Somewhat tangential, but I wrote an article about things that are commonly taught but which are incorrect. Not sure if you’ve seen it already, but you might find it interesting: 7 things you were taught in Chinese class that are actually wrong.

My bad! Informational feedback means it provides information, but not a correction.

So if someone gives you a confused stare when you’re talking to them, they’ve given you feedback, but you don’t know what you should have said differently, or what the correct word is. The point about feedback is that we often get corrections that turn out to be wrong (or sometimes unhelpful) so it can be misleading.

I, for instance, have been told *many* times that the way I describe my profession as a writer is wrong. Some people don’t like 作家 thinking it’s too presumptuous and haughty and have suggested 写手. Others have said they don’t like 写手, as it makes them think of someone who cheats for others on exams. The point is that even native speakers can disagree about the correct use of a term, and many native speakers aren’t always aware of the rules that underlie grammar or phonology, so you need to be careful.

One small comment: You point out the differences between ‘corrective and informational’ feedback. You explain corrective, but you don’t seem to point out ‘informal feedback’.

I agree with you it’s useful to learn ‘chunks’. Words are combined into patterns, i.e. fixed expressions, and so they can (1) create context to improve understanding as well as (2) possibly enhance the speed of learning because chunks provide more learning than just the elements they’re made of, and show how these elements are used in real life. In my learning notes I have started to highlight such fixed expressions: since they’re often quite common you may easily forget to realise they’re fixed expressions. e.g. ‘to restart + a computer’, ‘to take + precautions’.

In a way, it’s never been so easy to learn Chinese (or other things of life) with so much information being available online: websites, YouTube, (e)books, apps… I find it easy to drown in the information available! It’s important to stay focused and try to finish some tracks, on the other hand it’s always a good idea to dedicate some time exploring new information. Yet, the fact that by far most information is produced in English may add complexity for people who aren’t native English speakers.

My last point is that the task of organizing my notes takes a lot of time in itself: to learn characters I prefer to write them on paper, many other texts I’ll input them in a digital way. It’s often a slow process, although speed isn’t as important as just the learning experience itself, I find. It’d be interesting to hear how other Chinese learners go about organizing their notes.

Thanks, once again.