Posts about different language teaching approaches are consistently among the most popular on this blog. And over the last three years, we’ve written 80+ posts about how to use those styles in your language classroom. But we’re never attempted a post that suggested that particular approaches might be more suitable than others to teach different languages. Until today…
Of course, we appreciate that every language, every educator and every student is unique and that one-size-fits-all approaches simply don’t work. However our research does suggest that key languages and language families have certain characteristics that might lend themselves to particular teaching approaches.
In any case, our advice to language teachers remains the same – test and trial different language teaching strategies in your classroom, adapt and tailor them for your learners / circumstances and use what works best for you and them!
Language families and learning strategies
Languages aren’t isolated entities. Many share common histories and form a language family. These families have a single root (the proto-language) that branched out over time to create separate, different languages. Such “branches” are language families, and the closer two languages are on the tree, the more similarities they share.
Understanding language families is crucial for language teaching and learning because these connections reveal shared traits in vocabulary, grammar, and sometimes even pronunciation.
By recognizing these patterns, educators can identify teaching methods that fit best with the target language’s inherent structure. For learners, grasping the connections within a language family can make the learning process more efficient and can provide a foundation for picking up related languages more easily in the future.
Let’s start by exploring four major language families and the teaching approaches that resonate well with their unique characteristics.
Romance languages (e.g French, Italian and Spanish)
Romance languages all descend from a common Latin root, sharing similar vocabulary and grammatical structures.
For example, words like “liber” (Latin) become “livre” (French), “libro” (Spanish), and “libro” (Italian) all meaning “book.” Romance languages also exhibit similar verb conjugations and sentence structures, often relying heavily on verb endings to convey grammatical information (e.g., tense, person).
Additionally, these languages are also known for their phonetic (pronounced as spelled) nature and require students to focus on delivering clear pronunciation.
Given their global appeal, there’s a strong case for educators to prioritise the communicative approach when teaching Romance languages. This maximises opportunities for language production and focuses on building fluency and real-world communication skills. This aligns perfectly with these languages, where clear pronunciation is crucial for understanding.
Germanic languages (e.g English, Dutch and German)
Evolved from Proto-Germanic, these languages share similarities in verb conjugations and sentence structure. Germanic languages also share many cognates – words with a common root. For example, “water” in English becomes “Wasser” in German and “water” in Dutch.
However, unlike Romance languages, Germanic languages can be much less predictable in pronunciation, with unexpected silent letters and complex vowel sounds.
One other unique feature of Germanic languages is the presence of strong verbs. These have irregular past participles and past tense forms (e.g sing-sang-sung in English).
A good suggestion for teaching Germanic languages is to focus on task-based learning approaches, which encourage students to achieve specific, directed objectives in their L2. This strategy encourages students to problem-solve and naturally practise the language’s intricacies, including pronunciation patterns.
East Asian languages (e.g Mandarin Chinese, Japanese and Korean)
These languages come from different language families but share some common features. Notably, they are all tonal languages, where the pitch of your voice can change the meaning of a word. For instance, in Mandarin Chinese, “ma” with a flat tone means “horse,” but with a rising tone it means “mother.”
These languages also have unique writing systems that differ significantly from the Latin alphabet. Chinese characters represent entire words or concepts, while Japanese utilises a combination of Kanji (Chinese characters), Hiragana (used for grammatical elements) and Katakana (used for foreign words).
For East Asian languages, multisensory learning approaches can be hugely effective in engaging learners and making L2 information more memorable. For such tonal languages, incorporating audio exercises and visual representations of tones can be highly effective. Complex writing systems like Chinese also benefit from gamified exercises and spaced repetition techniques to reinforce memorization.
Slavic languages (e.g Czech, Polish and Russian)
As with the above, Slavic languages often have a different alphabet than the Latin alphabet (e.g Cyrillic). This differs visually and phonetically, so understanding that will be crucial for reading and writing these languages.
This language family is known for its complex case systems, where nouns change endings depending on their grammatical role in a sentence – for example, nominative for subject, accusative for object, etc. Of course, this can be challenging for learners who come from languages with simpler case systems.
While communicative approaches are obviously valuable, explicit grammar instruction can also be particularly beneficial for Slavic languages. Only by building detailed understanding of the different cases and their uses can students effectively navigate sentence structure and express themselves accurately. Interactive grammar exercises with clear explanations and real-life examples can help students grasp these nuances and use them confidently in their language learning journey.
Moving beyond
Language families obviously provide a helpful framework, but there are always exceptions. Arabic, for instance, stands out within the Afroasiatic family due to its complex writing system with several letter variations depending on their position in a word.
Traditional memorization of Arabic characters can be incredibly daunting for new learners. Gamified exercises or interactive tests help motivate students by earning points and unlocking new levels by recognizing and writing characters. This can make the learning journey more engaging and effective.
Japanese also presents a different challenge as it has three writing systems: Kanji (adopted Chinese characters), Hiragana (used for grammatical elements and native Japanese words), and Katakana (used for foreign words). Again mastering these multiple writing systems can be really challenging, so spaced repetition can be highly effective. This powerful memory technique reviews language content at progressively increasing intervals via, for example, paper or digital flashcards.
The key takeaway? There’s no magic bullet for language learning and no shortcut to language learning success. The most effective classroom teaching hinges on understanding the target language’s unique characteristics and tailoring your approach accordingly. Whether it’s leveraging shared traits within language families or addressing the specific needs of an outlier language, educators who carefully adapt their methods best prepare their students for success.
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