Hot dog!  Thanks for posting this Steve, I'll continue my Inspector  
Maigret mystery stories.

Andrea :)

On Jan 26, 2009, at 2:59 PM, Steve Kaufmann wrote:


> I attach a recent letter from Stephen Krashen to a newspaper in  

> Korea. My question is why try to teach beginner learners to speak  

> English, when research suggests they are better off to remain  

> silent until they have listened to, and possible read, a lot of the  

> language.

>

> Steve Kaufmann

> www.lingq.com

>

>

>

> Sent to the Korea Times, Jan 23, 2009

>

> A better path to English

>

> Korea is making a very serious mistake in emphasizing speaking in

> English class ("Speaking to get more weight in English class," Jan

> 21). Research done over the last three decades has shown that we

> acquire language by understanding what we hear and read. The ability

> to produce language is the result of language acquisition, not the

> cause.

>

> Forcing students to speak English will not improve their ability to

> speak English. The best way to improve speaking is therefore to

> increase the amount of comprehensible listening and reading that

> students do, and the easiest and most cost-effective way to make this

> happen is to develop libraries of interesting and comprehensible

> English books and recordings to supplement English class. Setting up

> libraries would be far more efficient than bringing in expensive

> foreign teachers and setting up English camps.

>

> I hope policy-makers will consult the extensive research on second

> language acquisition, some done by Korean scholars, and consider

> easier, better and less costly ways of improving English in Korea.

>

> Stephen Krashen

>

>

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