Unanswered Questions
62 questions with no upvoted or accepted answers
12
votes
1
answer
149
views
Evidence that translating L2 into L1 improves L2 acquisition
I run a project where young bilingual volunteers translate English-language media into the home language for their families.
I believe one of the benefits is that, because our volunteers have to ...
- 220
10
votes
0
answers
148
views
Research on effectiveness of language teaching in ulpans / ulpanim?
After the creation of Israel in 1948, ulpans (or ulpanim) were set up for the intensive study of Hebrew. Today, ulpans still exist; they are institutes or schools "designed to teach adult immigrants ...
CommunityBot
- 1
9
votes
0
answers
76
views
Online course or resources on speed reading in Chinese
In a comment to my previous question about the transfer of speed reading skills to other languages, someone wondered whether this would be affected by the writing system. This is very plausible. In ...
- 3
9
votes
0
answers
152
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Evidence that the European Day of Languages motivates EU citizens to learn foreign languages?
Today, 26 September, is (or was) the European Day of Languages.
The Council of Europe came up with the idea of a European Day of Languages in 2001, the European Year of Languages. The initiative has ...
- 19.9k
8
votes
0
answers
220
views
Learn alphabet by replacing letters in native text
I've read before somewhere about a way to quickly learn how to read a foreign alphabet. You take an unfamiliar letter and put it in English words where the sound of that letter makes sense. That ...
CommunityBot
- 1
7
votes
0
answers
61
views
Are there any studies showing that you will tend to be more fluent in the first L2 you learn compared to your L3?
As an example, take the case of someone who speaks English as an L1, and wants to become fluent in both Spanish and French. If they learn Spanish first and French second, will they tend to be more ...
- 9,035
6
votes
0
answers
157
views
How does stopping reading to look up the definition of an unknown word affect the comprehension in general?
Looking up the definition of an unknown word when you read a text is an important part of learning. However, like doing every other task, if you have to switch to do another one, then your performance ...
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6
votes
0
answers
59
views
I want to train myself to use the Chinese grammar particle 了 correctly: how do I go about doing that?
Motivation: In Chinese grammar, there's a particle 了 which has two main uses: completion 了 (post-verb) and change-of-state 了 (end of sentence). I'm bad at using this particle (see How does someone ...
- 2,843
6
votes
0
answers
92
views
What is the proper etiquette for a nonnative speaker who wants to practice Mandarin at a Chinese supermarket in the US?
There is a Chinese supermarket in the US I often shop at. I often hear the staff speaking Mandarin or Cantonese, and occasionally Hakka or Fujianese, amongst themselves and to Chinese customers. I can ...
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6
votes
0
answers
58
views
Is it more advantageous to learn the writing system or the spoken form of a language first?
There are several primary aspects of a language, including both the writing system and the spoken form of a language. What does scientific research say about the order to learn these two factors when ...
- 9,035
6
votes
0
answers
104
views
According to research, how well do speed reading skills transfer to other languages?
According to Wikipedia, speed reading is
any of several techniques used to improve one's ability to read quickly. Speed reading methods include chunking and minimizing subvocalization.
There are ...
- 19.9k
6
votes
1
answer
84
views
Is there a scientific evidence of class / teacher importance for adult learners?
The role of a teacher in teaching languages to adults is not clear. By roles, I mean, for example: facilitator, manager, assessor, resources, participant and counselor.
Suppose learners concentrate ...
- 99
6
votes
1
answer
235
views
Evidence that learning radicals speeds up character learning in Japanese?
Characters — in Chinese or Japanese (or Korean Hanja) — can be learnt in various ways, and it is plausible that paying attention to radicals helps memorization and retention. But is there any hard ...
- 4,927
5
votes
0
answers
92
views
Based on research, is it better to learn a new language in your mother tongue?
I live in a multilingual country and often people that visit a language course will have the class in one of the languages spoken here, let's say French.
But most of these people do not speak a lot of ...
- 19.9k
5
votes
0
answers
69
views
Is the number of exposures required for retaining new words related to the teaching method?
Recently, Rebecca J. Stones asked, Does it take “about 50 exposures for most words to be retained in long term memory”?
The question was about a claim by Terry Waltz that classroom learners need a few ...
- 19.9k