| Abstract | The article is a personal reflection on experience of language learning of the author, Ruth Emilie Hayhoe, Professor and Director of The Hong Kong Institute of Education, in different periods of her life. The contemporary debates in Hong Kong over mother tongue teaching prompted reflection on her early years with the learning of English as a mother tongue, and how this laid a basis for the effective learning of several other languages that began relatively late, on entry to secondary school at the age of fourteen. Each experience of language learning, in defferent conditions and at different phases of life, is described and a broad set of conclusions reached. Effective language learning is most likely when systematic and thorough teaching is provided and when there is a learning motivation that is intrinsic and linked to appreciation for the culture of the language community. It can be enhanced by a period of immersion in the language community. |
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