Shadowing Practice: Contemporary Topics 1 Unit 2 LINGUISTICS A time to learn - Learn English Speaking with Video
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How many of you have studied a new language, not the language you grew up speaking?
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Okay.
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Well, today we're going to look at second language acquisition.
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That is, learning a second language.
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And one question that linguists like myself have tried to answer for many years is,
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why is it considerably easier for kids to learn a second language than adults?
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And we're going to look at a few different theories about this.
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First, we'll look at a theory that says there's a critical period or phase or ideal time in life for language learning.
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And then we'll talk about other factors such as the learning environment, attitude, and motivation.
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Now, from the show of hands, I see that many of you had your own personal experience with language learning, and I have recently too.
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I started studying
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Mandarin Chinese, Putonghua, just last year.
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And so I've been going to class, you know, listening to language CDs, and I'm learning, but it's tough.
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It's tough to learn a new language.
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And then today I went into my son's class.
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He's in first grade now.
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And one of my son's friends, Ji Wei, he goes by Stephen now, he He just moved here last fall from China.
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And when he first came into the class, he didn't speak a word of English.
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I mean, not one word.
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But now he's talking away in English, not always perfectly, but very easily, very fluent.
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And I'm like, wow, this is so unfair.
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We've both been studying a new language for the same amount of time, but he's learning it so much more quickly.
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This is in fact something that linguists are very interested in,
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understanding this difference between how kids and adults learn a new language.
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Now one explanation is that there's a critical period for language learning.
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And this theory was first introduced in the 1960s by a linguist named Eric Leneberg.
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And Lenneberg's theory says that during childhood language learning is very easy.
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Basically our brains are just ready for language learning.
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But later, starting in adolescence and as we get older, our brains change.
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We lose this childhood ability and it becomes more difficult to learn language.
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And that's why adults have trouble learning a new language.
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Well, if you're an adult, that's a bit discouraging, right?
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You can look at my son's friend
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Steven, who is six years old, and me, who's 29 plus, and say, well, okay, Steven is still in the critical phase.
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His brain works perfectly right now for language learning, but you, you're way past the critical phase and your brain's already changed,
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so too bad, I'm sorry.
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But wait a minute, is this comparison between me and Stephen really fair?
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I mean, there's an age difference, but there are a lot of other differences as well.
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Can we really say that my lack of progress learning Chinese is only because I've passed the critical phase?
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No, no. Many people, including linguist Robert DeKaiser,
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would say no. So, you have to look at other factors.
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Okay.
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Now, one obvious factor in second language acquisition is environment, the place where the person is learning.
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So Stephen is here in an all English environment where he's speaking English all day at school, and all of his friends speak English.
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Me on the other hand, I'm just taking a class two hours a week.
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So, sure, I listen to my Chinese CDs in my car on the way to work,
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but other than that, I'm not in an environment where I hear a lot of Chinese.
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And I wonder, what if it were the other way around?
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What if I went to China and was in school all day hearing Chinese, and Stephen was studying English only two hours a week?
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Do you think that would change how well we were each learning the language?
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Yeah, I'm sure it would.
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So environment plays a significant role in language acquisition.
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Another factor in second language acquisition is a person's attitude about learning the new language.
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How do you feel about learning?
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Now, when I was watching Stephen in the classroom playing with his friends,
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it was clear he didn't feel at all embarrassed about his English language abilities.
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You know, he can't speak perfectly yet, but when he made a mistake, he didn't care.
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Neither did his friends, they just kept on playing.
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Me on the other hand, I find it very difficult to speak Chinese when I'm not sure what I'm saying.
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I get very nervous and embarrassed and as a result, I don't practice speaking as much as I should.
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So clearly a person's attitude about learning is very important in acquiring a second language.
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Finally, the last factor we'll look at is motivation.
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Why is the person learning the language?
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Now, Stephen is probably very motivated to learn English.
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All his friends speak it, so he needs to learn it in order to play with them.
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I, on the other hand, want to learn Chinese, but I don't need to.
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So we're both motivated to learn, but perhaps my motivation isn't quite as strong.
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All right, so what do we understand about second language acquisition?
