Thoughts on the natural way to learn English

"You won't believe this, but many of my ESL (English as a Second Language) students know more grammar than I do. I have learned loads of syntax knickknacks from my students. But at the end of the day, I'm 100% fluent while they're struggling to get a firm grasp on the language". I was talking to Jeremy, an American English teacher from New Jersey living in Bangladesh for quite some time now. He was sharing his experience of interacting with his non-native students. And if you look deeper into the real language education scenario, he is hard to be disagreed with.
Learning a language is tricky. This applies even when we are learning our mother tongue. It is just that we do not realise it since we learn our mother language naturally. And linguists around the world agree that the way we learn it is the best way to learn any language - especially a second language. In other words, the more a language learning process simulates or replicates the natural route for learning the first language, the more effective it is. Let us take a look the advantages a native speaker has over a typical learner who tries to learn it as a second language.
Firstly, the native speaker learns grammar (if, at all) a lot later than learning to speak the language itself. As a result, there is no question of worrying about what is grammatically correct or incorrect. The native speaker just knows this is right… even without being able to explain the reason in grammatical context. And at the end of the day, this is what matters! The native speaker is free from the 'what's-the-right-grammar' anxiety that ties up most non-native learners. So the native speaker sounds natural, more confident and spontaneous, unlike a non-native speaker.
But don't get me wrong here. I never said you should throw grammar concerns to the trashcan and go around speaking as you like. I do acknowledge the importance of speaking acceptable English. I am only saying that the learning process of a second language should replicate that of a first language or mother tongue. If it is done so, it will enable an individual to actually use the language in real life situations naturally, without confusion and anxiety. On the other hand, when learners start with loads of syntax or 'rules' they find it hard to cope with the demand of a real life situation.
The ideal pathway for a non-native speaker would be to take speaking as the first priority, while taking grammar lessons in a gradually cumulative manner - in limited safe dosage, to be specific! This will make sure that the knowledge of grammar doesn't stand in the way of building natural fluency. Putting it plain and simple, the 'knowledge' simply slows you down as you keep searching for the right rules and probing different alternatives, instead of naturally flowing your thoughts from your brain through your articulators (i.e. vocal organs used for speaking). And who doesn't know that this creates nervousness and anxiety, which in turn kills the fluency.
Just in case the reader still isn't convinced, I'll shed some more light on the issue! As a matter of fact all the grammar, vocabulary and other study materials exist to make you capable of expressing yourself correctly, acceptably and effectively. We must not forget for each and every language on earth, the spoken form came first and grammar was explored a lot later by keenly following the patterns of spoken language. You could consider grammar as an offshoot of spoken language. It exists as a means to give people something they could refer to if confusion arises or if they wanted to understand what the boundaries of a language are. That's what grammar was originally meant to be, and that's the way we should take it. There's no point in shunning grammar altogether.
Secondly, a native speaker gets the natural and real sense of the language. In most of the cases, the learner trying the traditional methods take years to develop that kind of sense. I recall an open seminar we had at my work place where audience were introduced to a first-ever approach to develop reading skills. The purpose of the seminar was to show the importance of developing the real sense of language, beyond the boundaries of grammar and vocabulary. At one stage of the reading comprehension session, the speaker actually played with his audience with a sentence -" Sometimes people find out about a crime days, moths or even years of its taking place".
When asked what 'crime days' means, almost everybody felt lost. To most of the people in the audience it was probably like "hmm… I've heard of Independence Day, Mother's Day or Teacher's Day… but I have no clue what crime day could imply…" The speaker later had to explain that there is no such thing as 'crime day', and also that the reader is supposed to pause a bit after the word 'crime', to make the sentence meaningful.
But you don't develop this kind of understanding without getting thoroughly involved with the language, do you? From the very elementary level of education, we should focus more on the natural way of learning English. With proper harmonization and synthesis of first language (in this case - Bangla) we really can help the learner learn in an approach that resembles that of the native English speakers. We hope to orient some of the novel approaches that have been of late undertaken based on these ethos.
The writer is a researcher and faculty at S@ifur's, email: [email protected]