1925
January 28: James Marvin Brown born to Lawrence Manley Brown and Fannie D. Brown (née Parker)
1920s – 1940s
Brown grows up in Salt Lake City, Utah.
1942
1942-43 University of Utah
1943
January 27: Brown enlisted in the United States Navy
1943-44 University of Idaho
1944
Northwestern University
December: Brown begins studying Mandarin Chinese in U.S. Navy language program at the University of Colorado
1946
June: Brown finishes study of Mandarin at the University of Colorado; the Navy assigns him to Washington, D.C. to translate Chinese telegrams into English
August 4: Termination of service in the U.S. Navy
Fall: Brown returns to the University of Utah
1948
Brown transfers to University of California
1949
Brown recieves B.A. degree from the University of California, Berkeley
“In 1949, Marvin set out to prove the Army Method of language acquisition which basically held that the purpose of language study is just to prepare for later success in the country.” (History, ALG, alg.or.th)
Brown begins studying Thai under linguist Mary Haas at the University of California:
By this time I had studied 8 languages using the same old ‘grammar translation’ method (memorize words and grammar rules, translate sentences back and forth, and pass tests). But Thai under Mary Haas was something else. It was mostly practice. Mary told me that all I had to do to master a language was to practice until I got near-perfect pronunciation and then immerse myself in the country for a year. This reminded me of the bicycle cascade 4 years earlier: study first, then bathe in cascades. I decided to become the unofficial guinea pig for the Army Method. I would study Thai with Mary until I ‘mastered’ the pronunciation and then spend a year of immersion in Thailand. (Ch.3, From The Outside In)
1951
Brown recieves M.A. degree from the University of California, Berkeley
October: Brown begins work on Ph.D. in linguistics at Cornell University
1952-53
Brown works on “Spoken English for Thais”
1953
Brown first arrives in Bangkok on a grant from the Ford Foundation
1957
Brown returns to the United States. Cornell University
1958
Brown returns to Bangkok on a Fulbright Fellowship
1960
September: “I returned to Cornell to teach Thai and Burmese and finish off my dissertation.”
1962
January: Completes Ph.D. in linguistics at Cornell University with doctoral dissertation From Ancient Thai to Modern Dialects: A Theory
March: Brown returns to Bangkok and is hired at AUA Language Center as staff linguist
1965
Brown’s doctoral dissertation published as From Ancient Thai to Modern Dialects
Brown writes “Phonemics Without Sounds”, later published in a reprint of his dissertation.
1966
Following publication of his dissertation, Brown refuses an offer from Division of Asian and Pacific Languages at the University of Hawaii for position as head of department of Southeast Asian Languages (Ch. 3, From The Outside In)
1967
c. 1967: Publication of AUA Language Center Thai Course, books 1–3, Bangkok: American University Alumni Association Language Center.
1970
Brown meets Adrian S. “Buzz” Palmer, who would introduce him to Krashen’s work on comprehensible input and the natural approach.
February: Brown marries Kwansuang Brown
1974
Brown begins corresponding with William T. Powers, who developed perceptual control theory (PCT):
I was looking in the “Letters” section of Science in 1974 and I saw a reference to the book, Behavior: The Control of Perception by William Powers. It used the expression ‘a hierarchy of control systems’: three of my favorite words and all in the same expression. It reminded me of my 1965 article, ‘Phonemics Without Sounds’, which no one had understood. I sent a copy to Powers. He understood, he was impressed, and a correspondence began. He knew the importance of language to his theory and he had been looking for a linguist who could understand him. We clicked. I got a copy of his book and studied it for two years. (Ch. 5, From The Outside In)
1977
July: Brown travels to Chicago to meet with William T. Powers, who developed perceptual control theory (PCT)
1980
Brown quits job at AUA and returns to the United States to study physics at the University of Utah
Fall: Brown begins studying Japanese at the University of Utah
1983
April: During his twelfth quarter at University of Utah, Brown decides to quit his studies
Late 1983: Brown teaches fall quarter Japanese class at the University of Utah using extreme practice approach
December 14: Brown hits “rock bottom”: “I couldn’t wait for the students’ appraisals to come in. I got them on December 14, 1983, and with my heart beating wildly I read them. They all hated me and my practice—even those who had done it perfectly. And they all loved the delightful Japanese teacher with her charm and her natural talk. I cried myself to sleep that night.”
December 15: Brown reads The Natural Approach: Language Acquisition in the Classroom by Stephen D. Krashen and Tracy D. Terrell, leading to “a sudden conversion” to teaching language through comprehensible input.
1984
January 6: Start date of Japanese class at the University of Utah where Brown first uses natural approach
Early 1984: Brown teaches winter quarter Japanese class using natural approach. After giving a demonstration of the natural approach in Thai in Palmer’s class on language teaching theory, Brown gives a natural approach class in Thai the following quarter.
October: Brown returns to Thailand and starts to work again at AUA Language Center
November: Brown teaches five-week demonstration term of Thai at AUA using natural approach for 15 students and almost 100 observers consisting of mostly linguists and university language teachers (Ch. 7, From The Outside In)
1985
January: Brown hired by AUA to give natural approach Thai classes along with structural approach classes
1985–1986
Eight-month experimental German course offered at University of Utah based on methodology developed by Brown and Dr. Adrian S. “Buzz” Palmer
1987
July: Start of first year-long natural approach class of over 1000 hours at AUA
1988
May 1: Publication of The Listening Approach: Methods and Materials for Applying Krashen’s Input Hypothesis by J. Marvin Brown and Dr. Adrian S. “Buzz” Palmer (Longman Pub Group)
“By the time the book finally came out, I had taught Natural Approach Thai at AUA for two more years, and we had become so different from Krashen and Terrell that we needed a new name. We called it ‘The Listening Approach’, and the book by this name came out in 1988.” (Brown, Ch.6, From The Outside In)
1989
“We completed the fine-tuning of Algie” (Automatic Language Growth Equation), an equation intended to measure learners’ natural language acquisition.
1990s
Brown learns Shantou (Swatow) Chinese through natural approach beginning around 1989; “I continued for 8 years at 1 to 2 hours a day.” (Ch. 7, From The Outside In)
1992
July: Brown writes treatise Learning Languages Like Children on the Automatic Language Growth (ALG) approach
1995
Brown retires from AUA; leaves around March 1995
2001
Revision of 1992 treatise Learning Languages Like Children
2002
August 28/29: James Marvin Brown dies at the age of 77.
2003
Online submission of a partial version of Brown’s autobiography From the Outside In: The Secret to Automatic Language Growth to ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), a digital library sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences of the United States Department of Education.
Beyond Language Learning 