Now, I do understand what the author is saying—you should get input and lots of it before you produce output. While I agree that that’s the ideal, there are a few problems with that and some reasons why the Communicative Approach is better in certain cases.

Language in the Real World

I’m very utilitarian about language learning. Most of us don’t learn under ideal conditions, not all of us can reasonably stick to one language until we “master” it, and we don’t always have the luxury of waiting until we’re comfortable with a language to begin speaking or writing.

Often, life throws us into situations where we have to sputter out whatever words we can and hope they work. And we certainly can’t wait until we’ve had 18 months of exposure to native speakers before we venture the word “Mamma.”

Language Class is not for Input

Presuming you’re a reasonably motivated adult learner, you have the foresight and wherewithal to get your own input. You can listen to audio lessons and music, watch movies, or read the newspaper. You have the Internet, the library, and the bookstore for that. You don’t need a professional native speaking teacher or even a partner.

But unless you’re studying in-country, your language class is probably the only time you have to speak and write and get useful feedback. That is why so many teachers make speaking the focus of class (speaking, because it’s like pulling teeth to get students to write).

Most students would get thoroughly annoyed with us if we just handed out newspaper articles to read or put on a video and told them to watch. “We can do this at home!” they’d protest, and they’d be right.

The jump-in-the-deep-end Communicative Approach isn’t perfect, but it is practical for today’s world. Imagine a nurse looking for Spanish lessons so she can talk with Spanish-speaking patients. She’s not going to choose a course in which she’d have to wait a month to begin speaking. She needs it yesterday.

Be Greedy with Input

Personally, I see no reason to hold back on input. You don’t have to understand everything you hear or read to benefit from it. Early on, if you listen to a song and understand one word, hey, that’s great!

The author of Antimoon is certainly correct that you won’t build your vocabulary or learn new grammar by repeating what you already know. This is why so many “conversation classes” improve fluency (speed and ease of speaking), but fail to move the student up a level (from beginner to intermediate, for example). Unless new words and grammar a systematically introduced and practiced, you won’t improve.

Being deeply immersed in real life is the only substitute. Of course, you can learn from only conversation in something like a homestay situation where the sheer volume of input outweighs the lack of lesson planning. But we’re talking 6+ hours of active conversation day in, day out for months.

What Really Counts

So if you’re trying to learn a language fast, it’s worth it to start communicating as soon as you can. If, however, you’re an academic or hobbyist with years to dedicate to attaining perfection, you have other options.

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3. How to Revive “Forgotten” Language Knowledge