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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.

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