Hacking Comprehension Menu

The Hacking Comprehension Menu is a list of changes a learner can make in the middle of a language session, when the material has become too hard to follow. Each change keeps real language in front of the learner and lowers the difficulty. The aim is a difficulty level that meets two conditions. The material is hard enough that the learner learns from it. The material is understandable enough that the learner keeps going.

A learner in a session that has gone too hard can quit, or can continue without understanding and count the session as useful anyway. A lever from the menu replaces both of those.

Core takeaways

• The menu is used in the middle of a session, when real material has become too hard to follow. Each lever keeps the material and lowers the difficulty.
• The levers come in three groups: tool levers, technique levers, and content levers. No lever turns the session into a lesson about the language.
• The learner changes one variable first. If everything changes at once, there is no way to tell what helped.
• After three levers, if the gist has not come back, the learner switches content instead of adding a fourth tool.
• The menu has costs. Time spent choosing tools is time not spent on input. Spoiling the plot removes the surprise. Slowing the audio too far trains the learner on a different signal.

The levers

Each lever keeps the input and changes the difficulty. No lever turns the session into a lesson about the language.

Tool levers

Lever	What it does
Matching target-language subtitles	A written line in the language being learned appears with the same audio. The learner can check what they hear against the written line.
Popup dictionary	A word can be checked without leaving the video or the page.
Automatic pausing	Playback stops after each line, so each line gets more time before the next one starts.
Blurred native-language translation	A translation in the native language is shown blurred. The learner can confirm a guess against it. A full, clear translation would do the work instead of the learner.
Metalayers	Lookup, replay, subtitles, and navigation are in one environment. Immersion Metalayers describes the tool levers in full, including how a clear translation causes the problem that the blurred row prevents.

Technique levers

Lever	What it does
Priming	A short dose of words, sounds, characters, or grammar before the session, so the session is easier to follow. Preparation describes the priming lever in full.
Reduce speed	The audio is slowed a little, enough that the learner can process it while it still sounds like the language. It is not slowed so far that the sound becomes something other than the language.
Rewind	The learner plays the same audio or subtitle line again.
Lookups	The learner looks up a word, a sentence, or a grammar point, when that lookup will make the meaning clear.
Spoil the plot	The learner reads a summary first. Knowing the story supplies part of the meaning that the words would otherwise have to supply.

Content levers

Lever	What it does
Reuse known content	Something the learner has already seen in the native language, or has already studied interactively, played again.
Known topics	Content about a subject the learner already understands.
Simple or simplified content	Four different kinds: learner material, children’s content, simple plots, or beginner-friendly native content. Learner material is not the same thing as children’s native speech.
Visual content	Acting, diagrams, images, demonstrations, or other obvious context. Much of the meaning arrives without words.

Interactive Immersion is the mode this menu is usually used inside.

Change one thing at a time

The menu is a Self-Regulation tool for language learning. The learner uses it when a session is failing. The first move is to change one variable. The learner does not apply several levers at once.

The levers reduce to six variables:

1. Easier content.
2. More tool support.
3. More preparation.
4. A shorter session.
5. More visual context.
6. A different content domain.

If everything changes at once, there is no way to tell which change helped. Marginal Gains applies the same rule to smaller changes: change one small thing, then check whether it made a difference.

The result of each change can be checked right away. After one change, the gist either comes back or it does not. Either result tells the learner what to do next.

Once the gist is back, the session returns to Freeflow Immersion.

What the menu costs

The menu has the same costs as any list of levers. Time spent choosing and combining tools is time not spent on the input. Spoiling the plot removes the surprise, and the surprise may have been the reason the learner sat down to watch. Slowing the audio until it no longer sounds like the language trains the learner on a different signal. After three levers, if the gist has still not come back, the content is what has to change. The learner switches content and does not add a fourth tool.

A session that used the menu ends in one of two ways. Either the gist came back after one change, or three levers failed and the learner switched content. In both cases the learner stayed with real input, and the session did not become a lesson about the language.

How to practice this

1. When a session gets too hard to follow, pick one lever from the menu. Do not add a second one at the same time. Notice whether the gist comes back after that one change.
2. If the gist is back, keep going with the same content. The session is back in Freeflow Immersion.
3. If the gist is not back, try a second lever, then a third. Notice after each one whether the gist returns.
4. After three levers, if the gist is still gone, switch content. Do not add a fourth tool. Notice whether the gist comes back with the new content.
5. When you reduce speed, slow the audio only a little. Notice whether it still sounds like the language. If it does not, the slowed audio is training you on a different signal.
6. Count the minutes you spend choosing and combining tools. Notice that those minutes were not spent on input.

Related pages

• Immersion Metalayers: the page on the tool levers, including blurred versus clear translation.
• Interactive Immersion: the mode this menu is usually used inside.
• Freeflow Immersion: the mode the session returns to once the gist is back.
• Preparation: the priming lever, a short dose of words, sounds, characters, or grammar before the session.
• Self-Regulation: the hub this menu is a tool of, used when a session is failing.

1 more related pages

• Marginal Gains: change one small thing, then check whether it made a difference.

Open questions

It is not verified that a blurred native-language translation works better than a glance at a clear one. The reasoning behind the blurred row holds. The comparison between the two has not been tested.

Sources

• Day, R. R., & Bamford, J. (2002). Top ten principles for teaching extensive reading. Reading in a Foreign Language, 14(2). Adjust difficulty, keep real input.
• Nation, I. S. P. Graded readers and extensive reading: rewatch / known-story as a comprehension tactic, and the same range of useful difficulty.
• Krashen, S. i+1 as the name for that difficulty range. The theory itself is not part of the menu.