Overview

Learning a language in a Directed Independent Language Study (DILS) program differs significantly from learning a foreign language in a traditional classroom setting. The degree to which you will succeed depends on how motivated and committed you remain throughout the study process.

You are your own teacher. Real progress in the language depends entirely on you -- on your attitude and the quality of your participation in sessions with the Language Partner, on your self-discipline and your study habits, on the amount of time you are willing and able to spend daily on studying the material, both the textbook and the audiotapes.

The Language Partner in a DILS program is not a teacher. The session with the Language Partner is not to be equated with a typical "class" session. You will not be taught as you would be in a normal academic course. The purpose of the session with the Language Partner is to review and practice the material you have studied on your own.

The goal of language learning in the DILS format is communicative competence. This can only be achieved by: (1) intensive and regular practice with the audio materials integrated with the textbook; (2) careful learning of the grammar as explained in the textbook; and (3) active practice integrating these in the sessions with the Language Partner. (When a DILS program is undertaken for the purpose of learning to read, the audio emphasis may be reduced).

You are expected to attend all practice sessions and to prepare properly for each session. If for any reason you have to miss a practice session, you must contact your Language Partner in advance. Your Language Partner will keep a record of your performance in the practice sessions. You may ask the DILS Director at any time to see your record.

Working with Audio

Working with audio materials is essential in independent language study. Only consistent and repeated practice with the audio material will allow you to achieve fluency.

Thirty minutes to one hour of daily work with the audio material should be considered the absolute minimum. Audio work requires intensive concentration and it can only be effectively sustained for frequent short periods of time. Find the limit of your audio attention span. Many short sessions, even on a single day, are preferable to one long session. Do not try to concentrate the audio work into a few long sessions a week. Audio work should be spread evenly over the entire week. Making up for missed time on audio work is very difficult, much more so than catching up on reading. Never fall behind with your audio work.

As you do your audio work, remember to repeat everything out loud. You cannot learn to speak by listening only, and even silently mouthing the language to yourself will not work. Learning to speak a language requires speaking aloud. Try to duplicate precisely the utterance you hear, and not merely to mutter a reasonable approximation. Think of yourself as an actor learning to play a character role, and attempt to copy in every possible detail the utterances you hear. Remember that sentence melody, rhythm, stress, and cadence are as important as the pronunciation of individual sounds and words.

Working with Text

Read the introduction of the textbook carefully (and the introduction to a student manual if there is one), since most authors include basic information about how the text is to be used. You are responsible for studying the grammar presented in the text on your own.

Even if you have studied the text carefully and understand all the grammar rules and usage conventions, you cannot assume that you will immediately be able fully to comprehend and to use the language. Attaining communicative competence involves skill acquisition, which can only be achieved with repeated audio work and practice with the Language Partner.

The Practice Session

Remember that English is not to be used during the practice session. Practice sessions with native speakers are your most valuable opportunity to enter the world of the new language, and, implicitly, of the new culture that you are studying.

If your Language Partner seems to speak too fast for you, do not ask him or her to slow down. You need to develop your comprehension skills through consistent and repeated use of the audio component: you should stop your audio work and listen to an utterance over and over, until you feel comfortable with it. If you have problems understanding your Language Partner, ask yourself the following questions:

Are you spending too much time studying the material visually rather than using the audio materials?
Do you usually have the book open while you work with the audio components?
Are you concentrating on learning single words rather than on larger chunks of language?

Use the practice sessions to try out and expand on what you have studied each week. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Making errors is essential in language learning, and practice sessions are the right place to make them.

Study Suggestions

Your first exposure to each lesson or chapter should ideally be with the audio work -- listening to and repeating the patterns and dialogues, working with the student manual if there is one.
After having become used to the sound of the language, familiarize yourself thoroughly with the material in the text (grammar patterns and dialogues).
Study the grammatical explanations.
Understand the point of the practice exercises before you return to the audio work.
Do the practice exercises.
Note which patterns are being demonstrated in the dialogues.
Work with the dialogues.
Note how the idiomatic expressions and words are being used in the dialogues.
Note what is being said with respect to the communication situations.
Return to the audio work.

Conclusion

Be sure to master all material in the lesson before your session with the Language Partner. Merely reading over the dialogues, exercises, and grammar explanations will not accomplish this. In order for the language to become entirely assimilated, you must repeat the audio material very frequently, until listening to the language and speaking it become natural to you. When you can understand and respond properly to all text/audio material without hesitation, error, or prompting, you have begun to internalize the material.

The number of hours per week devoted to language practice will determine your success. Proficiency is highly dependent on regularity and frequency of practice. You must devote time to your language practice on a daily basis. Only with patient and regular practice will you be able to attain your objective of automatic, smooth, and comprehensible language use.

Try to find ways to engage with the language and its culture. Locate newspapers, periodicals, maps, music, and other artifacts (also websites, if they exist), and explore opportunities that will maximize your contact with the language. If you have friends who speak the language, try out your newly acquired skills. Seek out other students who speak the language of your study, perhaps starting a language table.

More Information

For questions not answered on this website, contact dils@yale.edu or call (203) 432-0584.

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