People Make When They

3 Big Mistakes Try to Learn English

By Jose
ph Pou
lshock,
PhD
3 BIG Mistakes People Make When They Try Learn English
Rio fell asleep under a mountain of books. When she
woke up, she pushed the books away and said, “Oh no! To-
morrow’s TOEFL test! I have to study more!” And so, she stud-
ied — all night long.

The next morning Rio woke up. She ate breakfast and
studied more words. She studied more grammar rules. Fi-
nally, she stood up and said, “I’m ready. It’s time to go!”

During the test, the clock moved slowly. Three hours felt
like one long day. Rio looked at the words on the test, and
she saw only lines and circles. She felt sad and broken be-
cause she didn’t understand very much.

When she finished, Rio stood up and packed her bag. She
thought to herself, “I studied so hard. But I don’t understand
this test. It hits me on the head like a fat grammar book. And
studying English is so boring. I want to give up.”

Many learners know Rio’s experience. But they may not

know this. Rio works hard, but she is also making three
big mistakes. In fact, many learners make these mistakes,
mistakes they can easily fix.
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My Experience We may not always see the mistakes — in the way we learn.

I have taught English for over 25 years. I am a professor

of English linguistics at a major university in Japan. And I
earned a PhD in linguistics from a top ranked university.

Even with all my education and experience, I did not al-

ways known how to help Rio. But I know now. Research
shows a better and more enjoyable way to learn English.
And for the past 10 years, I have helped learners use this
better and more enjoyable way. But before I talk about
that, let’s learn from Rio’s mistakes.

The Vocabulary Mistake

What is Rio’s first mistake? To get ready for her test, Rio
studies difficult and rare words. Why? Her teachers told
her to study these words, and she might meet some of
them on the test, right? So, what is wrong with this?

Well... Rio must learn the top words first. When she uses What hidden mistakes do
English, she will meet the top words all the time. But if
she doesn’t know them, she cannot understand English.
you make in the way you
learn English?
But Rio mistakenly studies many difficult and rare words,
like “acrimony, syncopate, tenure, vagabond, and tarnish.”
Maybe she will meet some of these words on the test, but Many teachers and learners do not know it, but studying rare
she wi! probably not meet many of them. words first is a mistake, and it wastes time and energy.

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Why? Because Rio needs to read over 3,000,000 words When we learn the top words first, we save time and energy.
just to meet a word like “tarnish” 5 times. That’s right! If
she reads 3,000,000 words, she will meet “tarnish,”
maybe 5 times in 365 hours of reading . It’s a rare word. At
the same time, Rio will meet the top words on every
page. She will hear the top words in every conversation.

Rio needs the rare words, but here is the key: she needs
them later. She needs the top words first. These words
come from the top 2,000 words of English. They cover
80% - 88% of ALL English texts. The top words stand
out as useful, frequent, and thus valuable to learn first.

Rio knows many of the top words, but not all of them.
She has empty gaps in her word power, which she needs
to fill. We know good ways to fill these gaps and how to
study academic words, and the rarer middle and low fre-
quency words. But Rio makes a big mistake if she studies
rare words first. She must learn the top words first. They
form the foundation for her word power.

The Test Preparation Mistake

To improve her English skill, Rio wants to buy a good

book. She walks into a bookstore, and she sees stacks of
TOEIC, TOEFL, and other test prep books. In Japan, we For the top words, we spend time learning words that we meet all
see these books at stores everywhere. the time, so we spend our time and energy well.

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Test preparation can help you, but it is boring. And...

... test prep is narrow prep. Before test prep, learners need to get Total English — they need to get a general mastery of English first.

Rio thinks, “I’" study TOEFL, and I’’" grow my English ski"!” test. But Rio needs more than just test prep. She needs to
So, she buys a TOEFL word book that teaches rare learn “Total English.”
words, and she buys a TOEFL preparation book, too.
As Rio does test prep, she will meet other problems. She
Here Rio makes her second mistake. The word book will will get bored. She will get tired. She will lose interest,
not help her learn the top words that she doesn’t know and she will find the books to be too difficult.
yet (first mistake). Second mistake: a TOEFL, TOEIC, or
Test prep can help Rio, but she should not spend all her
test prep book will not help her master English.
time on test preparation. Test prep can help her some,
That is, test prep books will not help Rio get wide Eng- but she needs to master English first.
lish mastery. They will give her narrow preparation for the
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The Grammar Hyper-Focus Mistake In traditional classes, language teachers often teach too much.

Rio thinks that she knows how to learn a language. Why?

Because she has studied English at school for many years.
But many teachers use old methods. And sadly, science
and research often do not support these old methods.

We see this in Japan. Many teachers still use an old

method called “Grammar Translation.” But no theory sup-
ports this method. What’s more, we find no scientific re-
search that supports the grammar translation method.

Also in language classes around the world, teachers

mostly focus on grammar. Of course, many teachers teach
with new methods that promote communication. But in
most language classes, we see teachers and students focus
on grammar — too much of the time. Grammar study can
help. But we should probably focus on grammar and vo-
cabulary only about 25% of the time.

