Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Making the application
Controlled language study
four simple rules you must follow when you are learning to speak English
Monday, December 6, 2010
Effectively learn spoken English
multiple areas of skill working cooperatively in real time
The best way to learn English
learning English as a new language
If you are learning English as a new language, all of its unique sounds and syntax must be learned. This is much more than a memory function involving just your mind. Each of these new sound and syntax patterns requires retraining your entire mind, the nerve feedback in your tongue, mouth, and breathing (which is proprioceptive feedback), and the auditory feedback (your sense of hearing). Even English syntax is dependent on your proprioceptive sense.
Read two or three sentences written in your own language. Read it entirely in your mind without moving your lips. You may even speed read it. Now read the same sentences "silently" by moving your lips without making any sound. Your mind will respond to the first way of reading as simple information which is primarily a memory function, but will respond to the second way as speech because of the proprioceptive feedback from your mouth.
Did you also notice a difference between the two readings in terms of your mental intensity? The first reading would elicit the mental activity required when you do a written grammar-based English assignment. The second would result in the same kind of mental activity required when you study English using spoken drills. How quickly you learn to speak fluent English will be directly proportional to your mental involvement when you study.
Calibration.
Real time.
Unlike an open-loop control system, a closed-loop control system monitors feedback and corrects the process as the machine is running. The reciprocal path between the control, the feedback sensors, and the process itself is instantaneous. That is, information is not stored for later use. Rather, it is used instantaneously as the sensors detect it. In this chapter, I use the term simultaneous to indicate real time feedback during speech.
Proprioceptive
Human speech would be impossible without the proprioceptive sense. (Proprioceptive refers to the sense within the organism itself which detects or controls the movement and location of the muscles, tendons, and joints which are used to create speech.) Our mouth, vocal cords, diaphragm, and lungs incorporate thousands of nerve sensors which the brain uses to control the movement and position of these same organs—the mouth, vocal cords, diaphragm, and lungs. Imagine the complexity of pronouncing even a single word with the need to coordinate the tongue, breath control, and jaw muscles. Now multiply this complexity exponentially as sentences are constructed in rapid succession during normal speech.
The meanings of specialized words
The Organ or Sense | Primary Function(s) | Comments |
The mind provides: | 1. vocabulary memory 2. partial syntax control 3. feedback coordination 4. calibration by the speaker to give meaning to the sounds | The mind is the storage bank for vocabulary. Memory is also involved in structuring syntax. The mind uses both auditory and proprioceptive feedback to monitor and calibrate speech in real time. |
The mouth and related organs provide: | 1. sound production 2. breath regulation 3. proprioceptive feedback to the mind in real time which regulates pronunciation and provides partial syntax control | The proprioceptive sense is involved in both pronunciation and syntax feedback. It is essential for speech control. |
Hearing provides: | 1. auditory feedback to the mind in real time | Auditory and proprioceptive feedback are combined in the mind for essential speech control. |