Learning English with comprehensible input

I had been in Poland for a week or two, and my Polish consisted of several sentences when a guy I’d met at a party invited me to see a movie. It was supposed to be the best Polish movie of that year and everyone was talking about it. Of course, because it was shown in Poland, it didn’t have any subtitles and I knew it would be challenging for me to understand. Because it was a historical movie, it was even more difficult for me as I didn’t have much knowledge about Polish history.

Despite that, I accepted the invitation. I thought that going to the movies would be a good way for me to kill some time. After all, it couldn’t be that hard to grasp the meaning. I thought that I would just look at the moving pictures and understand what it was about. Boy, was I wrong! It actually turned out to be one of the worst experiences I had ever had when it comes to going to the movies. I love films, but this experience was a total disaster. Not only did I understand close to nothing, but the movie theater was so freezing that I felt I was getting sick. And, as though this wasn’t enough, I got an eye infection as well. Everything was going wrong in this cold and unwelcoming place.

I was mad. First, I realized that I had definitely overestimated my Polish-language abilities. Second, I was angry with the guy who had invited me to this awful place. After the movie was finally over, I couldn’t wait to go home. Not only did I hate the movie, but I also despised the person I was with. He knew that I barely spoke Polish. Couldn’t he think of anything else to do on a first date? I didn’t want to see him ever again. I quickly said “goodbye” and headed to the apartment I shared with a friend. “I never want to see him again,” I whispered to myself.

Now, when the guy I never wanted to see again and I think back about that day, we laugh. Although after so many years he has yet to come up with a good explanation for his movie choice for our first date, back then he was somehow able to convince me to go out with him again 😄. After a few dates we started living together and after five long months we were officially a married couple 🥰.

Second language acquisition

I remembered this story when I learned about Stephen Krashen and his “i+1” theory. Krashen is a well-known linguist and researcher in the field of second language acquisition. One of his most prominent contributions to the field is his “i+1” comprehensible input hypothesis. This theory has been widely studied and debated among language acquisition experts and has been used to inform language teaching practices.

The theory states that language acquisition occurs when learners are exposed to “comprehensible input” that is slightly beyond their current level of understanding, or “i + 1.” According to Krashen, the key to successful language acquisition is to provide input that is just challenging enough to promote growth, but not so difficult that the learner is unable to comprehend it. This input must be “comprehensible,” meaning that the learner can understand the message even if they do not understand every word.

Krashen suggests that when learners are exposed to comprehensible input, they will unconsciously construct an internal grammar system that they can use to generate their own language. This process is known as “acquisition,” and it occurs through the natural process of listening to and processing language input. He argues that acquisition is the only way for a learner to truly internalize a language, and that it is the key to long-term language development. He also believes that a positive attitude and motivation to learn a language are critical to successful language acquisition. When learners feel comfortable and confident in their ability to understand the language input, they are more likely to engage with the language and internalize it.

Some argue that the “i+1” theory oversimplifies the complex process of language acquisition and that it doesn’t take into account other important factors, such as explicit instruction and conscious learning. But it is still a great approach for those who are comfortable with being uncomfortable. That is, they are comfortable with not understanding everything, but are still able to grasp the gist of the message.

How does “i+1” theory relate to my story?

Now I understand that the reason I was so frustrated during my first date was because the movie I was invited to was way beyond my level. A few weeks later, I watched a movie from the James Bond series (with Polish subtitles) and I was able to understand almost everything. It was more mainstream and the visuals complemented the dialog.

How you can take an “i+1” approach when learning English

Below are five tips as to how you can incorporate Krashen’s “i+1” theory into your English learning journey.

1. Have a lot of comprehensible input

Comprehensible input can be an audio, a video, a book, an article or any other piece of content that you are able to understand, although you might not know every single word. The key here is to still be challenged enough, but not overwhelmed. When you read, for example, and you see a word you don’t know, don’t Google it right away. Try to first guess its meaning from the context. If the text is really just one step above your level, you should be able to understand. If you feel lost, the text is probably too complex for you and you are not quite ready for it yet. Find an easier piece and keep going.

2. Don’t get frustrated when you don’t understand everything

Adaptability is a salient for language learning. That is, if you are unable to adapt to and accept a situation you are not completely comfortable with, you will be facing constant frustration. Let go of the temptation to parse each single phrase and try to treat the piece of content as a whole. This doesn’t mean to never look up new words or grammar structures. You want to engage in some active learning too. But the more you ease into content that slightly challenges you, the more intuition you will develop.

3. Gradually increase difficulty

Beware of getting too comfortable. If you notice that the content you are choosing to consume challenges you less now, start looking for more complicated pieces. Staying too long in your comfort zone will stifle your learning process and give you a false sense of fluency.

4. Don’t wait too long to start speaking

Although you don’t have to start speaking right off the bat, if you get stuck in the reading and listening zone for too long, your fear of speaking will only escalate. Gradually start producing (speaking and writing) more. To become fluent, you will need to incorporate all four factors of language learning – listening, reading, speaking, and writing. If you still don’t feel ready to talk to native speakers, you can join communities with other nonnative speakers, like our Speaking Club, for example. The more you speak, the more fluent you will become.

5. Don’t overdo it

Try not to do too much at the same time. For example, if you learned five new words yesterday, don’t expect to use all of them in the same conversation today. Focus on one or two words and think about how you can use them in your next conversation. Maybe you can prepare a couple of sentences beforehand and use them depending on the discussion you engage in. If you try to do too much too soon, you may end up feeling frustrated.

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Do you have a similar story to mine when you didn’t understand anything? How did you feel and what did you do? Please share in the comment section or send me an email. Stories are powerful and they help us realize that we are not alone.

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