Victor Mair, noted sinologist and professor of Chinese at the University of Pennsylvania writes:

If I were the czar or god of Chinese and Japanese language pedagogy, I would not teach students a single Chinese character until they were relatively fluent — about two years.  I’ve always said that we should learn languages the way babies do; they learn to speak long before they learn to write.

and:

If you delay introducing the characters, students’ mastery of pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, syntax, and so forth, are all faster and more secure.  Surprisingly, when later on they do start to study the characters (ideally in combination with large amounts of reading interesting texts with phonetic annotation), students acquire mastery of written Chinese much more quickly and painlessly than if writing is introduced at the same time as the spoken language.

Retrieval-Based Learning: Active Retrieval Promotes Meaningful Learning

It is essential to consider retrieval processes not only because they are central to understanding learning but also because the act of retrieval itself is a powerful tool for enhancing learning. Moreover, active retrieval does not merely produce rote, transient learning; it produces meaningful, long-term learning. The idea that retrieval is the centerpiece for understanding learning, coupled with the importance of active retrieval for producing learning, is referred to as retrieval-based learning.

Viola AU, James LM, Schlangen LJ, & Dijk DJ (2008). Blue-enriched white light in the workplace improves self-reported alertness, performance and sleep quality. Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health, 34 (4), 297-306 PMID: 18815716

Vandewalle, G., Maquet, P., & Dijk, D. (2009). Light as a modulator of cognitive brain function Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 13 (10), 429-438 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2009.07.004

Lehrl, S., Gerstmeyer, K., Jacob, J., Frieling, H., Henkel, A., Meyrer, R., Wiltfang, J., Kornhuber, J., & Bleich, S. (2007). Blue light improves cognitive performance Journal of Neural Transmission, 114 (4), 457-460 DOI: 10.1007/s00702-006-0621-4

Smith, A. (2002). Effects of caffeine on human behavior Food and Chemical Toxicology, 40 (9), 1243-1255 DOI: 10.1016/S0278-6915(02)00096-0

This study suggests that L2 subtitles are more effective in assisting learners’ comprehension of the aural language presented in films.

The effectiveness of sustained silent reading in becoming autonomous learners.

…the key to success in learning to read through an ER program is to read a vast amount in the target language, and read a lot of easy materials of their own choice.

 

The Case for Narrow Reading is a 4 page paper by Steven Krashin.  In it, he suggests that “It may be that narrow input is much more efficient for second language acquisition.” than the wide anthology style reading tought in most classes. 

The basic idea is that single subjects or individual authors use repeated phrases and a subset of vocabulary making the input more comprehensible.  Comprehensible input makes for better practice and familiarity with grammatical patterns.  He cites the existence of the “first few pages” effect where it is the first few pages of a book that are the most difficult and gets easier after further reading.  He also cites research showing that children who read a series end up being better readers.

In other articles Krashin suggests that narrow reading and narrow listening is best for intermediate learners who are just beginning to grasp the language but have difficulty reading or following conversions.