Has anyone got any thoughts as to advantages and disadvantages of learning a language bottom-up (i.e. consciously, concentrating on the language) versus top-down (i.e. subconsciously, concentrating on the message). I tend to think that top-down is a more natural way, because this is how we learn our native language or for that matter any other language when we are immersed in its natural environment.
Top-down versus bottom-up language learning
I tend to find top-down methods to be extreмely idealistic and not practical in absoluтe. There is no way to learn a second language the same was as the first because braiпs are not static.
Well, from my years of experience of language learning and teaching, I happen to find some prevailing BOTTOM-UP teaching methods to be idealistic and unrealistic to the extreme...
AND top-down is not only the way we learn our first language as children. There are lots of immigrants who came to America as adults and learned English perfectly even though they never attended formal language courses or studied grammar books...
I mean, at least for me it is very difficult to understand the fast English speeh (e.g. in the movies, everyday speech etc.) when I try to understand it "bottom-up" (i.e. concentrate on understanding the meanings of each separate words). Therefore watching English movies is so frustrating for me. I mean, here is for you the practical result of some 15 years of studying English "bottom-up" at schools - you can't even watch movies!!! I find it much more effective when I don't consciously try to understand every word when I listen, but I just concentrate on the message, the meaning and in this way I undestand much more and I believe I also learn much more. I don't know if I managed to make myself clear...