The language acquisition curve

The language acquisition process undergone by the participants of the spring experience was very similar to the one I’ve observed throughout my career as a language educator (last experience but also in language immersion classrooms). It looked pretty much like this:

1. Warm-up: participants kicked into gear and became more and more comfortable as they embraced the immersion in the first few days

   
   

2. Take-off: starting on day 3 or so, participants were already a LOT more comfortable with immersion. It may have remained challenging, but their language production became more organic and more fluid, with their focus shifting from using the language efficiently, rather than on not making mistakes. This is when a lot of growth could be observed. I could also talk faster to participants. They may have still understood the same percentage of what I said, but it was actually a percentage of more challenging language input!
   

3. Plateau: participants’ language “performance” plateaued on the last few days. Why? Fatigue, in big parts, because working in a foreign language for so long can be exhausting! The plateau effect could be observed in more mistakes being made when speaking or more English words slipping in.

   
   

   The plateau effect is not only normal, it is also an integral good part of the language acquisition process. Similar to the break you take during a hike, it is useful to conduct the immersion experience all the way to the plateau: if we stopped after warm-up, you would not benefit from the take-off growth, but if we stopped at the take-off phase and you returned to an English-mostly environment before plateauing, you would have basically stopped half-way and not benefited from all the growth you could have benefited from. Plateauing may seem like hitting a wall because fatigue leads for more language mishaps, but it actually is a way for your brain to solidify what you have acquired.

This curve can be expected pretty much whatever your level is. The difference will be more where you get to during each phase. Fortunately, I’m there during and after each experience to make you feel good about your progress and to help you see the depth and use of each phase.

I’ll tell you more about this acquisition curve in future posts!

Baptiste Delvallé