Download Memory, learning and teaching: ideas for the language

Memory, learning and teaching: ideas for the language classroom
Somogyi-Tóth Katalin, Pázmány Péter Katolikus Egyetem
11 October 2007
Memory underpins every thought we have and everything we have learned. Memory is at the
heart of cognitive psychology as it is at the heart of language learning. Psychologists talk about
different kinds of memory: sensory memory, working memory and long-term memory.
Sensory memory is the direct pathway to the mind. It is the impression that new information
makes on the mind and lasts for only a fraction of a second before fading forever. Every second,
millions of stimuli bombard our senses. Luckily, we only remember things that grab our attention
and get processed in working memory. Without attention, however, there is no chance for
noticing.
Techniques for the language teacher:
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Get your student’s attention first, don’t talk through noise. Use eye-contact.
Attention is high at the beginning and end of the lesson: use both effectively
for teaching new material.
For noticing (noticing what is new and what you need to learn)
 Give texts (reading, listening)
 Give time, give silence.
 Ask: Did you notice…?
 Elicit as much as possible.
 Give spot-the-difference exercises.
 Think of new, surprising ways of presenting lexis
 Let sts notice their own mistakes.
 For correction: students need to know that they are being corrected.
Immediate correction is more likely to be memorable. (taboo?) Try and
strike a balance here.
Working memory (sometimes referred to as short-term memory, lasting 2-30 seconds)
We are severely limited in terms of the amount of information we can work on and keep
in memory at one time. (In one ear, out the other?) When we have to remember a new
phone number, we are using our working memory. When it comes to words, we can only
keep fresh as many words as we can say in about two seconds. To retain information for longer,
we have to work on it. A deep level of processing leads to better recall.
Techniques for the language teacher:
1 Using the "inner voice", also called the „articulatory loop” –rehearsing one’s own
spoken words. This is the process of rapid vocal repetition of to-be-remembered
information., very much like repeating directions in the street, under your breath, until
you get to your destination.
 use sub-vocalisation
 use drilling (taboo?)
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use repetition (collocations rather than single words!) (taboo?)
use rote-learning (taboo?)
use dictation (taboo?)
use translation (taboo?)
use copying (taboo?)
ask someone to test you
teach someone
2 Using the "inner ear"
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use songs and chants: music has amazing power, it organises motor functions
and provides an easier way to connect
let the intonation carry the text; it will in turn carry the pronunciation of
individual words
repeat the words to a rhythm
ask students to record themselves
words which are similar should not be taught together
3 Using the "inner eye"— a rehearsal system for visual input
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Link it! Link words in L1 and L2 to construct a picture in the mind
Visualise it! See it in you mind! The more absurd you make the image in your
mind, the more likely you are to remember it. High imaginability items are
easier to recall.
Write it down! Write the expressions on sticky labels and stick them around the
house, use vocabulary notebooks imaginatively.
Chain it! This is a form of visualising. Link the items together by thinking of
images that connect them. Works for remembering a storyline.
Chunk it! Word pairs and groups are easier on the brain
Organise it! Arrange things in an order.
NB:
Active physical movement juices up the brain and enhances motivation → get up and do it!
Emotions trigger the brain → use pleasant associations.
Long-term memory
Even information in working memory will fade unless it is transferred to the permanent store
known as long-term memory. But once it is there, we cannot always get it out. (We have all had
trouble recalling someone’s name!)
Techniques for the language teacher:
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Revise, revise, revise: new material needs to be recycled to be learnt — an
obvious principle.(Use it or lose it). Just the ACT of recycling a
collocation/structure makes it more likely that the learner will remember it.
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Use the principle of expanding rehearsal: spacing your learning /practice is more
effective than doing it in long concentrated blocks.>>review new material soon.
(5-10 mins after input→ 24 hours→ 1 week→ 1 month→ 3 months→ 9 months)
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Get your students to read, read and read: Our LTM storage is better for
recognition than for recall. Wide reading helps the tip-of-the tongue (TOT)
phenomenon: it leads to multiple encounters with words and structures.
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Get students to use the language meaningfully. Meaningfulness enhances
retention. Students who are free to create their own meaning will remember
better. Use the Task-based cycle for speaking tasks.
How about grammar?
People commonly overestimate how much they have learned, after a concentrated block.
Teachers, likewise, commonly overestimate how much they have taught.
Teaching does not cause learning. We can only create an optimal environment and help students
learn.
Why is it that in multiple-choice tests the first guess is usually the best? And when they start
thinking, students choose the incorrect answer? Because most probably, grammar learning is not
only about consciously learning it , but also about getting used to it. Where vocab learning is
fast, grammar is slow. We can do vocab learning with our hare brain, but for grammar we use
our tortoise mind. (Guy Claxton)
To please the tortoise mind, perhaps we could organise grammar far more around lexis,
connecting high-frequency words along with their high-frequency patterns and get grammar for
free. And focus on collocations/chunks/set phrases which carry so much grammar. Perhaps, to
bring tenses closer to students, we could stick more imaginative labels on them, so for instance,
the Present Perfect could get the nickname „még-már idő”?
„A centimetre of input; a metre of practice!” Scrivener says. In some situations it appears that
the more you think you know what you are doing and the more you can talk about it, the less well
you are, in fact, doing at it. Could it be that too much talking about grammar might actually stand
in the way of learning it? Could it be that grammar needs an incubation period? A little and often
might be the answer, and with focus on collocation, the hare brain of lexis-learning might even
speed up the grammar-tortoise.
So let us slow down. For memory’s sake.