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Hi there, Steve Kaufmann. Today, again, I want to talk about communicating in language learning, it’s so important. We communicate when we speak, obviously, but we also communicate when we listen and read.

The other day on our forum at LingQ, someone said they had been working at LingQ listening and reading and felt as if they weren’t making any progress. They didn’t feel they understood any better than three months earlier. They had done a 90-day challenge at LingQ.

I’m going to ask that person: Are you listening to and reading things that you’re really interested in. In other words, is this compelling content?

Stephen Krashen on compelling content

This is something that Stephen Krashen refers to all the time – compelling content. If what you are reading and listening to is of great interest to you and, I might add, if you’re listening to something where you enjoy the voice and the subject is of interest and possibly the subject is familiar to you, I don’t see how you can’t understand more and more.

If, on the other hand, you’re listening to something that’s not interesting and you’re listening over and over again, yes, you are going to basically stop progressing because the brain requires things that are stimulating. Even in terms of learning content it has to be stimulating in some way.

I have made reference in previous videos to this interleaving, that it’s a good idea sometimes to leave something you’re working on. Go and do something else, study some other subject and then come back to it. All of this refreshes the brain and the brain learns better, rather than trying to learn a block of something or force yourself to learn something that’s not very interesting to you.

Communication is the way to go

Communicating is the best way to learn. Communication, whether it be listening and reading, which I consider to be communicating, or speaking, this is the key to learning, but it has to be compelling. It has to be of interest and the more compelling, the nicer the voice in your ears, the more you are attracted to the subject, the faster you’re going to learn the language.

Compelling Content - communication
Image by Rick & Brenda Beerhorst

So remember Stephen Krashen with his compelling content, it has to be compelling. If it’s very compelling content it can be very difficult for you, but you’ll work your way through it. So, communicating, but meaningful, compelling communication.

Thanks for listening.

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