Not even University language teachers know the best way to teach students a new language, but with traditional courses and self-study languages available, students have the opportunity to test which methods work best for them.
Along with the University’s more commonly taught language programs such as Spanish and French, the Yamada Language Center offers a self-study program for languages that aren’t typically offered on campus, such as Arabic, Portuguese and Greek.
Jeffrey Magoto, the center’s director, said the desire to learn a variety of languages is increasing as students are exposed to more opportunities to travel the world.
“The range of international opportunities is greater than it’s ever been,” he said. “Students want to go to places that are way off the beaten path.”
But finding the best way to teach such languages is a challenging process that depends on many variables such as student goals and motivation, he said.
“We don’t know the best way to teach a language,” Magoto said. “We know lots of best ways.”
He said students who have more personal reasons to learn a language, such as to increase awareness, to build career skills or to learn more about family history, may find more success in self-study programs that require more self-discipline. He said students taking regular University language courses are most likely there to fill degree requirements and therefore, may be less motivated.
“The reasons aren’t intensely personal,” he said. “You can achieve quite a bit if the motivation and goals are all intrinsic.”
Magoto said another factor that can determine student success is class size. Self-study language classes are generally limited to about five students, while traditional courses have about 28 students. This means students don’t have the option of hiding in the back of the class, he said.
Senior Spanish major Adam Hinkley said he has taken self-study courses for about a year, and he likes the intimacy of the smaller groups. He said the learning style is also different than traditional classes in terms of course structure.
“In a more structured class they really focus on grammar issues,” he said. “In the self-study, I feel like I get a lot more practice speaking.”
However, Spanish Program Director Robert Davis said self-study programs usually focus on reading and listening and less on personal interaction, which is essential for retaining a language. Here the program includes tutoring sessions for discussion, but there is still less time for personal interaction because self-study students meet less often, he said.
He said in traditional courses, speaking, writing and reading are generally emphasized evenly.
“We’re trying to balance all the skill areas in our program,” he said.
He said he has considered offering more nontraditional ways of learning languages such as Spanish for students who are too advanced for lower-level classes. First, he said the program needs to create a comprehensive and accurate proficiency test that can truly evaluate language skills.
“If we get that implemented … it would make a lot of sense to have self-study programs,” he said. Although he has not heard requests for such courses, students would likely be interested if they became available, he said.
Graduate student Kinsey Swartz said he’s found the self-study courses to be a good way to learn the Romance languages he studies at a faster pace. He said he is trying to learn Italian quickly, but his 200-level class is holding him back.
“I would love it if there were Italian self-study classes,” he said.
Magoto said more commonly taught languages aren’t offered for self-study because he doesn’t want to compete with the language departments — there also is no funding for them. The program is completely self-sufficient with student fees currently covering only half of the program’s costs, he said.
If the self-study program were to expand through the language center, testing would likely become a requirement and the quality of the program could be compromised, Magoto added.
“Whenever a test becomes one of the outcomes of a program, teaching changes,” he said.
He said it is therefore up to other departments to offer that style of teaching if students are interested.
“We would be really eager to work with any language department,” he said.
For more information on the self-study program, visit http://babel.uoregon.edu.