreign Service Institute) Teachers working with language learners at all levels have for some decades now recognized that learners have specific sensory and cognitive preferences when it comes to learning and specific ways of interacting with classmates. These individual differences can be very important both in positive and negative ways in the language process, the significance of which may change as one progresses up the ladder of proficiency. One phenomenon that has been observed by language teachers and their learners over time is the “tortoise and hare” syndrome. Learners who are painfully accurate—and therefore slow— in the beginning of language study often outdistance their faster peers who can plateau at the Advanced/Superior threshold because they have become comfortable with being

           Just out! Volume 8 of the  Journal for Distinguished Language Studies . Read the abstracts. See something you like? Explore more! The JDLS is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, other online sellers, the MSI Press webstore -- and, in some (we hope, many) cases your local academic library. (If you want it at your local public library -- just ask the librarian to order it, or better,  subscribe  to it.) Volume 8 Abstracts Beyond the Language: Debating as High-Intensity Cultural Engagement & Leadership Emilie Cleret (French War College) This article discusses the use of debating in senior professional military education (PME) at the French War College in Paris to help officers reach native-like English language competence. In France, senior Professional Military Education (PME) is delivered by two schools – Ecole de Guerre (French War College) and Centre des hautes études militaires, (Centre for Higher Military Studies). The case this article explores is the use of d

  Achieving Native-Like Second Language Proficiency  (Speaking) by Betty Lou Leaver is a research-based catalogue of factors that would seem to predict ability to reach the highest level of foreign language proficiency and is based on common characteristics shared by more than 200 near-native speakers, identified by self-report, survey, and interviews by master testers. Following up on last week's post, one of the motivational frameworks considered was extrinsic vs intrinsic motivation. succeeding in foreign language study. Many individuals were both extrinsically and intrinsically motivated; each form of motivation contributed in its own way to the individual’s willingness to continue learning through near-native levels of proficiency. Roughly 88% of the interviewees identified their motivation as something that could be classified extrinsic, including 82% that were clearly instrumentally motivated; 48% identified their motivation as intrinsic. Obviously, 30% of the interviewees r

  Today's excerpt comes from  Achieving Native-Like Second Language Proficiency  (Speaking) by Betty Lou Leaver. Factor 2: Onset of Language Learning        The younger the language learner when he or she begins study, the more likely that learner is to reach native and near-native levels of foreign language proficiency. So goes the convention wisdom—and the conventional folly. What the data from this study show is that learning foreign languages in elementary school years is a positive thing; however, it will not bring anyone to a Level 4 any faster than learning the language as an adult. Indeed, in some areas, given their greater cognitive development and already existing linguistic system(s), adult learners, hour for hour, are generally much more efficient learners than children. Researchers sometimes are “fooled” because children are much better at eliminating a foreign language than are adults, and they appear to learn more language faster simply because they spend all day wit