Page 10 - ELG1909 Sep Issue 466

RESEARCH NEWS . NEWS

Make the most of metacognition Is the right brain key to better language learning?

by making reading a group task By Gillian Ragsdale investigated: the relationship Mandarin Chinese classes. At It seems that the initial work of

The right brain hemisphere is between speech perception and the end of the course, students discerning and matching speech
more important for language language learning. were given proficiency exams in sounds to specific language
Students retain more ‘incidental’ vocabulary when prompted to think about learning learning than we thought, a team Language learning first begins writing, listening and speaking. components depends on activity
of researchers at the University of with matching speech sounds to Long-term retention was tested in the right hemisphere of the
By Gillian Ragsdale worksheets, and were also Delaware and the Massachusetts parts of language. Infants are well after 90 days. brain. Once this initial speech-
Students who use metacognitive given to the teacher so they UNSPLASH Institute of Technology report. able to distinguish between native Both before and after the sound processing has taken place,
prompts during reading tasks could advise students when It has been generally assumed and non-native speech sounds, course, students were also asked activity in the right hemisphere
can improve their incidental requested. They were written that the left hemisphere is and the more an adult retains to discriminate between speech decreases, and the left hemisphere
vocabulary learning, an as questions designed to prompt essential and dominant for this ability, the better able they tones typical of Mandarin Chinese remains dominant for further
experimental study from Hong both knowledge and regulation of normal language production are to learn a foreign language. while their brain activity was language processing.
Kong Baptist University and the metacognition. and comprehension since Paul Recognising speech sounds not monitored in an fMRI scanner. Qi and colleagues are
University of Macau has found. For example, the question: Broca proposed, in the late only helps in learning vocabulary, Researchers were looking for interested in using activity levels
The effect is strengthened when ‘How should we proceed to 1800s, that language expression but also the patterns of sounds activity in brain areas pre- and in the right hemisphere to predict
students work collaboratively in develop a solution for this reading was controlled by the left-brain reflect the rules of grammar and post-learning that were predictive language learning outcomes - not
small groups, according to the exercise and in which way can we hemisphere. Lead researcher syntax more generally. of better language learning a very practical application in the
paper’s authors, Feng Teng and apply the strategies from previous Zhengan Qi and the team wanted The group recruited 24 outcomes. average classroom. But this study
Barry Lee Reynolds. learning experiences?’ prompts to test this assumption in a American-English native speakers As expected, activity in the does also make a strong case for
Previous research has shown students to access their knowledge context that few studies have into an intensive month of left hemisphere increased after the often-neglected practice of
that students can pick up new of metacognitive strategies. language learning. basic speech-sound recognition -
lexis from reading and listening, The question: ‘What are The key discovery, though, for example, by distinguishing
but without strategies in place to needed for planning, monitoring WIKIMEDIA was that students whose brains minimal pairs - as essential for
retain this ‘incidentally’ learned and evaluation of this text showed greater activity in part of long-term language learning.
vocabulary, retention is likely to reading?’ [sic] prompts students the right hemisphere prior to the
be poor and the opportunity is to actively regulate their cognitive course tended to have better final REFERENCE
wasted. processes during learning. exam scores and better long-term ■ Qi, Z., Han, M., Wang, Y et
Reading comprehension depends The target vocabulary was retention. al. (2019) ‘Speech processing and
heavily on lexis. Poor growth carefully selected. A separate Group tasks can aid in retention. In other words, patterns of brain plasticity in the right hemisphere
in vocabulary size means the group of 50 students were given activity appeared to shift from the predict variation in adult foreign
development of reading and 100 low-frequency English improved outcomes. But using right to the left hemisphere after language learning’, NeuroImage
listening skills will be limited. words, and reported that 63 these strategies together resulted Glossary the course. 192: 76-87.
Using self-regulating learning were unknown to any of them. in further significant improvement.
strategies during reading can Fifteen words of 8-10 letters were Looking more closely at the Self-regulating learning
help students to retain new chosen, including nouns, verbs vocabulary scores suggests strategies: Students plan,
vocabulary better, and so improve and adjectives, such as ‘jubilation, that, for all students, meaning monitor and evaluate
their reading and listening. deprecate, sumptuous’. recognition – i.e. writing an L1 their own learning before, Put students’ hearts into reading
A metacognitive approach goes The target vocabulary was translation of an English word – during and after a learning
beyond merely teaching students embedded into a story. All is the easiest aspect for students task. These strategies
the self-regulating techniques of students read this silently for 30 to pick up incidentally. The make the students more By Gillian Ragsdale and improve attention, memory heart area and solar plexus system of the L2. The more
