Learning in Spurts

Discussion in 'The language learning methods of Big_Dog' started by Big_Dog, May 1, 2014.

  1. Big_Dog

    Big_Dog Administrator Staff Member

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    Definition. Learning in spurts in its purest form is learning intensely for a period of time, taking a break for a period of time, learning intensely, taking a break, etc. For example, studying 3 months for 3 hours a day, taking a 1 month break, studying 2 months for 5 hours a day, taking a 2 week break, etc. A less pure form of learning in spurts is just hard periods of study alternating with easy. It can be applied to a monthly, weekly or daily time scale.

    My background with learning in spurts. This quote is from here:

    That post was written 3 years ago, but it’s still pretty accurate, so I decided not to rewrite it. As I said above, what I do isn’t for everyone, so I’ve come up with some general suggestions.

    Some suggestions. As I mentioned in my bow wave post, there are advantages to taking breaks. Lowering the affective filter and letting the bow wave dissipate can result in more efficient learning, renewed motivation and an all around better state of mind. But the question is how much time do you take off? When do you jump back in? It’s a bit of a cop-out, but all I can suggest is to experiment. I’ll give you some options that I hope will help you decide what to try.

    Incidentally, I model a great deal of my study practices after endurance sports practices, and that’s what I’ve used for learning in spurts. When I defined this type of learning, I said it could be applied to daily, weekly or monthly time scales.

    On the daily scale, it’s good to have hard days and easy days, just like in endurance sports. Doing seven hard days a week, week after week, is not the most efficient way to study. You can even take a day or two off in a week, although I personally feel two days in a row is too much. For example, I like to make a list of all the things I want to do in a week, and distribute them over seven days, making sure there are two easy days.

    On the weekly scale, it’s good to have easy weeks occasionally, and things often come up that force a week to be easy. I mean unexpected things pop up that keep me from doing all my studies for a given week, so I suspect this happens to other people too. So it might not be worth planning for these, but I will note that this gives you the perfect excuse not to try to “catch up” by putting in double study sessions after something unexpected comes up.

    On the monthly scale, I follow the “periodization” concept used for endurance sports. In endurance sports, there are usually 4 seasons: pre-training, training, racing and off. Difficulty wise, these are 1, 2, 3 and 0 respectively. Switching back to languages, let’s define 0 – break, 1 – maintaining only, 2 – normal study, 3 – intense study. I study several languages at a time. For languages that I’m maintaining only, my 12 months a year might look like this: 111113111111. I didn’t go to Japan last year, so Japanese looked like this: 111111111111. For languages I’m actively studying, maybe: 112222233301. But imo, there’s nothing wrong with doing something like this: 330330330330.

    Instead of quitting a language completely, you might be able to get the same benefits by just easing way back. As you might have noticed, since I improved my maintenance routine, I don’t drop the languages I’m “only maintaining” down to 0 like I used to. There is little or no bow wave for those languages, so dropping them to 0 would cause me to start forgetting them quickly. Another thing you could try is switching languages. This might lower the affective filter enough to allow things to consolidate.

    Conclusions. I feel learning in spurts allows me to learn more efficiently. It lets me learn more per hour, and more per year, than studying straight through without breaks. Breaks, or easy periods, on a daily, weekly and monthly scale are recommended. Instead of long complete breaks, very easy periods and switching languages may be sufficient. The goal is to get to the point where you feel fresh and hungry to study again. Experiment with different kinds of alternating intense study and breaks to find what works best for you.
  2. tastyonions

    tastyonions Member VIP member

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    Very interesting. As I wrote elsewhere, I have never set aside a language completely for longer than a few days at a time, but I do have significant periods where I do nothing but "easy" stuff with it: no deliberate study, no complicated literature, nothing that feels like it is "stretching" my brain's ability to handle the language, just things that happen to entertain me.
  3. luke

    luke Member VIP member

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    I like the sports periodization analogy as well. MMA (mixed martial arts) training has a lot of periodization. A lot of it takes place on a week by week basis. E.G., Monday is different from Tuesday, which is different from Wednesday, etc. With language learning, I don't compartmentalize things that much. The idea of ramping up one area of study while tapering or taking a break from another makes a lot of sense. It helps one set SMART goals. Measureable, Specific, Attainable, Time Based, Relevant. With goals, it's much easier to hit an X week goal than a 2 year goal. The main thing is that the shorter term goals support the longer term ones. It's good having a regular victories along the way.
  4. Big_Dog

    Big_Dog Administrator Staff Member

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    Do you do MMA? There is at least one other guy here who has participated in MMA too. I like to watch it only.

    Those aren't SMART goals, those are MSATR goals :)
  5. luke

    luke Member VIP member

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    I'm a fan. I've learned about physical training for MMA from http://rosstraining.com/.

    I realized the acronym was mixed up as I wrote it. I put it in the order it came to mind as applicable to language learning.
  6. Wise owl chick

    Wise owl chick Active Member

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    I haven't a particular timetable but I learn in spurts when I study very much and then I have some weeks or months when I don't learn. it's not my plan, but it's the only possible thing for me.
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  7. pensulo

    pensulo Member VIP member

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    I guess I do the same thing but I kinda thought of it as spiralling as I generally work on something intensely for a little bit, get interested in something else and go focus on it for a bit, lose interest and get back into what I was interested in before, but this time in a slightly better position than I left the last time, and when I swing back to the other activity I once again start off better than I did before and make some progress. Eventually (and this can and usually does take me years) I spiral all the way to the bottom and accomplish my goals. I've learned not to fight it, but take advantage of it and try to steer it best I can when I can.
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  8. Laamok

    Laamok New Member

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    Knowing myself, I either put full effort in or I do very little. At this moment I am planning to be full on, after reading your post, I will keep an eye out for losing efficiency and maybe take a break. However if I get bored at the moment, I switch to learning vocabulary. I may even toy with the idea of having breaks and putting myself in full immersion situations.
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