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Well, there does seem to be a critical period in childhood when language learning is much easier, but it's important to look at all the factors,
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and there are several, including environment,
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attitude, and motivation, which help decide if someone's going to be a successful language learner.
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As for me, I'm not ready to give up on Chinese just yet.
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So what does everyone think about this critical period theory?
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Like the big thing is that it's harder to learn a language if you're an adult, right?
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Actually speaking from my own experience, I'd say the other factors he mentioned are just as important.
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What other factors?
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Attitude, environment and motivation.
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Those were big for me.
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Really?
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How so?
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Like what was your experience?
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Oh, okay.
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Well, I came to United States from Russia as a teenager.
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And every time I spoke I got so nervous.
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I was afraid people would make fun of me.
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Oh, really?
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I thought kids learned easily.
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Well, I was in high school, so little older.
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Anyway, I made some friends, I watched a lot of TV, and now I feel pretty comfortable talking to anyone.
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Good.
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Amen, what about you?
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What was it like for you?
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Oh, well, to me the critical period explains a lot.
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My niece, who is four, came over here when I did two years ago.
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And she sounds like you guys.
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Really?
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She talks like a native speaker and I'm so jealous.
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Well, you'll get there.
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It's just a matter of time and practice.
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I mean, for two years you sound good, definitely.
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Yeah.
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I wouldn't worry about it.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Contemporary Topics 1 Unit 2 LINGUISTICS A time to learn”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: language, learning, learn, factor, critical. This video has 102 sentences and 1139 words to shadow. The speech runs for 7:37. The speaker talks at a natural 150 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 88% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow. 21 of its 102 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| acquisition noun | /ˌæk.wɪˈzɪʃ.ən/ | The act or process of acquiring. |
| motivation noun | /ˈmoʊ.tə.veɪ.ʃən/ | Willingness of action especially in behavior. |
| embarrassed adjective | /ɪmˈbæɹ.əst/ | Having a feeling of shameful discomfort. |
| motivate verb | /ˈmoʊ.tɪ.veɪt/ | To provide someone with an incentive to do something; to encourage; to actuate. |
| explanation noun | /ˌɛkspləˈneɪʃən/ | The act or process of explaining. |
| ideal adjective | /aɪˈdi(ə)l/ | Pertaining to ideas, or to a given idea. |
| introduce verb | /ˌɪntɹəˈdus/ | To cause (someone) to be acquainted (with someone else). |
| jealous adjective | /ˈd͡ʒɛl.əs/ | Suspecting rivalry in love; troubled by worries that one might have been replaced in someone's affections; suspicious of a lover's or spouse's fidelity. |
| unfair adjective | /ʌnˈfɛɚ/ | Not just. |
| classroom noun | /ˈklɑːsɹʊm/ | A room, often in a school, where classes take place. |
| acquire verb | /əˈkwaɪɚ/ | To get. |
| teenager noun | /ˈtiːnˌeɪ̯d͡ʒə/ | A person between thirteen and nineteen years old (inclusive). |
| considerably adverb | /kənˈsɪdəɹəbli/ | Significantly; to a degree worth considering. |
| amen | /(ˌ)ɑːˈmɛn/ | At the end of a religious prayer: so be it. |
| niece noun | /nis/ | A daughter of one’s sibling, brother-in-law, or sister-in-law; either the daughter of one's brother ("fraternal niece"), or of one's sister ("sororal niece"). |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| come over verb | To affect in a sudden, unprecedented or surprising manner; to overwhelm a person's ordinarily contrary impulse. |
| grow up verb | To mature and become an adult. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- How do you feel about learning?
- Finally, the last factor we'll look at is motivation.
- All right, so what do we understand about second language acquisition?
- Amen, what about you?
- What was it like for you?
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 32 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, didn't, we'll. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: acquisition /ˌæk.wɪˈzɪʃ.ən/, motivation /ˈmoʊ.tə.veɪ.ʃən/, explanation /ˌɛkspləˈneɪʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: acquisition /ˌæk.wɪˈzɪʃ.ən/, motivation /ˈmoʊ.tə.veɪ.ʃən/, explanation /ˌɛkspləˈneɪʃən/, considerably /kənˈsɪdəɹəbli/, adolescence /ˌædəˈlɛsəns/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like acquisition, motivation, embarrassed.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.