THE IMPORTANCE OF PHYSICAL PRACTICE IN LANGUAGE LEARNING

Old sayings die hard but I stick to the "practice makes perfect" one because in the case of foreign-language learning, the physical practice of sound making I find essential. We must coordinate the various speech organs and muscles in order to develop backup memory for accurate pronunciation. Thus, if the point of articulation of the Spanish and English /t/ is different, we must practice either sound, in context, in order to imprint our memory with the precise movement to make the sounds. This is a question of repetition, not understanding, and so we make a full circle back to "practice makes perfect".  Physical practice allows learners to develop muscle memory and train their speech organs to produce the desired sounds. It is through repetition and consistent practice that learners can improve their pronunciation skills and strive for greater accuracy.