HowtolearnEnglishwell--VantageAgoodEnglishclassisavaluablemeansforacquiringandpracticingEnglish,butstilltherealityisthatmuchofyourprogresswillarisefromyourownself-studystrategies.Asateacherforcloseto10yearsnow,Iamoftenaskedforadviceonhowbesttoself-studyEnglishforfastresults.Isuspectsometimesmystudentsarelookingforthatmagicshortcutorpanaceawhichcandeliverthemfromallthe"blood,sweat,andtears"thatoftensurroundstheprocessoflearningasecondlanguage.Thereis,ofcourse,nomagic,butontheotherhand,theremayalsobenoneedtoengageinself-torturousactivitiesthatdrainyourenergy.Partoftheself-torturethatstudentsinflictuponthemselvesresultsfrommisconceptionsformedalongtheway.Iwouldlikeinthisarticletodiscussafewofthesemisconceptionsandoffersomealternativeadviceforself-studyingEnglish.A.H.Whiteheadoncesaid,notignorancebuttheignoranceofignoranceisthedeathofknowledge.Inotherwords,itisimportanttounderstandmisconceptionsbeforetheyinhibityourself-study.MisconceptionⅠIfIcommunicatewithaChinesepartner,myEnglishwillgetworse.ThereisacommonperspectivehereinBeijingthattheonlywaytoimproveyourEnglishisbyspeakingwithanativespeaker.Itstemsfromtheperceptionthatspeakingtoanothersecondlanguagelearnerhasanegativeeffect,sincethepartnerspeaksChinglish.Consequently,manydesperatelylookfornative-speakingpartners,somepayingasmallfortunefortheluxuryofspeakingwithinexperiencedexpatriateswhodolittlemorethanchat.Worseyet,opportunitiestospeakregularlywithaChinesepartneratlittleornocostareignoredoutoffear.Inshort,the"nativespeaker’sEnglish"crazeissomewhatsynonymouswiththe"Chinglish"phobia.TheviewthatcommunicatingwithanotherstudentsomehowdamagesyourEnglishrestsontheage-old,erroneous6assumptionthatlanguageacquisitionisalinearprogression,withthenativespeakeratthetopofthehierarchy.Perhapsnativespeakerteachersareguiltyoffeedingthisperceptionbylabelingcourses,students,textbookssequentiallyintermsoflevels(i.e.beginner,pre-intermediate,intermediateetc);inthearrangementofgrammarstructuresfromsimpletocomplex;andinreadingandlisteningpassagesselectedbythenumberofwordstheycontain(i.e.easy,moderate,difficult).Linguistswhohavestudiedtheactualprocessoflearningasecondlanguageknowthatdevelopingasecondlanguageisanythingbutalinearprocess.Itcanfollowpatternsandstepsbutthesestepsandpatternsfrequentlybreakdown.Languagelearningoftenprogressesrandomlyandchaotically.Wesometimesprogressrapidly,atothertimeswelearnslowly,thereareareasweseemtomastereasily,andareasinwhichweneverseemtomakeanyheadway.Sometimesthewordsandsentencescomeeasily;sometimestheydonot.Moreover,whenwetalkaboutthequalityofEnglishwemustbepreparedtoacknowledgethatitisverymuchasubjectiveandcontextualevaluation.WeknowthatformalstandardprofessormayfindherEnglishveryeffectiveinfrontofherpeers,butnexttouselesswithinnercityteenagersinNewYork.Therefore,canwestillsaythatherEnglishisbetterthantheteenagers?Obviously,itwoulddependonwhowasjudging.WithEnglish,qualityisoftenanissueofappropriatenessaswellasgrammaticality.ResearcherswhohavestudiedEnglishlanguagelearninghavefoundthatpeopleprogressastheypractice,andultimatelytheyself-correctwhattheysay.ItisunnecessarytohavesomeonecorrectyourEnglishconstantly,becausemistakesmostoftenderivefromalackofEnglishinstinctsratherthanalackofawarenessorknowledgeofthecorrectgrammarstructure.Thesamestudentwhonevermakesamistakedoinggrammarexercisesonpaperwillmakethemwhilespeakingbutultimatelyhewilladjusthisstructuresashecontinuestousethem.Moreover,researcherswhohaveconductedstudiesofvariousgroupsoflearnershavefoundthatlearnerswhocommunicatewithpartnersofasimilarleveltendtoprogressfasterthanlearnerswhosepartners’levelsaremuchhigherorlower.Onecanunderstandwhythisissowhenalearnercommunicateswithsomeoneatalowerlevel,butwhyisitalsotrueofthosewhocommunicatewithsomeoneatahigherlevel?Thereasonsaremostlypsychological.HavingapartnerwhoseEnglishismuchmoredevelopeddiscouragesthespeakerandthefearofmakingmistakestendstostiflesmoothconversation.However,theresearchersfoundthatthosewhocommunicatedwithpartnerswhowereneartheirownlevelprogressedfaster.Thus,infactyourclassmatewhoisatthesamelevelofEnglishasyoumayindeedbeyourfinestteacher.
