The Specificity Principle

The vast majority of students who come to study with CINCILINGUA come with one purpose in mind – they want to learn how to speak English. If you have this same objective, I urge you to follow the “specificity principle.”
The specificity principle states that you must train specifically for a specific outcome. That sounds simple enough, but relatively few students are ready to yield to the dictates of this principle upon arriving.
Let me explain. Most students are accustomed to writing things down in order to remember them. Time and again I’ve heard, “I need to write in order to remember. I can’t remember anything if I don’t write it down.” But here’s the thing – by constantly writing things down, you unknowingly reduce your ability to remember. Where am I going with this? Well, let me ask you something: Are speaking and writing the same disciplines? Of course not.
When you write, you have time to think, to analyze, to plan, and organize. In themselves, these are good and necessary activities. But speaking requires spontaneity and fast mental processing. In other words, when engaged in a conversation, you don’t have time to think, “okay, I need the present continuous tense…let’s see…helping verb “to be” – am, are, is…plus “-ing”…No. You have to respond. Quickly. Naturally. Spontaneously.
So, what is my advice? Simply this: Limit the amount of writing you do. Do your grammar exercises verbally and repetitively. (You can verbally repeat many sentences at least 5 times before you write it once.) No doubt, some writing can be beneficial…but too much writing can actually become counterproductive. In short, spend the majority of your study time training specifically for what you want to achieve. Sprinters don’t train like a marathon runners, and marathon runners don’t train like sprinters. You have to make a choice. Speak well.