Learning Intentionality

There are some people who read a lot. They read for pleasure rather than for the sake of intentionally learning anything. That's fine. Everyone has their own ways to unwind and have fun.

But I adhere to the immersion method of learning languages which states we'll acquire language simply by being exposed to it. Why is it that people who read all the time don't have immense vocabularies? Why don't they speak like literary masters? Why do they sometimes struggle to compose a professional email?

Domain matters. Reading fiction probably won't teach you business language. But let's set that aspect aside for now.

If we trust in the immersion process for learning a language, those who spend more time immersing in novels should be the best of us at using the langauge.

However, I've noticed example after example of people who, despite their incessant reading, don't form a robust vocabulary. Why?

Passive vs. Intentional Learning

As children, learning is automatic. We absorb all of the sights, sounds, and meanings of the world around us. For the sake of survival.

As adults, we know enough. We can afford to be complacent. Reading, which used to be a source of education, can be done exclusively for the sake of fun and all learning can be suspended. We can read with our brains turned off, in effect.

Coasting

Take the following sentence, I'll be referring back to it throughout the remainder of this article:

"He spoke in a diffident tone."

To read that sentence in a novel, most people would probably skip over it. That single unknown word, "diffident", probably doesn't hold much of the story. Not knowing this word is unlikely to prevent you from understanding any of the plot.

I only learned the word "diffident" this morning. I originally thought it was a typo of the word "different". It wasn't. It means shy, unconfident, etc.

While yes, kids learn automatically whereas adults have to be more intentional, I don't believe that there's a magical superpower that kids possess which fades as they get older. In both cases, learning comes down to intentionality.

Micro and Macro Intentionality

Learning occurs best when we pause for half a second to process new information and relate it in some way to something else that we already have deeply engrained in our understanding. We can think about its meaning, imagery, or personal connection.

But what about that last one, Personal connection? There are a couple of ways I could see that being applied.

At the micro level—on a sentence by sentence basis—you could say, "Ah yeah, I too spoke in a diffident tone in 7th grade after moving to a new school". You will have related that new vocabulary word to yourself and helped your brain form a deeper connection to the word, great! It kinda takes a bit of effort though.

Or, you can add intentionality at the macro level, which, I believe, is what kids do. And it takes zero effort. Children have the survival instinct to quickly learn how the world works. The know that they need to know these things. When an unknown word pops up, their brain automatically spends that half a second to process it and form those connections.

But this isn't a superpower. Adults can and do process new information in the same way, when the need is there.

When I was learning French, I told myself that I needed to learn the language in order to live in France and communicate with people and make friends. I implanted the idea that EVERY unknown word was important—not to a story, I didn't care about the story, but for my education. Unknown French words were tools that I hadn't acquired yet. They were potential stepping stones to the life that I (thought I) wanted.

So when I came across an unknown word like "gagne-pain", I looked it up. It means livelihood. I didn't care about the character's livelihood or how it factored into the overall story that the word came from. I cared about MY livelihood. My future French friends' livelihoods.

And it wasn't exclusively about the individual word either.

The thinking was that ANY unknown word might be a tool that I'd need someday in a France. I had to know what they all meant, just in case they ever came up in conversation.

Summary

The difference between kids learning and adults learning—foreign languages or anything else—shouldn't be hand-waved away as "kids just learn better". That's a lazy excuse. Adults can learn just as effectively if the intent is there.

It's not that kids possess powers that are lost upon entering adulthood like some sort of Peter Pan story. It's that kids have automatic intentionality and adults don't. Kids have a reason to learn (even the defiant ones), whereas adults don't. Kids' brains are always on and receptive to new information, but adults have learned the ability—or disability, in some cases—to check out.

Create a reason and you'll find motivation and make progress.