The Informed English Student #3 - Quality Control

[Warren]

Informed English Student #3 - Quality Control

Occasionally, when I buy a new pair of pants, I find a small piece of
paper in one of the pockets. On that piece of paper it will say
something like this: "Inspected by #38".

Quality control is the process of checking goods (things, like pants,
that are produced, or manufactured) when they are produced to make
sure the quality is good enough. When I find that little piece of
paper, I know that someone inspected (examined, or looked at) my pants
before they were sent to the store to make sure they were good enough
to sell.

We could also call the inspector a monitor. A monitor is someone who
watches an activity or situation to make sure everything is the way it
is supposed to be. For example, an election monitor is someone who
watches an election to make sure it is fair and everyone has an equal
opportunity to vote.

Two weeks ago - in The Informed English Student #1 - I wrote that
there are two ways to "know" a language (as Dr. McQuillan would say).
One way is to acquire a language by experiencing it naturally; the
other way is to learn a language by studying hard and learning rules.
I also wrote that most of our fluency (ability) comes from acquired
language, not learned language.

Is the language we learn helpful? Yes, but only at certain times. The
language that we learn helps us ...

1. when we are taking a grammar test
2. when we are editing what we have written.

To say it another way, learned language is helpful, but only as a
monitor.

Why is this true? Scientific research tells us that there are three
requirements for using learned language. First, we have to know the
rule. And that is difficult to do because language is very complex and
there are hundreds of rules. Second, we have to be focused (pay
careful attention) on form (the way something looks or sounds). Third,
we have to have time to think about it. Usually the only time all
three of these requirements are satisfied is when we are taking a
grammar test or editing something we have written.

There is no substitute for (nothing is as good as) reading and
listening to acquire language. None of the good writers that I know
think about rules when they write. Mostly they know their writing is
good by the way it "feels" or sounds. How did they develop this
ability? By reading and listening. And so can you.

Let me know if you have any questions. I'll be happy to try to answer
them.

Warren

(The Informed English Student is a series of short essays to help
English learners understand how language is acquired. The first five
essays are based on the writings of Dr. Stephen Krashen. Most
definitions are taken from the Longman's Dictionary of Contemporary
English.)