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3 EFL Terms Every Teacher Should Know: Comprehensible Input, Immersion, And Acquisition.

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When it comes to finding the optimal way to learn a language, TEFL teachers need to know what’s what. After all, we want to make the learning process as effortless as possible for our English language learners.

Let’s look at three common terms for TEFL teachers: comprehensible input, immersion and acquisition.

Comprehensible input

  • Language that is understandable to learners even though they do not know all of the individual components.

Comprehensible input is the optimal language input for language learning, according to Stephen Krashen. It’s typically one level above the production level of a learner, also known as i + 1. So learners won’t be able to produce this language themselves they will be able to understand it.

Consequently, learners should be given language in class that they struggle with slightly and that they need to work at to understand.

Comprehensible input strategies include guessing meaning from context. This encourages learning through the process of acquisition, rather than conscious learning.

Immersion

  • A method of teaching and learning which simulates the process by which a person learns their first language.

If you’re familiar with immersion in terms of swimming, then you have the right idea when it comes to English immersion.

Immersion involves teaching a learner using only the target language.

In other words, EFL learners will learn English and other subjects through the use of English. The student is “swimming” in English, so to speak. The learners learn the target language without resorting to translation.

Many people believe this method is basically throwing students in the deep end and that they will struggle. But research has shown this method to be extremely effective. It’s now the method used in the majority of TEFL classrooms around the world.

This method solves the problem of the English teacher not being able to speak the students’ first language, which is often the case in a TEFL situation.

Acquisition

  • The unconscious process of learning a language.

Acquisition of language is in contrast to learning a language.

Acquisition is an unconscious process. Think about how you learnt your first language – that’s acquisition. It happens to you almost without any effort on your part.

Learning a language is a conscious formal process, involving learning vocabulary and grammar rules. If you have ever learnt a foreign language, you’ll probably be all too familiar with those grammar exercises and rote learning.

Acquisition generally results in a person learning to be fluent in a language while formal learning does not always guarantee this. So acquisition is the preferred method of learning a language.

Teachers should try to mimic this acquisition process in the classroom.

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