When 'Hello' Isn't Speaking: The Myth of Instant Language Acquisition
In my first years as a teacher in China, I worked in three different training centers. A common practice to attract new clients was to give a demo lesson. This involved kids – mostly without any prior language learning experience – being put in front of an English teacher who would try to teach them some language in about 15 to 20 minutes, usually starting with a song as a warm-up and then using flashcards. Those kids were usually kindergarten age, by the way.
That teaching approach was mostly based on the behaviorist theory (Skinner, 1957) and included drilling and memorization of three or four words. The expected outcome was that kids would start "speaking" English almost immediately. From the first minute, they were expected to say "Hello!" after a random foreign face stared at them for a few seconds and asked them to repeat it several times.
I wish that at that time, someone could have explained to those parents what I now know about language acquisition: that learners often go through a silent period and require a lot of comprehensible input (Krashen, 1982); that putting them in a new environment and forcing them to follow a complete stranger and speak what probably sounds like gibberish to them is highly stressful and raises the "affective filter," which blocks acquisition (Krashen, 1982); and that output needs to be meaningful – simply repeating words without understanding is not genuine speaking (Kaufmann, 2013).
It is sad
to see that, even today with all the research in language acquisition, many
institutions still fail to create a healthy environment for language learners.
Instead, they present a broken model that does not facilitate real language
acquisition from the moment a student steps into a school.
References:
Kaufmann,
S. (2013). The linguist: A personal guide to language learning.
Lingosteve.
Krashen,
S. D. (1982). Principles and practice in second language acquisition.
Pergamon Press.
Skinner,
B. F. (1957). Verbal behavior. Appleton-Century-Crofts.
AI tools (DeepSeek) were used for checking grammar and punctuation; all content was researched and composed by the author
Hi Aleks,
ReplyDeleteThis is such a powerful and painful vignette to read. The image of tiny kids being pushed to “perform” English in 15 minutes with strangers, songs, and flashcards really stayed with me, especially the ones who ended up crying or being silently labelled as “doomed.” Your title says it all: saying “hello” on command is not the same thing as speaking.
I really appreciate how clearly you connect that experience to Krashen’s ideas about the silent period, comprehensible input, and the affective filter. It is exactly the sort of situation where everything is stacked against acquisition: high stress, zero sense of safety, and “output” that is just parroting sounds. I also like your point, via Kaufmann, that repeating words you don’t understand is not genuine speaking, and that this distinction is still so often ignored in practice.
It is discouraging, as you say, that so many institutions still cling to this performance-based, behaviourist model to impress parents instead of building a healthy, input-rich environment from day one. Your post is a very clear reminder that real language learning takes time, emotional safety, and meaning, not a fast “hello” for the brochure. Thank you for putting this into words so effectively.
DeleteHi, Katalin.
I'm glad this article resonated with you. I tried to make it short but informative.
I feel that important aspects of how languages are learned in a safe, nurturing environment are neither taught nor mentioned to new teachers. I see so many examples of teachers becoming easily frustrated when children don't meet specific expectations or perform at a certain level. It's quite sad to see.
I hope a day will come when we all just try to be a little nicer to our young (and not so young) learners.