The limits of comprehensible input?
Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2018 12:19 am
I was speaking with a tutor of mine the other night and was very surprised and interested by something she told me about her younger brother. Although she lives in a family that is Mexican-American, and she herself speaks perfect English and Spanish, her brother has a very limited ability to speak Spanish. Her parents only speak Spanish, but can understand English, and so at home both languages are used in a kind of mixture.
Her parents speak Spanish and she responds to them in Spanish. Her brother understands their Spanish, but responds only in English. He feels more comfortable with English and is very Americanized. His comprehension of Spanish is still very good, and he has no problem understanding what is said to him at home or on trips to Mexico. However, his spoken Spanish is much more limited. While he’s capable of speaking, the fact that he so rarely has to speak it, means that when he does his Spanish is full of odd gaps and weaknesses, such as not knowing how to naturally use the subjunctive or switch to the formal usted.
I found this surprising since this seems to go against the comprehensible input theory I’ve been reading so much about and incorporating into my studies over the last year. The younger brother has lots of input as part of his day-to-day, but rarely needs to speak. As a result, that skill is comparatively weak. I would have thought that this isn’t possible—the constant comprehensible input should automatically develop output that is grammatically correct to other native speakers.
Is this a fluke? Or does this an example of how comprehensible input can only take you so far?
Her parents speak Spanish and she responds to them in Spanish. Her brother understands their Spanish, but responds only in English. He feels more comfortable with English and is very Americanized. His comprehension of Spanish is still very good, and he has no problem understanding what is said to him at home or on trips to Mexico. However, his spoken Spanish is much more limited. While he’s capable of speaking, the fact that he so rarely has to speak it, means that when he does his Spanish is full of odd gaps and weaknesses, such as not knowing how to naturally use the subjunctive or switch to the formal usted.
I found this surprising since this seems to go against the comprehensible input theory I’ve been reading so much about and incorporating into my studies over the last year. The younger brother has lots of input as part of his day-to-day, but rarely needs to speak. As a result, that skill is comparatively weak. I would have thought that this isn’t possible—the constant comprehensible input should automatically develop output that is grammatically correct to other native speakers.
Is this a fluke? Or does this an example of how comprehensible input can only take you so far?