Re: (teach) successful learners in Earl Stevick's book: what worked

From my own efforts to study Mandarin while in China, I found that staying with one method did not keep me motivated and became stale so I needed to find new activities and processes nearly every few months.  At times I wanted grammar, but for others times I looked to immerse myself into conversations and everyday activities to make jumps in ability to use the language.  My ability to learn a language is very low and so it may help account for the need to vary so much.


john    
Life's a journey not a destination, help others along the way.

--- karen stanley wrote:

Back in 1989, Earl Stevick published a book, "Success with
Foreign Languages: Seven who achieved it and what worked for them"


He looks at the fact that different successful learners found value in different approaches and techniques, some of which seem to be diametrically opposed to each other. I quote from a section of his summary:

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The learners we have met in this book often differ markedly with regard to what they consider to be `natural,' and what they prefer to do or not to do. They differ also with regard to the kinds of data they seem to hold onto best.


 
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