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This is probably the most frequently repeated piece of advice for language learners. You will hear it from teachers, webmasters of ESL sites, and people in the in this discussion. For most language teachers, the

If a student in a language class does not want to speak, the teacher will normally assume they are shy, and will encourage (sometimes force) them to speak. He’ll tell the student: “Speak and don’t

This is often given as justification of the “Mistakes are OK” myth. The reasoning is that mistakes are a part of learning, therefore it is pointless to try to avoid them. Fact: While you cannot

This is a more general version of the “foreign accent” myth described in the previous article in the series. It has its roots in the Critical Period Hypothesis proposed by Eric Lenneberg in 1967. Lenneberg

“Studying pronunciation is not important” Many language learners assume their pronunciation is good enough because their teacher doesn’t correct them too often or because other students can understand them. Fact: Those learners are often dead