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18 March 2005: Grammar Schmammar (3 of 4)

Of course, the point that I am trying to make in both cases is that learning happens through experience. Riding a bike, like speaking or writing, is a skill that is acquired through a complex process of watching, listening, practicing, failing, adjusting, trying again, and experiencing some amount of success.

Interestingly enough, the "experiencing some amount of success" is really truly necessary to a student's experience of learning.

To continue the metaphor, what if a parent did not respond when a child did not produce grammatically correct language? What if you consistently fell off the bike without travelling even a few inches? What if everything you ever wrote was corrected for grammatical, spelling, and punctuation errors? (See 13 October 2004.)

I would predict, in every case, it would not take very long before the learner gave up on learning, because when you discover that something is ineffective, you stop using it.

teaching quote of the day

Tell me and I forget. Show me and I remember. Involve me and I understand.

- Chinese proverb

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