My wife and I are both trying to learn Mandarin for different reasons — she needs it for work promotion, I want to connect with my heritage — but we keep falling into teacher-student dynamics that are poisoning both our relationship and our learning. She corrects my pronunciation constantly and I get defensive, then she gets frustrated that I'm not taking it seriously enough.
More people experience this than they realize.
Two people with different motivations and learning styles are trying to acquire the same language while navigating the power dynamics that emerge when intimate partners become informal instructors.
“Where Are You with Second language acquisition theory?”
If this sounds familiar, the Library can help you find the bigger picture.