Pimsleur language learning system

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The Pimsleur language learning system is a language acquisition method developed by Paul Pimsleur. The system is based on four main ideas: anticipation, graduated interval recall, core vocabulary, and organic learning.[1]

The Pimsleur method is an audio-based system, in which the listener constructs phrases or repeats from memory along with a recording. The system, as currently packaged by Simon & Schuster, is made up of multiple thirty-minute lessons, which are repeated until 80% comprehension is attained, at which point the user may advance to the next lesson. Because the lessons repeat themselves and add new material[1], they do not demand 100% mastery before moving on.

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[edit] Methodology

  • The student listens to a recording on which a native speaker speaks phrases in both the foreign language and the language used for teaching (usually English).
  • At varying intervals, the student is prompted to repeat a phrase after the speaker finishes it
  • The student is then introduced to a new phrase and the meaning is explained.
  • After repeating several times, the student is asked to repeat a previous phrase, along with integrating vocabulary from the new one.
  • More new phrases are introduced, while old phrases are prompted at random. The random recall is designed to associate words with meanings.

[edit] Pimsleur learning principles

Pimsleur developed his system using four principles he regarded as important to forming memory associations and language recall.

  1. Anticipation
    Language courses commonly require a student to repeat after an instructor, which Pimsleur argued was a passive way of learning. Pimsleur developed a "challenge and response" technique, where a student was prompted to translate a phrase into the target language, which was then confirmed. This technique creates a more active way of learning, requiring the student to think before responding. Pimsleur said the principle of anticipation reflected real-life conversations in which a speaker must recall a phrase quickly.[citation needed]
  2. Graduated-interval recall
    Graduated interval recall is a method of reviewing learned vocabulary at increasing longer intervals. It is a version of retention through spaced repetition. For example, if a student learns the word deux (French for two), then deux is tested every few seconds in the beginning, then every few minutes, then every few hours, and then every few days. The goal of this spaced recall is to help the student move vocabulary into long-term memory.
    Pimsleur's 1967 memory schedule was as follows: 5 seconds, 25 seconds, 2 minutes, 10 minutes, 1 hour, 5 hours, 1 day, 5 days, 25 days, 4 months, 2 years.[2]
  3. Core vocabulary
    The Pimsleur method focuses on teaching commonly used words in order to lead to a comprehensive understanding of a "core vocabulary". In the typical Simon & Schuster 60 cassette/CD course (four modules of 15 cassette/CDs each) this does not provide a large breadth of vocabulary. However, word-frequency text analyses indicate that a relatively small core vocabulary accounts for the majority of words spoken in a particular language. For example, in English, a set of 2000 words composes about 80% of the total printed words.[3][4] In other words, an understanding of these 2000 words would lead to approximately an 80% word comprehension rate. Even the most advanced Pimsleur courses fall well short of this, with an average of around 600 words.
    The number of words needed to comprehend varies from language to language. For example, data for Indian languages in the CIIL corpus show the number of words required for 50% coverage varies from 199 words in Hindi to 7,699 in Malayalam, while 80% coverage for those languages is 2,874 and 126,344 respectively.[5][not in citation given]
    The Pimsleur method never teaches grammar explicitly, instead leaving the student to infer the grammar through common patterns and phrases repeated over and over. Pimsleur said this inductive method is precisely how native speakers learn grammar when they are children; only in schools is it "taught" on the blackboard.
  4. Organic learning
    The program uses an audio format because Pimsleur argued that the majority of students wanted first and foremost to learn to speak and understand. This auditory skill, learned through their ears and mouths, is a very different skill to the visual one of reading and writing. Pimsleur argued that these two independent skills - audition and vision - should not be confused. He referred to his auditory system as "organic learning," which entails studying grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation simultaneously.[citation needed] Learning by listening is also intended to teach the proper accent, which is very difficult through written material.

[edit] Effectiveness

Paul Nation's comprehensive review of vocabulary learning, Learning Vocabulary in Another Language, concluded that Pimsleur's "memory schedule" has been validated by research subsequent to Pimsleur's seminal paper. According to Nation's summary of the research, "effective retention of vocabulary requires a certain amount of repetition over spaced intervals".[6]

The Pimsleur method brings together a number of well known behavioral principles—gradual shaping of behavior, immediate reinforcement of response, stimulus (cue) control of the verbal response, systematically interlarding new and old material, focusing on the most common words in a language, and limiting the amount of new material to bite size portions—for its effectiveness. Simon & Schuster produces publicly available courses based on the Pimsleur method consisting of up to 3 courses of 30 each (so 90 lessons total per language) on audio tapes or CDs. Pimsleur's daughter, Julia Pimsleur, designed a video teaching series for young children loosely based on his teaching principles, called "Little Pim."

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Pimsleur-Language.com | The Pimsleur Method
  2. ^ Pimsleur, P. (1967). A memory schedule. Modern Language Journal, 51, 73-75.
  3. ^ Review of Paul Nation (2001), Learning vocabulary in another language
  4. ^ http://www1.harenet.ne.jp/~waring/papers/cup.html
  5. ^ Basic Statistical Analysis of Corpus and Cross Comparison among Corpora Akshar Bharati, et al.
  6. ^ Nation, I. S. P. (Ed.) (2001). Learning Vocabulary in Another Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[edit] External links

Sister project Wikibooks has a book on the topic of
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