Dr. Paul Pimsleur (1928—1976) was one of the world's experts in applied linguistics. He taught French phonetics and phonemics at University of California, Los Angeles after obtaining his Ph.D. in French from Columbia University.
His research was focused into understanding the language acquisition process, especially the organic learning of children that speak a language without knowing its formal structure. For this, he studied the learning process of groups made of children, adults, and multilingual adults. The result of this research was the Pimsleur language learning system.
The Pimsleur language learning system (PLLS) is a language acquisition method developed by Dr. Paul Pimsleur and based on four main principles:
• Anticipation • Graduated interval recall • Organic learning • Learning like a child
Pimsleur has been a recognized name in language training for decades.Created for adult learners, the English for Vietnamese speakers program offers 30 half-hour lessons emphasizing good pronunciation, common courtesy and fundamental vocabulary for travel needs and helpful interaction with native speakers. While Pimsleur courses focus on speaking rather than reading or writing, a small booklet of optional reading material offers practice recognizing and pronouncing common words.