What should our On-Topic Help Center section say?

Question

As @WBT has thankfully reminded us, this community has not yet created an official on-topic definition for the Help Center. Almost exactly a year ago, @fi12 started this discussion here, too. Lets try to finish it this time!

By now regulars seem to have a pretty good sense of what is and is not on-topic here, but lets formalize this a bit.

I'd like this post to be a place to post on-topic and off-topic items for discussion, one per answer. (I'll provide a few myself, to get discussion started, and provide examples).

Please post both on-topic and off-topic examples, and your suggested wording. And leave comments to discuss and work out the best wording. In a week or so, I, or one of the other mods, can aggregate the responses into the Help Center document.

Answer 1

On-Topic

• Questions regarding certain language learning techniques or resources, and their effectiveness in comparison to others.

Answer 2

On-Topic

• Questions regarding definite obstacles you're facing in your L2 acquisition.

Answer 3

On-topic

• Requesting resources such as books, studies, PDF's, websites for on-topic reasons to back up answers in topics such as:
  • Proving the effectiveness of a technique(s)
  • Scientific reasons behind language learning guidelines or tips
  • Scientific effects of a trait on the acquisition of learning
  • How one affects the other

Please make sure that this is reference-request not resource-request.

Answer 4

I like the completed list Flimzy has right now, but I'd like to suggest a few changes. The changes I have made are in bold.

For the first bullet point in the on-topic section:

• Questions about learning or teaching techniques regarding any human language, including unspoken and constructed languages. If the question relates to a specific language but can be generally applicable to a wide variety of languages, it is considered to be on-topic.

I think we should also add this bullet point to the on-topic section:

• Using language learning or teaching software or technology (ex. Duolingo, Anki, etc.) in conjunction with the learning/teaching process

I think this should be added to the off-topic section:

- Translation or proofreading requests, and/or rating the quality of a translation

Answer 5

I just put the new On-Topic text live. Please feel free to create a new post if you think something should be expanded or edited.

Language Learning Stack Exchange is for students, teachers, polyglots, and anyone interested in the techniques of language acquisition.

Questions on the following topics are welcome here:

• Questions about learning any human language, including unspoken and constructed languages.
• Questions regarding definite obstacles faced by anyone learning a language.
• Questions regarding specific language learning techniques or resources, and their effectiveness in comparison to others.
• Requests seeking books, studies, web sites, or other resources supporting the scientific basis for any aspect of language study.
• Questions seeking hard-to-find learning resources for a specific language. Be as specific as possible.

But please don't ask questions about the following topics, which are deemed off-topic here:

• Questions about grammar, spelling, phonetics, or other aspects of a specific language. Such questions are better asked at one of the language-specific Q&A sites.
• Questions about non-human languages, such as those used by animals or machines.

Answer 6

Off-Topic

• Questions about grammar, spelling, phonetics, or other aspects of a specific language are off-topic. Such questions are better suited for the various language-specific SE sites.

Answer 7

On-Topic

• Specific questions about learning resources for a specific language and/or target audience. Be as specific as possible.