thomas leverett weblog

translation plateau

I coined this term a few years ago because I noticed that many people were getting stuck in the intermediate range of language learning (in ESL, using the paper TOEFL, I defined this as 440-470; this corresponded to their inability to get out of my level), and, in the range of students who were stuck at this level, I began to notice things in common. One was a general inability to use vocabulary effectively; when I believed that they should be able to read certain sentences without translating all the words back to their native languages, they weren't. This failure to "stay in English", or insistence on translating, was costly: they'd run out of time on the reading section of the TOEFL (a sure-fire clue), get caught on word-forms in grammar, etc.

I wrote a lengthy tome about it, but now, rereading it, I'm unsatisfied with its quality and want to rewrite it. It's wordy, not to the point, disorganized, etc. Yet it is what I have, and, though I'm not sure when I wrote it exactly (I believe it was before the article listed below, despite what it says on it), I plan to clean it up a little (put title on it, format it, move it perhaps) and leave it on the web as an unpublished manuscript. I will try to remember to change its reference here as this is now the main place where I want to discuss my ideas about this difficult place that language learners face. One of the main points of the article, though it may not be stated clearly, is that many learners have deep and valid reasons for being afraid of moving on at this point, and have to face those well before marching on in their quest.

Another article, listed below, talks about the same problem, this time for a public audience. Every term, this one being no exception, I also tell the students at this level (in our program, it's called AE2) how I feel; my mini-lecture can be condensed into these points:

-Your TOEFL score may have leveled off here or even appeared to fall; basically your skill has leveled off and your luck is still varying a little (looks of agreement);
-At this level you must look at the way you are studying vocabulary; you must teach yourself to stay in English when you read; it's not easy to teach yourself this, but until you do, your TOEFL score is going nowhere (looks of agreement)
-Some teachers feel that you don't need to write down vocabulary words in a list and do discrete memorization, but I disagree; most of us (language learners) need some work with memorization, though I'll admit that some don't. You will probably need a system of learning vocabulary.
-Your system should NOT teach you to correspond English words with native words, because that's the problem...make your system all in English (or the target language); put word, definition and sentence using word on a line, cover word & definition & read sentence when studying; look at definition only when necessary.
-I will not check this list; it's personal; you do what's best for you; and if doing it another way works better, then stick with that. But if you are stuck here, do some reflection on your system of learning...

In general, I've thought about it a lot, and continued to tell students what I think; they usually listen, and some change their methods successfully. One can never tell whether my advice is the result. I can say, however, that talking to people who are definitely stuck at this juncture has convinced me that the answer is somewhere in here. In a content-based program such as ours, lack of exposure is not the problem; lack of production isn't either. It's more that vocabulary study gets lost in the shuffle, and only the most thorough students go back, pick up the words and truly master them.

I've thought a lot about this, but have not received much criticism or critical analysis of my points. So, I'd like to ask: do you agree? Read the two links here for more information, and let me know.

Leverett, T. (2004). The road to fluency (pdf), Global Study Magazine 2.3, pp. 46-47, London, UK.

By the way, a couple of unresolved points: what about those learners who are truly sound-based - who hear everything they read and understand accordingly? For them, virtually fluent in the oral sphere, translation has ceased to be a problem long ago, but certain elements of spelling-sound conversion continue to dog them. Don't know what to say about that: any suggestions? Comments welcome.

posted by tom @ 7:08 PM