Appendix F: The Principles

Principles of approach

  • Work towards your goals—practice whatever tasks you are learning the language for

  • Keep up your motivation—find ways to stay interested in the language

  • Spend as much time as you can with your language—Time is the key determiner of how fast you learn

  • Trust the process—learning can be a slow process, so sometimes you need to trust that you will progress with time

  • 80 percent of your results come from 20 percent of your study—find the most effective activities and biggest weaknesses and focus on them

  • Push yourself—constantly challenge yourself by moving on to harder resources

Principles of learning

  • Use the language in order to learn it—listen and read as much as possible, you will learn the language when you use it, not when you learn about it

  • Repetition—you need to encounter something a lot before you learn it

  • Engage your memory—try to actively recall the meaning of words and forms before you look them up

  • Noticing—Noticing forms in your content is a powerful way to learn

  • Don’t try to learn things perfectly the frst time you encounter them—you need to see the language in context a lot before it will stick in your mind

Principles of practice

  • Get feedback on your ability—feedback helps you catch errors

  • Your level +1—use content just a bit above your level

  • Practise then drill—find weaknesses in your language skill then isolate them with drills

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