Effortless learning isn't learning. Real expertise needs the right kind of struggle: what cognitive scientists call “desirable difficulties.” Learn how to apply them.
Thanks a lot for this article, it makes me want to write more about the fact that learning has to pleasurable as I always preach. I should nuance it better in some articles because I do fully agree with you.
The kind of pleasure I have in mind is because language learning is usually something we do on top of a, b, c... Unlike a full-scale university degree, and you need to understand whether your efforts are meaningful in order to be consistent and not to procrastinate and get stuck. When you have some disgust regarding a language is oftentimes a hint that you're doing something wrong, like learning vocabulary for building and roadworks when you should learn how to be in an office (this happened to my brother in Germany).
For me, my "guts" knew I was wasting time when I was making exercises about art work restauration in Dutch while I could barely have a fluent daily conversation. It was much more pleasurable to interact with someone daily through WhatsApp...and effective too. So I always add that a second mantra is to be strategic and reverse engineer how to get to speak about what you need or matters to you.
I actually never even speak about efforts because for me it's obvious. Food for thoughts :)
I think what you’re after is what is often called “meaningful communication” or “authentic tasks” in the context of communicative language teaching. The idea is that we learn language better when it’s tied to our needs and wants (not generic topics or lists). However, the reason for that isn’t "fun" or "pleasure"; rather, it's because the self is a strong organizational structure that allows for deep processing. We see vocabulary, grammar, and expressions that we can relate to as more relevant and therefore learn them more easily (I wrote about this in my last article). The "disgust" you refer to is the feeling that you're learning something irrelevant.
That said, note that relevant communication still requires cognitive effort. I’d argue that learning relevant content adds to the "desirable" part of desirable difficulty, but it doesn't change the fact that learning entails a difficulty and a cognitive challenge.
Many motivated learners and language influencers overemphasize the "fun" element because they're so used to the struggle that they don't see it anymore. They might also think that if you make learning fun enough, the struggle will become less present and hence more endurable or worthwhile. However, this is poor advice for less motivated learners, who first need to learn how to sit in with the struggle. Chasing the fun won't make the struggle more endurable for them; it will prevent them from understanding that they need to struggle altogether.
I'd argue that some things can be difficult and fun at the same time, it depends on how you look at them. There are very difficult games I really enjoy playing, complex books I find lots of fun reading, or vocally demanding karaoke songs I love singing, etc. It's about catering to your level in my opinion. But indeed, the idea that learning "should always be fun" is misleading.
Thanks a lot for this article, it makes me want to write more about the fact that learning has to pleasurable as I always preach. I should nuance it better in some articles because I do fully agree with you.
The kind of pleasure I have in mind is because language learning is usually something we do on top of a, b, c... Unlike a full-scale university degree, and you need to understand whether your efforts are meaningful in order to be consistent and not to procrastinate and get stuck. When you have some disgust regarding a language is oftentimes a hint that you're doing something wrong, like learning vocabulary for building and roadworks when you should learn how to be in an office (this happened to my brother in Germany).
For me, my "guts" knew I was wasting time when I was making exercises about art work restauration in Dutch while I could barely have a fluent daily conversation. It was much more pleasurable to interact with someone daily through WhatsApp...and effective too. So I always add that a second mantra is to be strategic and reverse engineer how to get to speak about what you need or matters to you.
I actually never even speak about efforts because for me it's obvious. Food for thoughts :)
I think what you’re after is what is often called “meaningful communication” or “authentic tasks” in the context of communicative language teaching. The idea is that we learn language better when it’s tied to our needs and wants (not generic topics or lists). However, the reason for that isn’t "fun" or "pleasure"; rather, it's because the self is a strong organizational structure that allows for deep processing. We see vocabulary, grammar, and expressions that we can relate to as more relevant and therefore learn them more easily (I wrote about this in my last article). The "disgust" you refer to is the feeling that you're learning something irrelevant.
That said, note that relevant communication still requires cognitive effort. I’d argue that learning relevant content adds to the "desirable" part of desirable difficulty, but it doesn't change the fact that learning entails a difficulty and a cognitive challenge.
Many motivated learners and language influencers overemphasize the "fun" element because they're so used to the struggle that they don't see it anymore. They might also think that if you make learning fun enough, the struggle will become less present and hence more endurable or worthwhile. However, this is poor advice for less motivated learners, who first need to learn how to sit in with the struggle. Chasing the fun won't make the struggle more endurable for them; it will prevent them from understanding that they need to struggle altogether.
“Learning isn’t always fun” Alphonso Dunn
I'd argue that some things can be difficult and fun at the same time, it depends on how you look at them. There are very difficult games I really enjoy playing, complex books I find lots of fun reading, or vocally demanding karaoke songs I love singing, etc. It's about catering to your level in my opinion. But indeed, the idea that learning "should always be fun" is misleading.