I'm sitting at the table in my apartment, looking out the window. I turn back to the papers stacked in front of me. "Interesting", I say, "very interesting".
I glance over the test scores again-- the pre-test numbers, the post-test numbers, and the amount each student improved.
"Good, good", I say as I notice that all of the students improved over the course of the semester. All the post-test scores are higher than the pre-test scores. Most students improved by a couple of points... but my eyes are drawn to two sets of numbers.. two names: Kyoung and Jin. These two students improved dramatically more than all of the others. Their post-test scores show a big jump.
"What did they do differently?", I ask myself.
At the final class, I ask them. Since all of the students had the same inclass experience, I focus on what they did outside of class. Most students followed traditional study methods. They studied textbooks. They used vocabulary books. They went to traditional English (ESL) classes.
But Kyoung and Jin followed a different approach. In fact, they actually followed the method I continually harangued the class about. They focused on repeated listening and reading for fun. Both students said they took my advice seriously and therefore listened to English podcasts and audio articles 1-2 hours every day. Kyoung joined The Linguist and faithfully uses their system. Both students also read for fun-- mostly "easy" materials such as "National Geographic For Kids", adolescent novels, etc.
In TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) jargon, these two exceptional students followed an "input-based approach". The bulk of their study time was spent reading and listening to understandable and interesting English materials.
Most students and schools follow an "analysis-based approach". The bulk of their time is spent analyzing the language, breaking it apart, memorizing grammar "rules", and doing drills.

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