The Importance Of Foreign Language Learning

Learning a foreign language can be a daunting challenge, but can also be one of the most rewarding experiences in one’s life. The journey to fluency is a long and difficult path, in part because foreign language learning is not a single skill. It is the intensive coordination of multiple skill sets. These include memory, cognitive problem solving, internalizing grammar, speech fluidity, listening comprehension, and vocabulary. To the foreign language learner the process is slow and growth is almost imperceptible. However, through exposure to comprehensible input a language learner can improve (Krashen, 1985). The input hypothesis (IH) “assumes that we acquire language by understanding messages” (Krashen 1985). This hypothesis states that language learners only grow when exposed to language that is just out of their level of comfort, but can be understood (Krashen 1985, 1995). The language learner level is “l” and the level needed for growth is “i+l”. This pushes students to broaden their understanding and acquire more language knowledge. The type of input can be any type of language material as long as it is at

The program is called AntWordProfiler and can be found at http://www.laurenceanthony.net (Anthony 2014). Several frequency lists can be used and the program will determine the percent coverage of each 1000 headword vocabulary levels. Based on the coverage a language learner can see how many cumulative headwords they need to know to reach the 98% coverage need for pleasure reading (Table 2). Using the column CUMTOKEN% we can determine how many thousand words of vocabulary a student would need to read this book at each coverage percent. The advantage of analyzing unmodified texts is that it is fast, takes only a minimal knowledge of computers, and can be done by non-native English