On top of this, teachers cannot easily make grammar

study enjoyable. Instead, Rio needs to focus more on mes-
sages and stories, which she will enjoy more than gram-
mar study. Children learn their first language easily, and
they don’t study grammar books. They understand mes-
sages, enjoy stories, and learn language the natural way. Teachers teach grammar most of the time. Instead, we need to fo-
cus more on meaningful messages and stories.

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All people enjoy stories more than grammar study.

But most people don’t realize this. You can learn grammar and vocabulary by enjoying many stories!

The Solution of Stories she will grow confidence. She will get higher scores on big
tests. She can even get the same or better results than
Teachers and learners often hyper-focus on grammar
grammar study — in the same amount of time! And she
study. Again, grammar study helps, but we make a mistake
will enjoy stories more than grammar study.
if we study it too much. And many teachers do not know
about story power. Story has more power than you think. Research also shows this. If Rio reads 2,000,000 words,
It helps you enter a world of English where you naturally she can get the same result as one year of study abroad.
learn words and grammar — while enjoying stories! Two million is a big number, but Rio can do it in about
260 hours of reading. Think about it: about 260 hours of
If Rio reads 300,000 words in stories, she can see big re-
reading stories equals one year of study abroad!
sults. This will take her about 40 hours. During this time,
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Big Reading Can you read English easily? Yes, you can because...

Let’s call this “big reading.” Language experts call it exten-

sive reading. Big reading is one of the best — and most en-
joyable — methods for improving your English. If you do
big reading, you are not making a learning mistake.
Rather, you improve the way you learn English.

To sum up, Rio can easily fix her learning mistakes. She
can easily learn how to read big. Now the question is this:
What are the rules for big reading? How can Rio do it?

We can answer this question with the word BEE. This

stands for BIG, EASY, ENJOYABLE. To read BIG,
you need to read many words. In one year, a big reader
might read between 300,000 and 1,000,000 words.

To read EASY, you need read at the right level. To read

at the right level, you need to know 98% of the words on
every page. And we now have computer tools that help us
create stories and books at just the right level for you.

To read ENJOYABLY means this: Read what you like.

Read stories that inspire you. Read stories that give you
helpful information. Read stories where you forget about
time and enter a state of focus — called flow. Enjoy sto-
... today we have computer tools for making stories for all levels
ries and learn many other things as you learn English. of English learners.

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When reading, many people fly on a rich and rewarding experience called flow.

With flow, you enter the world of a story. You forget about time. You feel in control. You feel the pleasure of reading — like play.

What a minute! The Wrong Idea About Reading Mistake

Yes, people experience reading as the most common flow As I said before, reading (and stories) are more powerful
experience. They can experience it like play. Still many than people think. First, look at what experts say about
learners say, “Wait a minute! Reading is okay, but I want to big reading. The language teaching expert Dr. Stephen
speak English.” Other learners say, “I need other ski!s, Krashen says that big reading works as the “best-
like listening and writing.” And some learners will even say, supported technique we have” for language teaching.
“I hate reading!” We can understand these questions. But
Dr. Rob Waring is known internationally as a language
they come from wrong ideas about language learning.
teaching expert. He calls big reading “completely indis-
Let’s call it the 4th mistake about learning English!
pensable.” He means totally essential or all-important.
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Why do some people hate reading? Here’s one answer: They studied reading – only to prepare for tests. More than anything, this kills the joy of reading.

Test prep kills the joy of reading. But learners can find adventure, fun, and pleasure in reading. A great book or story waits for you!

Paul Nation has taught teachers around the world how to The Benefits of Big Reading
teach English. To improve teaching, Nation speaks clearly
Experts know the benefits of big reading. Big reading
about big reading, saying it works as “the most impor-
doesn’t just help you improve reading. It helps you im-
tant improvement that a teacher can make.”
prove all your English skills. Why? Because big reading
Experts make it clear. Big reading works as the best way gives you big language data – like study abroad. Now, ex-
for teachers to improve how they teach. If so, then big perts know of many more benefits, but I don’t have room
reading also works as the best way for learners to im- to share them here, so I will email you more helpful infor-
prove how they learn. But why do the experts say these mation soon. And if you are not already on my email list,
things about big reading? you can sign up at: BigEnglishSuccess.com.
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Facts About this Book

• The author Joseph Poulshock works as a Professor of

English Linguistics at Senshu University in the Depart-
ment of Intercultural Communication. He also does
teacher education at Meiji Gakuin University and serves
as an Editor at ReadOasis.com. In his free time, Joseph
likes to read books, walk his dog, and play ukulele.

• Word Count: This book has 1680 words.

• Word Level: 95% of the words in this book come from

the top 2,000 words of English.

• ReadOasis Level: Step 2

• CEFR Level: Elementary: A2.

• Modified CEFR at ReadOasis A3 (high beginner).

• Images in this book were used with a standard license

from depositphotos.com.

Joseph Poulshock reading “Eddie Would Go”

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