The Limitations of Conversation Tables in Language Learning

A few days ago, a friend told me they stopped attending conversation tables because he wasn't making progress anymore and the level wasn't challenging enough.

I understand the latter pretty well, especially when participants change frequently and the conversation has to start from scratch each time. 

However, I believe the real problem lies in having wrong expectations about conversation tables.

It's not free tutoring unless specifically stated.

It's simply a group of people meeting to practice a language because they feel the need to use it more often.

How to Make the Most of Conversation Tables  

The best way to utilize conversation tables is to prepare topics in advance. Those with intermediate-low levels may want to participate in the discussion, but having to look up words in the moment breaks the conversation flow, creating difficulties and friction for everyone.

Actually, we should question how useful conversation tables really are. 

They're seen as a universal solution, a kind of panacea, but their effectiveness depends heavily on personality. 

I, for example, learn much more through writing: talking and meeting new people exhausts me, and stress ends up clouding the little I learn (because you learn little, even in one-on-one conversations).

Unfortunately, my friend has become stuck in their French learning journey, repeating the same mistakes.

The Diary Method: An Effective Alternative

Three months ago, I suggested my diary method, useful for three main purposes:

• First, to correct recurring errors, as moments of reflection are needed — rarely present in traditional courses (my course, by nature, creates these spaces being asynchronous, and includes a mandatory week-long break at the end of each month, much appreciated by participants)
• It's useful to expand vocabulary and experiment, especially when one tends to oversimplify after reaching a certain level. Calmly, we can get as close as possible to what we would say in our native language. AI then helps with corrections
• Finally, it can improve fluency when we start self-dictating what we want to say. In practice, we connect the brain to the tongue and not to the pen :) (remember that handwriting is infinitely more effective)

This person didn't follow any of these suggestions, and his French remained stagnant for another three months.

The Benefits of Self-Dictation and Regular Writing

If you find yourself in a similar situation and want to break free from the vicious cycle of ineffective conversation tables, I suggest trying the diary method. It's an approach I've developed and tested personally, and it has helped me and many of my students make concrete progress.

The method allows developing linguistic automatisms: writing can improve oral fluency for several reasons. 

First, when we write, we have time to reflect on sentence structure and vocabulary, creating stronger neural connections. 

Moreover, the act of writing (especially by hand) involves more senses and strengthens muscle memory.

Group or two-person conversation presents several simultaneous obstacles: social pressure, the need to respond quickly, and the impossibility of pausing to reflect. 

In contrast, self-dictation offers a controlled environment where we can first reflect on sentence structure and vocabulary, then practice without pressure and fear of making mistakes. 

Self-dictation simulates protected conversation: when we practice it, we're essentially dialoguing with ourselves, but without the typical tensions of group situations. This allows us to develop linguistic automatisms that will then feel natural in speech as well.

Regularity is fundamental: the key lies in consistency - writing a little every day is much more effective than doing long occasional sessions, such as two hours of conversation tables perhaps only once or twice a month.

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