During la Academia’s recent research with learners at our language school, one of the interesting findings was on the question of learning languages in a group.
We asked our students about their experience of learning in a group – specifically their reasons for choosing this rather than 1 to 1. We expected that the lower cost of group lessons was likely to be a key factor, but we were wrong, as half of those surveyed cited “getting confident about speaking in front of other people” as the main reason for their choice. Confidence is a key issue with adult learners who tend to be more inhibited about speaking than children, so la Academia encourages this spirit of mutual support from fellow students, and our teachers are also very positive about students using the language in class. Around a quarter of respondents said they like having the encouragement of others.
In addition, most of the remaining respondents found learning in a group is “a more natural situation than learning on their own”. Finally, there was a group of students who prefer the 1 to 1 method – we may look in to this in more detail at another time.
In summary, group lessons are a great way to develop confidence when learning. We run group lessons at our language school and at local employers who are encouraging their staff to communicate with colleagues in other countries more confidently.
If you think that learning a language in a group could be helpful to you, contact us to find out what groups we have running in your language. If you’re not persuaded and prefer to test out your new language skills first in a 1 to 1 situation, we can also arrange personal tuition.
We look forward to hearing from you!