Episode 01 Transcript

00:03 Hey everyone! It’s Anne from Elevate English. Thank you so much for being here today for my first episode!

00:10 I want to help people improve their English in a fun, more natural way.

00:15 To get the transcript of this episode and read along while I talk, follow the link in the description or visit my website: elevate-english.com

00:25 I started this podcast for intermediate learners. There’s a lot of content out there to help beginners, and a ton of English media created for native speakers. But what do you do if you’re in the middle? If you understand the basics, but many TV shows or podcasts are still too hard?

00:43 I had this exact same problem when I was learning French. Luckily, I found a podcast called Inner French that was a perfect level for me. It was slower than others, but still talked about interesting topics so I didn’t get bored. And, I could read along with the transcript at first when there were some parts that I really didn’t understand. After listening for a few months, it was easier for me to understand French news and TV shows. And I felt a little more confident speaking French, since I knew what it should sound like.

01:14 I was inspired to create this same kind of podcast for my students.

01:17 Alright so today we’re going to talk about the psychology behind learning languages. How does our brain actually learn language?

01:24 Oh and a quick reminder before we start- it’s totally normal not to understand everything the first time that you hear it. Listening to the same thing a few times, can help. Also reading the transcript while you listen can help train your brain to match sounds to words.

01:41 Okay, back to today’s topic. Psychologists, people who study the brain and human behavior, and linguistic researchers, people who study language itself, have many theories about how humans learn languages. One guy in particular, Stephen Krashen, has a really interesting theory about this.

02:01 Stephen Krashen is an American linguist and professor at the University of Southern California. In the 80’s, in the years around 1980, he published many books and articles that changed the way languages are taught in schools. These theories were very influential among researchers and teachers, including me! I’ve based this podcast and a lot of my teaching style on his theories. The main idea is to learn languages in a more natural way.

02:29 So today we’re going to talk about his Theory of Second Language Acquisition. There are 5 hypotheses, 5 main points in this theory.

02:37 #1: The Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis

02:42 First of all, Professor Krashen says we must differentiate; we must make a difference between acquisition and learning.

02:50 The word acquisition comes from the verb acquire. To acquire something means you get something. For example, if you buy an iPhone, you acquire it. Now the iPhone belongs to you. Then what does this mean to acquire a language? Acquiring a language is how you learn your native language. It’s what happens when you are a child, and without making a huge effort, you start to speak. You feel hungry, or you want to sleep, so you have to try to express yourself, to share those ideas. Parents reinforce this by their happy reactions or giving you what you want. Later on, they might correct your language, but mostly you learn through exposure. You listen to the world around you, and like magic you can speak. For Professor Krashen this is the natural way to learn a language. He thinks acquisition is the best way to learn, even for a foreign language.

03:46 Often though we learn foreign languages later in life, like in school. In the US for example it’s really common to learn Spanish in high school. This type of learning is what Professor Krashen calls the “learned system”. The learned system is conscious, it’s something we know we are doing. When you take an English class at school, you know you’re learning English. It’s a conscious process. Normally you learn grammar rules, memorize words, and are taught how to form correct sentences.

04:16 Krashen thinks that when we learn a language like this in school, we’re not learning how to actually communicate in that language. I’ve experienced this myself with French. I studied it for 4 years in high school, but when I visited Paris for the first time it was still really hard to talk to people and understand them. So, to summarize the first hypothesis, Professor Krashen says that we should try to acquire languages, like the way children learn their native language, instead of learning them the traditional way.

04:45 Clearly, there’s some criticism of this first hypothesis. In my opinion, when you learn another language as an adult, it is helpful to learn some basic grammar rules. The first step is to learn some simple words and structures. Like this you can communicate some basic ideas, and start trying to understand the language when you hear it. I think of it as a little boost, or a little head start. But as soon as you can I’d recommend going the natural route- listening to a ton of content and then trying to speak, even if you make mistakes. Making mistakes isn’t a big deal at all. It’s actually a super important part of how our brain retains information.

05:23 #2: The Monitor Hypothesis

05:26 First off, what’s a monitor? Well, it’s like a controller, someone who controls or checks. For example, someone who checks your ticket in the metro, or checks your passport when you go to another country. It’s a person who makes sure you are following the rules.

05:42 When we learn a language, there’s a monitor in our brain. It tries to see if we are respecting all the rules. The grammar rules, the pronunciation rules. And something interesting about this Monitor, this little controller guy is that not everyone has the same kind. If you’re someone who’s more extroverted, which means a person who gets energy from being around people a lot of the time, the monitor is quieter. The controller in your brain has less influence on you. You can talk, and it doesn’t stop you. It’s not a big deal if you don’t follow all the rules.

06:15 On the other hand, if you’re more introverted. If you’re the kind of person that needs some more alone time, the monitor is very active. Us introverts often want to feel prepared for social situations. We want to know what to say. So as soon as you try to speak another language, the monitor starts making sure you’re following all the rules perfectly. It doesn’t want you to make a single mistake. That, unfortunately, is not so helpful. To improve you have to speak, even if you’re not sure if what you say is 100% correct. If you don’t try to express ideas, if you don’t make mistakes, you won’t make progress in the language.

