[chryuop]

I have a couple of questions about ほど. I know ほど can have the meaning of "to the extend of" and thus used to form the English phrase "the~the~".
So for example (quote from a book...too lazy to make up an example):
上空に行くほど酸素が薄くなる
私は静かなほど落ち着かない

Now, all the example I have seen use a phrase like "the more...the more" no matter if the verb is positive or negative. The more I do this, the more I do that or the more I don't do that (like in the examples).
Using ほど can I build a phrase like the more I do this, the less I do that?
For example:
日本語は勉強するほど分からない　-> The more I study Japanese, the more I don't understand it
日本語は勉強するほど分かっている -> The more I study Japanese, the more I understand it
日本語は勉強するほど??? The more I study Japanese, the less I understand it

And another question. Is there a difference between the above example and the phrase: 日本語は勉強すればするほど分かっている?

お願いします。