Intro to "Learning Languages Like Children"

LEARNING LANGUAGES LIKE CHILDREN

By Dr. J. Marvin Brown

(Originally written in July of 1992, revised in 2001)

In 1984, the American University Alumni Language Center in Bangkok started using a new version of the natural approach to teach the Thai language. In publications it has been referred to as ‘The Listening Approach', but in Thailand it was first called ‘The Natural Approach'. In more recent years it's become known as ‘Automatic Language Growth' or ‘ALG'. Like natural approaches elsewhere, it is based on the principle that understanding real language use is the only thing that leads to natural language acquisition. But unlike the others, it claims that any attempt to speak (or even think about language) before natural speaking comes by itself will cause irreversible damage and impose a ceiling on the final results! This article reports on the Automatic Language Growth Program over the first sixteen years of its development.