06:52 It’s normal to be afraid to make mistakes, but everyone makes them. Probably like 95% of the time the person you’re talking to isn’t judging your mistakes, they’re actually thinking it’s so cool that you’re making an effort to speak their language.

07:05 So, Krashen’s second hypothesis says that we have to tell our monitor to be quiet. We have to limit the influence of the controller so it doesn’t block us from speaking. It might never be completely silent, but we get better at telling it to chill for a bit and let us talk.

07:21 #3: The Input Hypothesis

07:25 Alright so now we need to talk about Input. Input means something that comes in. It starts outside, and it comes inside. This is another super important point from our friend Professor Krashen. The Input Hypothesis says that when we learn a second language, we have to try to understand content. When you read an article, listen to a podcast, or when you watch a video in English you’re getting input. You hear or see some English, and you’ve gotta [got to] try to understand it.

07:55 But it can’t just be any content. If it’s too easy, you won’t learn anything new. To acquire a language, we have to try to understand things that are a little too difficult. We need to read articles or listen to audio that’s at a slightly higher level than our current level. Things that are a little hard to understand on the first try. This way, your brain has to make an effort. It has to use the context to understand.

08:20 We don’t have to understand 100% of the words we see or hear to understand the main point. Our brains are really powerful. If we understand say, 80% of the words, our brain fills in the rest. It uses context cues, such as images if we’re watching something, or general knowledge on the topic to fill in whatever is missing.

08:42 If we want to know the specific meaning of a certain word or phrase, we could use google translate or turn on the subtitles. But often, it’s more beneficial to search for the English definition instead. Like that, you will have to make a little effort, which will help your brain memorize the word and remember it better than if you just translated it.

09:01 So that’s the third hypothesis. Listen to a lot of content, but especially content that is slightly too hard for you. Professor Krashen also says that understanding is more important than speaking. For him, we make more progress through comprehension. In my opinion, I don’t think that one is more important than the other. I think learning to speak, and being confident when you speak a language, is extremely important. But, for me, listening to a lot of content is a really important step in speaking better. If you don’t know how the language is supposed to sound, how can you speak it well?

09:35 #4: The Affective Filter Hypothesis

09:40 Okay let me explain this term “Affective Filter”. A filter. To make coffee, we need to use a filter to separate the liquid from the coffee grounds. It keeps certain things in, and lets other things pass through. And affective, this word is related to emotions. For example, the word affection is the feeling of liking someone or something. I have great affection for my cute little cats. So, an affective filter, this is our feelings, positive or negative, that influence our language learning.

10:11 Our filter can make it easier for us to learn a language, or harder. For example, if you are very motivated and confident in yourself, you’re in a better mindset to understand a language. You’ll learn more quickly, because your filter is letting the language in easily. However, if you’re not confident, if you think you’re not capable of learning a language, it’ll be more difficult. The filter in your brain will block things. It’ll make it harder for information to get in your brain.

10:38 So for this reason, your emotions, your learning atmosphere is very important. If you’re calm, if you feel good, it’ll be easier for you to learn. On the other hand, if you’re stressed and anxious, your filter, your affective filter, will block the message. You’re not going to understand what you hear. This is also the reason why, if you learn a language with a teacher, it’s important to have a good relationship with that person. You need to feel comfortable with them. If you’re scared to make mistakes with them, you won’t be in a good mindset to learn.

11:09 #5: The Natural Order Hypothesis

11:12 Look we made it to the last one! Krashen’s fifth and final hypothesis says that each language has a natural order of acquisition. That means that each person acquires a language by following the same order, the same steps. The order doesn’t depend on the person, it only depends on the language. For example, in English, prepositions and phrasal verbs are very difficult to master.

11:35 First, we need to master basic nouns and simple verbs, and then we can move on to more complicated things like phrasal verbs and prepositions. I don’t completely agree with this hypothesis, because I think students do learn things differently, especially depending on their native language. A Chinese student might find it much harder to learn articles in English than a French student, because French has articles as well. And, students that listen to a lot of native content like we talked about in the third hypothesis, they might find it easier to learn prepositions than students who only memorize the rules.

12:10 For me, the conclusion of all of these hypotheses is that it’s not so important to have a huge knowledge of grammar to be able to use a language. The most important thing is to work on understanding. Listen to many things and try to understand the message. Then, try to express an idea you have. Don’t focus on being perfect. Focus on communicating.

12:32 I wanted to share these ideas with you so you can make progress and start to feel more confident in English. If want to learn more, you can visit my website, elevate-english.com I post transcripts for every episode on there too. I’d love to hear about what you think, or if there are some topics you would like me to talk about in a future episode. For suggestions, questions, or anything else, you can write to me on the Contact page of my website.

12:58 So that’s it for today! Thank you so much for listening to this first episode of the Elevate English podcast. If you made it all the way to the end, I’m really grateful, and it means you already have a good level of English. Next week, we’re going to talk about philosophy. I’m going to share with you the basics of Stoicism, and how it can help us lead happier lives.

13:25 The music used in this episode is “Upbeat Party” by Scott Holmes Music.com