Study shows second-language learning can happen quickly

[Kraut]

https://phys.org/news/2021-06-second-la ... ickly.html

Study shows second-language learning can happen quickly

In a finding that runs contrary to one of the most-cited studies in the field, a new research paper from University of Kansas linguists shows that even as beginners, adults can quickly begin mentally processing sentence structures in a second language like a native speaker.

And even if their results cannot, just yet, be translated into new teaching methods, the co-authors say this type of scientific study points to optimism for classroom second-language learning.

[Le Baron]

They started to test these learners after just one month of university French classes, and then they tested them again at four months and seven months.
Novice learners who had no previous exposure to Spanish were tested three times in their first year of study—at two, six and eight months of classroom exposure.

Record time then.

"So I think it's cause for optimism for university foreign-language instruction. It shows that, even with limited exposure in the college classroom, learning can happen quite quickly and efficiently."

So why doesn't it then for so many? There are other factors, like only learning at college then switching off. The fact that there isn't always correlation of grammatical sentence structures between L1 and L2.

[Cenwalh]

This article was really interesting albeit with what I would consider to be the wrong title. This doesn't really seem to be about how quick one can learn a language, rather what a learner's brain looks like after doing so (compared to a native's brain).