Reverse "taking a break" effect

[outcast]

I have noticed too often that, when I have some event where I know I will exclusively use an L2, if I dedicate two or three days of continuous intensive study (in order to arrive "better than ever" skill wise to the event), in fact the opposite tends to result: my speaking feels more labored, or may in fact be worse. Which is the opposite from what one would expect. This is not always the case, but often enough it is.

Is this some form of reverse effect from the one of "taking a short break, and then your skills get better and your understanding of difficult points seems to improve?" Obviously, if you go at it hard for 48 hours before a meeting, it could all just be that your mind is tired and thus your performance suffers. But do you think it is possible to also "overload" the mind into performing worse if mind fatigue was not an issue?

I say this because I tend to perform worse when I most focus on intensive reading trying to learn many new words (with the intention of using them in my speech during the event), and when I do heavy grammar reviews to try to incorporate as many patterns as possible, especially ones I don't use or seldom use.

[Brun Ugle]

I often find that adding new information messes up everything I knew before. I might know the basic grammar very well and then learn a new tense or case or a new use for one I already knew and then suddenly it's like I don't know anything. It clears up again of course, once I get used to the new grammar, but it does cause me to make more mistakes for a while.

When I'm preparing to talk to someone, I usually do easy stuff in the language right before. I find it warms me up and relaxes me and I avoid the problem of messing up the stuff I'm good at. So, if you have an event to go to, I would suggest spending the few days before it just doing things you are already comfortable with rather than trying to learn something new. You could watch some shows or listen to podcasts that you understand without strain or read something that is fairly easy for you.

[DaveBee]

Is this some form of reverse effect from the one of "taking a short break, and then your skills get better and your understanding of difficult points seems to improve?" Obviously, if you go at it hard for 48 hours before a meeting, it could all just be that your mind is tired and thus your performance suffers. But do you think it is possible to also "overload" the mind into performing worse if mind fatigue was not an issue?

I say this because I tend to perform worse when I most focus on intensive reading trying to learn many new words (with the intention of using them in my speech during the event), and when I do heavy grammar reviews to try to incorporate as many patterns as possible, especially ones I don't use or seldom use.

If you're trying to change your L2 use, aren't you trying to consciously replace an unconscious skill/habit? You'd expect that to be slower.

[outcast]

If you're trying to change your L2 use, aren't you trying to consciously replace an unconscious skill/habit? You'd expect that to be slower.

Of course, that seems to be very reasonable to expect. What I don't expect is for things that are 2nd nature to me to also suffer, for example.

When I'm preparing to talk to someone, I usually do easy stuff in the language right before. I find it warms me up and relaxes me and I avoid the problem of messing up the stuff I'm good at. So, if you have an event to go to, I would suggest spending the few days before it just doing things you are already comfortable with rather than trying to learn something new.

What I was doing lately is studying or doing more intensive stuff 2-3 days before and then very light work within 48 hours. I'm not sure yet about the results as my sample is still too low to reach any real conclusions.

[SophiaMerlin_II]

I think a good parallel to this situation would be normal phyisical exercise.

With normal exercise, if you take a break of a few days, generally, when you come back, you are stronger because your body has had time to recover; likewise, sometimes a small break from language learning can help your mind to reset a little.

When you go really hard at the gym, lifting weights with more intensity, with more weight, for more reps, for longer, and you practice more frequently, you are going to build up lactic acid and deplete your bodies stores of nutrients in your muscles. Your muscles will feel very strange, you will have difficulty using them (for example LITERALLY needing to be helped to your car after leg day) and this muscle weakness can persist and effect everyday activities (walking up stairs, for example) then the next day, you're going to feel sore. The same can be said of cramming or extremely intensive study. Except in this case the "muscle" is your ability to use L2. If you notice, it's actually probably more than -just- your ability to use L2 that gets jumbled when you do this, but other skills involving speech or writing, even in L1.

But just like with exercise, given proper rest, going hard like that occasionally can be very beneficial.

Remember though! Just like you stop at the gym when your muscles turn to jelly, take a break when your brain gets mushy. ^.^

[AndyMeg]

I see it like this:

- The brain needs time to process new information.
- The already known information is organized in a specific way in the brain.
- When you add new information, the brain has to reorganize "all" of its current (and related) information in order to make space for the new information to fit in a way that makes sense (this is called "assimilation").
- When you add too much new information at once, the brain needs more time to process all of it and reorganize everything in a way that makes sense. The more information you add at once, the more complex and slower this process becomes (so, for some time, you may experience difficulty even with things you already knew).