Why There Should Be No Taking Notes During A Language Learning Session.

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Pen and paper are the first thing anyone will put in their bag before heading off to a language class. Taking notes is the most natural action we do when we attend a lecture. Some insights are so good you need to take them down right there and then lest they get lost.

Things are different when you're learning a language. Hold a pen in your hands and you'll automatically turn into a stenographer. It's the same principle as when you're studying on a book. Keep the highlighter far away from you or you'll wind up highlighting the whole book. Then what's the point? But if you keep the highlighter in a different room and need to get up from your chair each time you want to use it, then you'll think twice about what's really relevant and what isn't.

When we learn a language, our primary goal is to speak it. Our secondary goal is to understand the spoken words and sentences. When you write you're not listening in the way you should. Moreover, the writing task and the presence of a pen will take your focus away from the most important expression of a language: the oral one.

Taking notes during a language class or lesson, especially when you're attending a conversation session, slows down your reflexes. You automatically lose momentum when you could instead intervene, put your speaking skills to the test, and offer your two cents.

Then there's the awful grammar class, the most useless and boring of all attempts to learn a language. What should you write down that you won't already find on any grammar website or book? What precious gems could an unqualified teacher be giving you to make you want to capture it and have it forever? Granted, once in a while it might be worth jotting one of those pearls down. Once you're done, put your pen and paper back in your bag, zip it up closed, and be that one and only person in the classroom who knows what they're doing.

Here's a summary of the drawbacks of being constantly taking notes:

1) You stop relying on memory.

2) Your listening takes on writing as its primary purpose rather than speech.

3) You're going to start writing notes compulsively, taking down unimportant and irrelevant notes for the most.

4) You lose track of the conversation and the points being made.

5) You set yourself back when it comes to intervening promptly.

6) You do not improve ability to listen, or even simply to hear.

7) You mistake taking notes and writing for learning.

It's ok to take a note sometimes. You might want to write down a word or expression you heard you deem important, or some advice the teacher has given you during a practice session. However, if your goal is to speak better--as it should be--then listening and speaking should be your sole focus during speaking practice. No notes taking during language learning.

So there's that.