Page 10 - ELG1906 May-Jun Issue 465

RESEARCH NEWS . NEWS

Gesture gives memory a hand Give us more global English say teachers

By Gillian Ragsdale Russell Group University with a PIXABAY
Their study took place at a
The continued focus on native
three sets of 10, to be presented
RUTH HARTNUP visually (by just reading the speaker standards in language large MA TESOL programme.
and
materials
word), audio-visually (by reading
testing
TESOL
trainees
Sixty-six
were
and listening to the word) or
audio-visually with a video of an identified as the main obstacles answered an online questionnaire
developed from five in-depth
to incorporating Global English
actress making related gestures. Language Teaching (GELT) into interviews. Student teachers
Recall was tested after 5 the classroom in a study of TESOL were asked about which aspects
minutes – and again after 45 days. trainees by Andrew Cameron of GELT could be introduced
Sample size is always a limiting (Sunchon National University, and what barriers they might
factor when using expensive, Republic of Korea) and Nicola face. Only two of the students
high-demand equipment such Galloway (The University of were native speakers: most of the
as an fMRI scanner and this Edinburgh, UK). students were from East Asia.
was unfortunately compounded As Cameron and Galloway point Two-thirds of respondents
as only 18 came back for the out, English came from England – were in favour of exposure to be within the remit of the teacher. and otherwise using English,
final recall test after 45 days but we can no longer claim that more non-native English usage For example, materials approved by are not native speakers. As the
(presumably funds precluded it now comes from England. Of in the classroom. However, one stakeholders such as government proportion of native speakers
further incentives). around 2 billion speakers of English Chinese respondent described the ministries tend to prefer course shrinks and the very definition
When asked to freely recall worldwide, less than 500 million attachment to ‘standard’ English materials reflecting exclusively of what constitutes a ‘native
the German or Vimmi words come from the inner circle of the in Chinese TESOL, for example, standard English. This further speaker’ changes, there will
presented, recall was significantly UK, USA, Canada, Australia or as ‘unwavering’. disincentivises publishers and other likely come a tipping point at
greater when students read, New Zealand. India and China The most commonly cited materials providers from developing which Global English becomes
listened and also watched gestures combined are home to over 25 per barrier was testing. Speaking GELT-oriented materials, and so the standard. What is currently
of new words being presented cent of global English speakers. assessments in particular tend the cycle continues. lacking for this process to run
than when they just read or read Given the expanding role to use native speaker English as Another finding of Cameron smoothly are clear parameters
and listened to new words. The of English as a global lingua the benchmark, whereas study and Galloway’s study may also defining Global English
influence was not significant after franca it makes increasingly less respondents agreed with the hold the key to breaking this cycle, competence, which would give
45 days, which could be due to the sense to prioritise standards of GELT framework that fluency however. Just as most English stakeholders confidence in new
missing students in the returning native-speaker English. The should be more valued than speakers are now from non-native assessments and offer guidelines
Incorporate gesture to tap into long term memory sample. GELT framework aims to raise accuracy, and only one in five speaking countries – most English for preparing materials.
Brain scans during the learning awareness of ‘Global Englishes’ thought their accent should affect teachers are themselves not native-
By Gillian Ragsdale experience showed activity in and incorporate trends in the real- their grade. According to one speakers. One Japanese respondent REFERENCE
example, presenting words audio- Macedonia and colleagues areas associated with language world use of English into classroom student, Hong Kong had stopped reflected a widespread concern ■ Cameron, A. and Galloway,
Presenting new words with visually (as the written word and/ wanted to find out which process learning. As the number of teaching. Previous research has using the ‘standard accent’ criteria in describing their situation as a N. (2019). ‘Local Thoughts on
accompanying gestures activates or picture, as well as the spoken best accounted for the effect modalities used in presenting shown that learners do not feel that in English testing, perhaps paving ‘battlefield’ – always feeling that at Global Ideas: Pre- and In-service
deeper brain processing in the word) facilitates learning more of gestures on word learning new words increased – so did the GELT is making its presence felt but the way for further change. any moment they might be replaced TESOL Practitioners’ Attitudes to
learner, resulting in better retention, than either visual or auditory by scanning the brain activity complexity of the neural networks Cameron and Galloway wanted to Lack of supporting materials was by a preferred native-speaker. the Pedagogical Implications of the
report Manuela Macedonia and presentation alone. of 31 German native-speaking involved, supporting the idea find out if this was also true at the another commonly-cited obstacle, Worldwide, the vast majority Globalization of English,’ RELC
