What is the best method for learning a foreign language?

In reality, there is no method of learning a foreign language that is superior to others. Each method has its advantages and disadvantages. The most accurate would be to say that depending on one's ultimate goals, motivation, knowledge and personal experience, individual techniques can be selected to best meet one's needs. An obligatory condition for achieving good results regardless of the chosen method and techniques for learning a foreign language is to provide for regular and/or intensive attendance of the lectures. Thus, each student, regardless of age and duties, will have the opportunity to accumulate new knowledge without forgetting what he has already learned. It is advisable to provide for at least two days a week for a course if quick and certain final results are sought.

What are the main methods of learning a foreign language?

The oldest, existing for centuries, is the so-called classical method of learning a foreign language, which rests entirely on mastering grammatical rules and translation. In the 1930s, more attention began to be paid to listening and speaking. It is no longer focused on the rich vocabulary, the correct construction of the sentence, but rather on the set of certain expressions and vocabulary that one can seamlessly cope with in a given situation. That is, attention is paid to the practical side of learning a foreign language without looking for perfect end results. This is how more modern methods are born: direct, audio-visual, communicative and eclectic method.

1. Direct Method

The student learns to directly understand the meaning of a word or expression from the new language without looking for equivalents of the mother tongue, i.e. without direct translation. Its ability to communicate by conveying information without seeking perfect grammatical structure and pronunciation is deepened.

Main features of the direct method

• Understanding is achieved through active interaction of students
• Original language texts are used
• Students develop skills not only related to the foreign language, but laying the foundations of an understanding strategy.
• Particular importance is given to certain situations and personal experiences that also determine the "content" of the lectures

2. The audio-visual method of learning foreign languages

It is believed that this method arose with the outbreak of World War II, when there was a growing need for a quick and secure way to establish contact with the Allies or the enemy. This method somewhat resembles the direct method, since the training is done entirely in the target foreign language, with the difference that the emphasis is on ready-made models of conversational speech.

Main features

• Ready-made sentences are learned, paying particular attention to intonation
• Grammatical annotations are minimized
• The stock of words follows a certain theme
• Mass audio-visual means are used
• Attention is focused on pronunciation
• The correct answers are submitted immediately

3. Communicative method

This is not so much about a method, but rather an approach to teaching and learning a foreign language. This approach emerged in the 1970s and emphasizes people's ability to communicate in a foreign language. Essentially, this approach puts language use and learning on the same level, i.e. learning does not precede conversation, go together

Main features of the communicative method

• The training is carried out using text from the original language
• Students do not just learn a foreign language, but learn a strategy for understanding the foreign language.
• Particular importance is given to the personal experience of the students by bringing out situations close to them, thus determining the content of the lessons themselves
• Using the foreign language in improvised situations creates a good opportunity to learn the language outside the classroom as well, for example by chatting on the Internet or communicating with a direct carrier of the foreign language.

4. Eclectic method

Here rule #1 is that the method follows the goals and needs of the student, not the other way around. Various techniques and approaches are used to combine the most appropriate for a particular student.

Specific examples

• The teacher offers a variety of written and oral exercises to improve both the level of knowledge of the foreign language and to stimulate students' communicative abilities.
• The teacher corrects immediately the mistakes made if the goal is a correct statement. If, on the other hand, the aim is to predispose students to a calm conversation of the foreign language, the mistakes made are considered subsequently.
• The teacher tries to develop the student's four basic language abilities reading, writing, listening/understanding, and speaking.
• To improve the pronunciation of students, the teacher conducts oral exercises in which students must repeat what the teacher says.
• Sometimes the teacher may resort to direct translation of the foreign language, but only if he knows both languages equally well and only if this is the only way to explain the meaning of the word. It is usually used in the explanation of abstract concepts.