I was surprised to see that suggestion as well: every language course I've ever seen focuses on memorizing a (relatively) natural dialog and reciting it word fo

I was surprised to see that suggestion as well: every language course I've ever seen focuses on memorizing a (relatively) natural dialog and reciting it word for word from memory as its primary means of targeting fluency. I don't know about the research OP cites, but I've found that, for me, memorizing the dialogues as the courses suggest have been by far the most helpful way to advance in language acquisition. I will admit, though, that of the foreign languages I do speak, I speak them better than I understand them... so maybe there is something to this.