colleagues at Universities in A third modality is to use students while they learned new that using gestures deepens cutting edge of teacher training. and dealing with this may not always of people learning, teaching Journal 50(1): 149-163
Austria, Italy and Germany. gestures. These gestures could words presented in different processing of the new word and
When any stimulus, such come initially from the teacher modalities. The students were embeds it more firmly, with more
as a new word, is presented, as they present the new word, asked to read, read and listen or connections, into the memory
information from the senses is and later be used by the learners read, listen and watch a set of network. Trial and error fails for phrasal verbs
‘encoded’. This encoding may during practice. The resulting 30 words (while lying in a brain Macedonia and colleagues were
be shallow and transient (a boost to learning is called ‘the scanner), for which they were expecting to see brain activity
novel word heard just once is enactment effect’. offered the princely sum of 10 reflecting increased semantic By Gillian Ragsdale approach can increase attention The ‘study then test’ group All students were tested on
unlikely to be remembered) or How this comes about, euros. processing when learners viewed and motivation. received an example of each the 14 phrasal verbs immediately
the encoding may be deeper however, is not well understood, To be certain that the 30 gestures, but an increase was Study followed by retrieval Phrasal verbs are both common phrasal verb: ‘Hey, Yuki, if you’re afterwards and again, without
and then pass – hopefully – into and consequently it is not clear words really were new to all the actually observed in the motor practice may be a better way to and relatively challenging for not busy after work, do you want warning, after a week. The ‘study
long-term memory. Repetition how best to make use of these participants, a new language, areas of the brain. This could learn new items than the popular many learners. Strong and Boer to hang out?’ Followed by a then test’ group scored better on
deepens the encoding process techniques. It could be that the Vimmi, was generated for the mean that rather than deepening trial and error method, so finds a found that in 44 EFL textbooks, clarifying response: ‘I’m sorry, both tests.
and thereby increases the action, especially when performed study by randomly computer- semantic long-term memory, using study by Brian Strong and Frank 61 per cent of exercises Tomoko, but I’m not feeling well Corrective feedback to the trial
likelihood that the new word by the learner, produces a motor generating three-syllable words gestures taps into procedural Boer. introducing new phrasal verbs today. How about tomorrow?’ and error group had more influence
will pass into long-term storage memory that strengthens the based on Italian phonotactic long-term memory – the kind One common approach to used the trial and error method, These students then wrote the on their immediate test scores
for later retrieval. This is why overall memory. This makes rules, but controlling for possible of memory stores used when we teaching new items is to present with the ‘feedback’ often in an participle for the phrasal verbs: than in the follow-up test where
learning new vocabulary can be sense, as the more paths there confounding similarities with learn to ride a bike. their usage explicitly with answer key ‘Hey, Yuki, if you’re not busy 25 per cent of students reverted to
so time consuming and laborious. are to a single memory the more real English or German words, or examples, then test them (study Strong and Boer tested the after work, do you want to their original wrong answers. So,
Vocabulary that does not move securely it is embedded in the words made especially memorable REFERENCE then test). Another presents the two methods on 140 Japanese hang … ?' although corrective feedback after
from the shallow encoding of the memory network. due to being distinctive or bizarre. ■ Macedonia, M., Repetto, new items and ask students to try university students randomly Students in the ‘trial and guessing did result in learning the
moment to storage cannot later Alternatively, watching the For example the German word C., Ischebeck, A. and Mueller, to figure out how they are used, assigned to two groups. A third error’ group had to supply the effect was not as strong.
be retrieved. gestures may increase perception ‘blume’ for ‘flower’ was translated K. (2019) ‘Depth of Encoding before getting feedback (trial and pilot study group were tested on missing particle first – and
Previous research has shown and attention, which are crucial as ‘giketa’, and the German for Through Observed Gestures error then feedback). potential sets of phrasal verbs, were then presented with the REFERENCE
that foreign language learners to moving incoming information ‘knife’, ‘messer’ was translated as in Foreign Language Word There are good arguments and a final set of 14 phrasal complete example as feedback. ■ Strong, B. and Boers, F. (2019)
encode new vocabulary more into storage as memories. In this ‘ganuma’. Learning’, Frontiers in Psychology, supporting both methods. Retrieval verbs was selected including So, both groups were presented ‘The Error in Trial and Error:
deeply when it is presented in case it is not really the gestures The set of 30 concrete nouns 10 Article 33 doi: 10.3389/ of taught content strengthens ‘hang out‘, ‘brush up’ and with the same text but in a Exercises on Phrasal Verbs,’ TESOL
more than one modality. For themselves that are responsible. for everyday objects were split into fpsyg.2019.00033 memory, while the trial and error ‘chicken out’ different order. Quarterly 53(2): 289-319.

10 May/June 2019 editorial@elgazette.com 11