Apart from helping to bridge social barriers, there could be many other motives why one strives to learn a foreign language. A teacher in a language school possesses the ability to reach out to students of different culture and help them learn their desired languages. While someone can get to enjoy the mental, social and economic benefits of a foreign language, there also exist some common mistakes most language learners make, which may tend to make the learning process difficult. The following are such mistakes and how they can be corrected
#1: Thinking Rigidly
It has been discovered that students that have a low tolerance of ambiguity find it hard to learn a different language. Virtually in a daily basis, students will come acrossnew vocabulary, and there would also be some dialectic expressions or an irregular verb for each grammar rule. Without achieving the fluency like that of a native, some level of ambiguity will always exist.
A learner who comes across a new word and quickly uses the dictionary for reference instead of guessing the meaning from the context is less likely to feel disoriented and stressed in class. Therefore, helping such students stay strong instead ofquitting their language study due to frustration. Although it is a difficult mindset to break, carrying out small exercises can solve such problem. Try finding a text or a song in the language in focus and practice, finding out the gist irrespective of some unknown words.
#2: Fear
It doesn’t matter how well an individual can conjugate a verb, write in a foreign script, or finish a vocabulary text. You need to be able to speak to really learn, improve and make use of the target language. This is the stage when insecurity and feelings of shyness can work against your hard work. Teachers often complain that after years of studying the target language, students still refuse to speak it.
They are scared of pronouncing words in a way that would lead to their embarrassment.Those mistakes assist language learners by showing them the language limit, and giving corrections to certain errors before they become used to them. The more the learner speaks, the more he improves.
#3: A single method
While some students learn comfortably with the help of the “listen and repeat”exercisebeing employed in language labs and podcasts,some can only make meaning out of a foreign language using a grammar textbook. Both methods are okay, but relying on only one of them is a mistake. Using more than one method enables a language learnerto practice different skills and also view concepts idealized in different ways. Also, they hardly get stuck in a learning rut. Different language schoolslike College Platon offer different courses. Students are advised alwaysto choose a class that offerscourses that practices all the four language skills, which includelistening, speaking, reading and writing.
