3.2.1. Getting exposure to input on familiar topics

I have defined the stages in terms of what it takes for your input to be comprehensible. At Stage I, you had difficulty understanding speech that was not clearly supported by pictures, objects or actions. At Stage II, you had difficulty understanding speech unless the content was fairly predictable, or else was carefully and tediously negotiated with a sympathetic native speaker. Now at Stage III, you still have difficulty understanding speech unless you are familiar with the topic, and you hear everything in its full context. You continue to need to negotiate meaning with your conversational partners, but it is not nearly as difficult as it was at the beginning of Stage II. During early Stage II, you relied a lot on a small number of friends who were specially committed to you and knew you well, and were therefore good at communicating with you. Now you can greatly broaden the number of people with whom you can fruitfully negotiate meaning in conversation, since it is no longer such a taxing experience.

Now you need lots of input in which familiar topics are discussed. Suppose you are a physics student, and you have the opportunity to enroll in a physics course dealing with an area of physics that you would like to learn more about. That will give you a lot of comprehensible input on a topic that is already somewhat familiar to you. (You may get a 'C' in the course, but who cares?)

For most languages, taking university courses in the language will not be a possibility, but you may still be able to find people who can talk to you about topics with which you are somewhat familiar. A story that is unknown to you, but drawn from your own cultural background would also qualify as comprehensible input in Stage III. For example, your LRP could learn a story from one of your fellow language learners, or some other friend belonging to your own national background, and then tell you the story in your new language. If you are a church going person, you may find that much of the material in sermons is on topics which are familiar to you.