ESL Blogs

Billions of people around the world are learning foreign languages. Someone wants to devote all their free time to it, but someone allocates ten minutes a day, some plan lessons for months ahead, and others tend to keep within a few weeks before going on vacation. Which approach will bring the best results?

Learning the language can be compared with the process of losing weight and maintaining weight. Can you lose 20 kg per night? Hardly. But the term in a few months is much more realistic. Just as you need to exercise and follow a healthy diet, you need to develop a habit of regular exercise and repetition to successfully learn the language and succeed in the long term. And just as it is useful to know which types of products and exercises are best for health, it is important to know which types of learning habits are best suited for long-term language learning.

It is possible to note such three leading to success habits of studying a foreign language.

Habit # 1: Regularity
You can achieve long-term success if you do something regularly. Learning a language is no exception. The greatest successes in training were reached by people who engaged in at least a few minutes, but every day or every other day. But those who took breaks in 5-6 days, much more often dropped out of school and refused to study. It can also be noted that successful students are characterized by more classes per week. They are not limited to specific days or hours that are given to occupations and do not make significant breaks between them.

Starting classes it is important to establish their regularity and try to deal with every day, preferably several minutes several times a day.

Habit # 2: Distribution of Lessons by Time
The second habit of successfully learning the language is that they do not throw themselves into information and do not begin to absorb it all and now. Instead, they develop the habit of distributing classes for a series of short training sessions for a longer period of time - try this out. Successful students spend a more regular number of classes every day. But users who from time to time begin a marathon to learn the language and want to have time to make the most in a short period of time are more likely to give up and give up completely.

Many studies in the field of psychology suggest that trying to squeeze more material in a shorter period reduces the effectiveness of training, in comparison with the practice of class distribution. This applies to all types of skills: from learning a language to controlling an airplane. To learn the language, you better learn the constant amount of information - no matter how small it is - as often as possible.

Habit # 3: Repeat
It may be tempting to move forward as quickly as possible and to learn as much as possible of new material. Nevertheless, any student of the second language knows that gradually knowledge is forgotten. Research in the field of psychology suggests that you will rather remember ideas and concepts if you regularly review old materials. This helps the knowledge to move from short-term memory to long-term memory.

When is it better to spend time repeating the old material? The best time for repetition is when information is on the verge of forgetting. The most successful students find a balance between learning a new material and periodically repeating the old one.