The Language Block Method

Why school methods let you down

At school, languages are taught a bit like maths: learn the rule, apply the formula, avoid mistakes. You spend hours on verb tables and word lists. Then you meet a native speaker and hardly understand a thing.

The reason is simple. Textbooks teach a tidy, artificial version of the language that people rarely speak. Here is a typical textbook greeting in Spanish:

– Buenos días. ¿Cómo está usted?
– Muy bien, gracias. ¿Y usted?

And here is what you are much more likely to hear among friends:

– ¡Hola! ¿Qué tal?
– Bien, ¿y tú?

If you only learn the first version, you sound like a robot. And you spend your precious time on grammar instead of getting a feel for the language.

How children learn their first language

Children don’t start with grammar. For months they just listen, without saying a single word. The adults around them speak simply and repeat the same things again and again. Step by step the child starts to understand, and then to speak.

As adults we can learn in a very similar way. We just need the right input.

What research says about listening

In the late 1970s the linguist Stephen Krashen described his input hypothesis: we acquire a language by taking in lots of input that we understand, mainly by listening. The input works best when it is understandable but a little above our current level.

You don’t need to understand every word. If you follow the context, you work out the meaning of new words by yourself. Hear the same word in different situations, and it sticks, without you ever learning it on purpose.

We take in language in blocks, not single words

When you listen a lot, you notice that certain word combinations come up again and again, always in the same form. We call them language blocks.

Think of them as building bricks. A brick has a fixed shape, and you don’t change it. You simply use it wherever it fits. Native speakers do exactly this: in most situations they use the same blocks, without thinking about the grammar behind them.

This idea is not new. Research on chunking shows that we learn better when we take in information in small, meaningful pieces.

What exactly is a language block?

Take the Spanish block por supuesto (of course). You can use it in many situations, exactly as it is:

¿Vienes mañana? – ¡Por supuesto!
Are you coming tomorrow? – Of course!

You only need to know what it means. Now imagine building the German block auf jeden Fall (definitely) from single words: you would need the right meaning of auf, the right case, the gender of Fall and the right ending of jeden. Learn it as one block, and you can use it straight away.

A few more examples:

The three steps of the Language Block Method

1. Listen to real conversations. Choose dialogues between native speakers that match your level. Have a transcript and a translation at hand, so you know you have understood correctly.
2. Spot and understand the language blocks. You recognise a block when you hear it again and again in different situations. Good learning material marks the blocks for you and explains what they mean, not word for word, but as a whole.
3. Use the blocks when you speak. Talk to yourself, to a language partner or a teacher. Answer simple questions out loud and play through conversations before you have them. The blocks you have heard will come back to you by themselves.

How to fit it into your day

You don’t need hours at your desk. Listen while you have breakfast or drive to work. Read the transcript while you brush your teeth. Practise a few blocks out loud in the shower. A little every day works better than a lot once a week.

Sources

• Krashen, S. (1977). Some issues relating to the monitor model. In H. Brown, C. Yorio & R. Crymes (eds.), On TESOL ’77 (pp. 144–158). Washington, DC: TESOL.
• Jean, G. & Simard, D. (2011). Grammar teaching and learning in L2: Necessary, but boring? Foreign Language Annals, 44(3), 467–494.