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Is it effective to reciete sentences when you study foreign languages?
Hi, I am studying English as my second language.
My English teacher told us that it was effective to recite sentences.
He said that the senteces include everything you need to learn sucha as words, phrases, grammar, rhythm and intonation.
So I have a question for you who have mastered second or third languages.
Have you memorized sentences a lot when you studied your second or third languages?
My teacher said that it makes a lot of difference if we memorize 500 sentences.
Thanks for your help.
1 Answer
- LC InstructorLv 79 years agoFavorite Answer
I usually don't criticize teachers, but I believe your teacher has little experience in modern ESL teaching.
Memorizing 500 sentences is useful if (and only if) somebody asks you a question that you can answer with that exact sentence. Or if you use one of those memorized sentences in a conversation, you have to HOPE that he answers with exactly another one that you have memorized.
I remember when I was traveling, I learned how to say, "Where is the toilet?" but then I didn't understand the answers, because people didn't talk in the dialog that I had studied.
When you learn grammar, you have to learn a sentence, and then learn how to manipulate that sentence. Transform it. Make it into a question or a negative or a passive. Then use it in a situation that is meaningful to you. It's more about using the language for yourself than about memorizing 500 fixed sentences.
In 1964, there was a set of books called "English 900" which said you could learn English by memorizing 900 sentences. Nobody uses that system today.
