Social media English - the hard sell
Social language learning - why do it and what's the difference?
(from a recent email to a media agency)
Only a small proportion of the world's English learners (2bn) like
using software to learn a language. Most language teaching and
learning involves schools, colleges, teachers, printed materials and practice with real people not machines. Our materials can be shared, emailed, printed and written on whilst being used to educate individuals and groups of students anywhere.
Most Indian students learn English and 70% use internet cafes. Their time online is valuable and with our materials they can print and work offline, only going online (and paying for time) when they are ready to practise with a native speaker using Skype.
An English lesson in Vietnam using our materials would only cost the time online. A learner can speak to five native speaker friends and practice the language they have learnt with our materials offline in 20 mins. That costs just 30 US cents in an internet cafe.
The language teaching market is a strange mirage. Products like
Rosetta Stone and Linguaphone (who I used to work with) most of the time are bought or downloaded and never used, let alone completed as courses. They are marvels of marketing. Why? Because everyone wants a quick fix but learning a language requires motivation levels to be maintained over a protracted period of time. Motivation is chiefly maintained through small evidential steps of improvement and comprehension with native users of the language, i.e. real communication. It is also maintained by social and inter-cultural human interest...friendship.
That's what our stuff does and is why it fits with social media and
voice-over IP. Funnily enough, even Rosetta Stone have acknowledged
the need for social interaction in the acquisition of language, they
quietly have an experimental online language social network of their
own:
..and I might get in touch with them and ask them if they want to use
our materials to enhance and improve their shared talk users learning
experiences.