Speaker
Description
In this presentation, we will review lessons drawn from the literature on polyglots, or, expert language learners, i.e., adult learners who have acquired 6 or more languages (Hyltenstam 2021).
Although many people are aware of such expert language learners, they have only recently started to attract serious. attention in the research literature on language learning and teaching (Anderson 2022). This is perhaps because these sorts of learners have long been viewed as outliers: as people who just have a “gift” for language learning, and who therefore have no useful lessons to impart to more ordinary language learners and teachers (Erard 2019).
Research on expert learning suggests that although exceptional learners may have “gifts”, they nevertheless become exceptional just like everyone else: through practice (Stobart 2014). In particular, the kind of practice that expert language learners do is intensive (Kaufmann 2003), purposeful (Stobart 2014), and aims towards convivial engagement with native speakers (Anderson 2022).
In this presentation, I will attempt to show how these types of practice used by expert language learners may be applied usefully to everyday TESOL classroom pedagogy.
