The Writing and Language Studio aims to foster an environment for independent language learning at Duke Kunshan. Independent language learning (ILL) involves designing and carrying out your own language learning plan. Some people do this while they are taking a language course in order to get extra practice and speed up their progress. Other people do this when they are not taking any languages courses.

There are two important things to know about independent language learning (ILL):  

1. In ILL, you need to make your own decisions about goals, methods, materials, and so on. In other words, you need to learn how to learn a language. (In contrast, when you take a language course, you don’t need to make many choices of your own—most choices are made for you by teachers, textbooks, and tests.)
2. In ILL, you need to rely on yourself to sustain your motivation. (In contrast, when you take a language course, you have to keep studying whether you want to or not because of pressure from things like tests, homework assignments, and peer pressure.) This means that, in ILL, you need to find strategies for sustaining your motivation; you also need to learn how to design language learning plans that are as easy as possible to sustain.

Our language learning coaches can help you set goals, select materials and learning activities, and create learning plans that meet your needs. We also provide coaching for writing.