Language learning doesn’t happen in a straight line. It’s more like a complex web of scribbles. But if you take a peek into your language course, you’ll notice that your syllabus seems to move in a mostly straight line. It progresses, step by step, and quite seamlessly from chapter/unit 1 through to course end.  Reviews and backtracking happen, but on a very defined basis. (Like at unit end for example.) But I don’t think we learn this way, it’s messier. Think about how you learn new words. You get exposed to one. You see it repeated in several circumstances. You figure out what it means. You come into contact with the word as it is repeated in a conversation or as you are reading something. Then, gradually, you begin to use it yourself. Was that in a straight line or was it like a scribble?

To be fair, some courses are able to provide this kind of repetition inside the unit – but what normally happens when you move on to the next one? Some courses I’ve worked with claim that they recycle previous course material into current content – but have you ever really noticed it much? In my experience that “recycling” is either A) so cleverly done that it just slips right by me (which would be a great thing, right?) or B) so subtle that neither teacher NOR student picked up on it. (That’s bad, right?)

So if we don’t learn English- or any other language- in a nice clean straight line, but in fact it looks more like scribbles with constant back tracking, repetition, regular exploration off the intended line of progress, what would that look like in a classroom environment?

And if constant repetition and recycling are so important, how should teachers do it inside the constraints of their classroom?

This post was inspired by a tweet from Kathy Sierra and I quote:

That is a crucial challenge, isn’t it? How to have lots of exposure and practice without it getting boring or repetitive?@KathySierra via twitter

If we need constant exposure and practice to improve, how can you build this into your classes? And how can you do it without boring yourself or your students to death?