Language Learning Methods

We may broadly identify 8 language learning methods :

1) The school or the classroom method

Language learning by the classroom method is the most widespread and the most commonly used of all language​​ learning techniques. Offering the advantage of immersing you in a formal setting of exchanges and direct interaction with your classmates and your teachers, it nevertheless suffers from the following limitations:

• it accentuates the shyness of some students who have problems speaking in public
• most students are spectators of their training and remain in a passive posture
• the training costs are very high, ranging from 450 to 2,100 € for a training period of 3 to 12 months, depending on the school

While the school is considered as the foremost setting for training courses leading to a qualification, this doesn’t mean that it’s the most effective way to practice a language compared with the methods afforded by new IT technologies.

2) Serious games

A "serious game" is "a software program which combines a serious intention of an educational, informative, communicative, marketing, ideological or training nature with fun activities." However, it remains a little-used method because of limited popularization and the cost it represents for companies wishing to invest in it. Indeed, the investmenta ranges from 20,000 to 200,00 €.
In reality, the cost is very strongly correlated with content volume and the level of quality desired, with the type of game and with the technology used.

3) The MOOCs, or Massive Open Online Courses

These are free online courses open to everyone which have become very popular in recent years. But the MOOCs are struggling to find a profitable business model, and are increasingly charging the users, just like e-learning sites.

4) The SPOCs, or Small Private Online Courses

Seen as "scaled-down models" of the MOOCs, the SPOCs are based on the same principle (of online distance courses), but with one difference, which is that they are limited to a maximum of thirty trainees who are selected upstream. However, the costs of such training are still high. The 100% online module on project management at "Captainspoc.com", for example, costs 420 € and is spread over five weeks, with 6 hours training per week.

5) Blended learning

"Blended learning" is a training method which combines classroom teaching suitable for fostering interactions between learners and trainers, with e-learning, a modern and effective way to train at lower cost. Getting the best out of both methods to achieve the optimal recipe for vocational training is the ultimate challenge of blended learning.

Its use remains limited due to the high costs involved.

6) Language courses abroad

Thanks to the advantage they have of immersing you in a speaking environment of the language you wish to learn, language courses abroad are the most effective method for learning to speak a language. However, their use is not without cost. It takes from 6 to 24 months to learn to speak a language fluently. You must hence find the financial resources to cover your living costs, time to make friends, and a job so as to achieve better social and cultural integration. All this takes time and money.

Certain companies propose language courses abroad with accommodation in host families. In London the budget varies between 800 and 15,000 € for a period of one week to six months respectively. At "esl.fr", stays of one week and 6 months in host families cost 1000 € and 15,000 € respectively. With "EF", the world leader in language courses abroad: a week's stay in a host family in London costs 900 €, and 13,000 € for a period of 6 months.

While the language course abroad is considered to be the most effective way to learn to speak a language, it is also by far the most expensive solution.

7) E-learning

"E-learning" consists of the use of new Internet multimedia technologies to improve the quality of learning by facilitating access to services and exchanges between users on the one hand, and distance collaboration on the other. Several specialist companies in the field propose this method to their students. We may mention:

Anglaisfacile :

With 100 million visitors per year and 3 million subscribers, Anglaisfacile offers free lessons, correspondences between users and discussion rooms. Finally, it also offers private chat rooms with chosen members. Unfortunately, the diffuse nature of their positioning and the rather unattractive aspect of their website would seem to be limiting its further growth.

Babbel :

With its eight years’ experience and 360 employees, the Babbel platform offers teaching in 14 languages. Babbel offers the same exercises in various different forms, namely multiple choice questions (MCQs). This repetitiveness has the teaching function of helping to memorize the different terms. Babbel also corrects the exercises, and proposes lessons on spelling, reading and pronunciation. The prices they offer are reasonable: 1 month for € 9.95, 3 months for € 19.95, 6 months for € 33.30 and 12 months for € 59.40.
The lack of any human contact is the greatest obstacle to learning on this platform. You have to be extremely motivated to learn a language without any human contact. All the lessons are charged except the first one.

Education First (EF)

Education First specializes in online English teaching. With 25 years' experience, EF is the world leader in online English language training. Their training is interesting but it comes at a significant cost: 24 sessions per month (including four 40-minute private lessons) for € 99. 1 month’s subscription costs € 79. And from 3 to 12 months, the monthly subscription costs € 69.

8) Phone Languages :

This method is based on the teaching of English by telephone.

Indeed, with its 30 years’ experience, Phonelanguages ​​is the pioneer in language training by telephone. It offers the following prices: for a half an hour lesson per day: 10 sessions for € 300, 30 sessions for € 810 and 50 sessions for € 1,250.

LANGUAGE-SWAP

Our concept is based on the principles of setting up contacts between learners with matching profiles and of providing free access to flexible, modulated training which is 100% based on actual practice, with no constraints in terms of time, pace or place.

For us, it’s all about overcoming the difficulties inherent in conventional forms of language learning by offering an overall digital solution based on online sessions of practical training with native speakers and users with a very high level in a given language, who are eager to share their own language skills in exchange for receiving an equally rewarding input in another language.

It’s also a means for us to base the training on genuine communication between people, which should logically be the first goal of any use of a language. Our method thus allows each user to expand their personal networks and make friends or professional contacts throughout Europe and the world.