assessing and evaluating their minutes, then had 30 minutes to most difficult is form recall, i.e. independent, less passive Students’ reading anxiety can be and reasoning. (in the abdomen) while re- difficult students think it is to
learning. Students take active think about it. The students then remembering the written word and more efficient reduced by teaching techniques One process which may be experiencing a positive feeling, read in L2, the more anxious they
control of the cognitive processes took a surprise test on reading when given the meaning in L1. learners. that intentionally control heart linking heart rate and brain and viewing the negative are, and the lower their reading
involved during the learning comprehension and vocabulary. These results suggest that time rate, as demonstrated in a study activity is stimulation of the feeling as if it belonged to comprehension scores tend to be.
process itself. The reading was taken away for invested in metacognitive training Metacognitive approach: by Fatemah Kermani and Parviz parasympathetic nervous system. someone else. Students with more variation
Teng and Reynolds wanted the vocabulary test so that it will be repaid in improved learning Thinking about the Birjandi at the Islamic Azad This system, which is not generally • Heart Lock-In: Focus on the in their heart rate also had
to assess the relative benefit of measured incidentally-learned outcomes. More specifically, cognitive learning University in Tehran, Iran. under conscious control, acts to heart area, and breathe in greater reading anxiety. Using
teaching metacognition compared vocabulary. the study models a simple and processes that are being Students vary in how prone calm down the stress response so through the heart and out the techniques to make the heart
to another common strategy – The vocabulary test included: practical approach in providing used in a learning task they are to language learning that we can ‘rest and digest’. through the solar plexus, rhythm smoother and less variable
collaborative learning. Could recalling the form, by writing metacognitive prompts, and and consciously activating anxiety. Anxiety decreases Kermani and Birjandi taught self- while sustaining a caring, reduced reading anxiety. These
using the two together have an the word after reading the L1 actively encouraging students to use these processes. For activity in areas of the brain regulating techniques, developed compassionate feeling towards self-regulating techniques should
even stronger impact? meaning; recalling the meaning these questions to think about their example, activating prior associated with language learning, by the Institute of HeartMath, the self and others. ha ve the broader, highly desirable
The researchers recruited by writing the L1 translation; and learning experience. The effect can knowledge associated which may consequently make to Iranian university and high Heart rhythm was measured consequences of improving
171 first-year science and recognising the form by matching be further boosted by working in with a task to improve students even more anxious. school students aged 16-25. Then before and after practicing the emotional well-being generally,
technology undergraduates from the English word to one of four L1 small groups where students can the retention of new Reading anxiety, more specifically, they tested the students’ ability to techniques, and then before and boosting learning and improving
a Chinese university, all with an options. articulate and exchange ideas. associated knowledge. occurs when reading L2 texts, and control reading anxiety. after the reading tasks while using classroom behaviour – and they
intermediate level of English. Students using both collaborative more anxious students retain less The HeartMath techniques the techniques. The heart rhythm work well for teachers too.
They were randomly assigned learning and the prompts together REFERENCE Collaborative information after reading. taught included: data was collected using a monitor
to four groups. Two groups used scored highest on both the reading ■ Teng, F. and Reynolds, B. L. learning: When two The heart constantly signals • Freeze-Frame: Focus on attached to the student’s earlobe REFERENCE
collaborative learning (in groups comprehension and vocabulary (2019) Effects of individual and or more students work to the brain, influencing our the heart area and normal, and recoded on a computer. ■ Kermani, F. M. E. and Birjandi,
of 4-6), one with and one without tests. Students studying individually group metacognitive prompts on collaboratively they cognitive and emotional state. even breathing while re- Reading anxiety was measured P. (2019) ‘Heart-brain coherence:
metacognitive prompts. The other without prompts had the lowest EFL reading comprehension and interact and depend on Heart rates tend to be more experiencing positive emotions using the FLRAS (Foreign Relationship between high coherence
two used individual learning, with vocabulary scores. incidental vocabulary learning.’ each other to understand irregular when experiencing such as love or compassion. Language Reading Anxiety ratio and reading anxiety among
or without metacognitive prompts. Collaborative learning without PLoS ONE 14(5): e0215902. and complete the task. negative emotions such as • Cut-Thru: Be aware and Scale). Unlike general language Iranian EFL learners.’ Journal of
The metacognitive prompts prompts, and individual learning https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. anxiety. Controlling heart rate observe the current negative anxiety, reading anxiety varies Research in Applied Linguistics,
were printed on the students’ with them, both resulted in pone.0215902 can feedback to control anxiety, feeling, then shift focus to the depending on the specific writing 10(1): 32-50.
10 September 2019 editorial@elgazette.com 11