Page 33 - ELG1911 Nov Issue 467

El•Gazette 467.qxp_El•Gazette 467 23/10/2019 13:10 Page 33

FEATURES & COMMENT

also confirmed that implicit learning in
foreign language classroom contexts for
students older than 10-12 years old is I. A. MCDONNELL
generally slow and not always effective.
I wondered, to what extent can we speed
up learning by directing students’ attention to
novel language features and by giving
explanations of these features, and how
students with different cognitive
characteristics benefit from these?
Learning from language input, be it written,
spoken or multimodal, is very demanding for
students because they need to understand the
meaning of what they hear or read, and to pay
attention to how that meaning is expressed at
the same time. If we guide students’ attention
to specific aspects of the input, they will
notice these more effectively and they will be
able to learn these more quickly.
In the joint research with Bimali
Indrarathne, we found that what mattered
most was this kind of directed attention focus,
rather than explicit metalinguistic Sculpture by English artist Mackenzie Thorpe
explanations of the rules or regularity of for the Dyslexia Foundation of New Zealand
language. Without such explicit attentional
guidance, students’ eye-tracking patterns did Inclusive language So, what problem would you most like
not show any noticing and the learning gains to solve?
were also minimal, even in conditions when teaching …. benefits
the target feature was visually enhanced – The question of how we can promote
when it was printed in bold. all students, not just inclusive language education remains my
those who have main field of interest. I would like to do more
Paul Meara once wrote in the Gazette work on providing an empirical basis for
that aural working memory was the specific learning recommended language teaching techniques
biggest predictor of language learning difficulties. for dyslexic students. I would also like to
aptitude and you have found that research how we can make language tests
working memory plays a key role in how more accessible to students with specific
learners pay attention to input. How do not be very taxing for working memory learning difficulties.
you think working memory impacts resources and should allow everyone to As we work intensively with language
language learning? succeed. teachers, I would also like to find out what
In our recent research conducted with methods in teacher education are most
Working memory is involved in any kind of young learners we found that assessment tasks effective in enhancing inclusive language
learning, but it is a limited capacity system; that take into account the cognitive teaching practices in different classroom
there are constraints on how many things we characteristics of children might allow all contexts.
can pay attention to at the same time and young test-takers, regardless of their working
how many new items of information we can memory abilities, to demonstrate their REFERENCES
keep in short-term memory at once. knowledge. n Engage digital English and German digital task
There is some variation among people as The question that interests me most is bank for dyslexic students: http://engage.uni-
regards their working memory capacity, which which features of different types of second miskolc.hu/index.php/engage-2/
means that some people with higher working language tasks, particularly in reading and
memory capacity might learn another writing, minimise working memory differences Dystefl: http://dystefl2.uni.lodz.pl/
language more easily than others. among students.
Dyslexic students tend to have smaller FutureLearn MOOC on Dyslexia and Language
working memory capacity, and the research You have always struck us as a bit as the Learning:
with Bimali Indrarathne showed that Paul Erdős of EFL – he was a Hungarian https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/dyslexia
differential working memory ability very mathematician who loved to solve
strongly predicted how much attention problems rather than come up with one
students paid to language input and how overarching theory. Like Erdős, you are As we work intensively with language teachers,
much they learned under laboratory a Hungarian applied linguist who likes to I would also like to find out what methods in
conditions. solve problems. teacher education are most effective in
However, language learning in the enhancing inclusive language teaching practices
classroom is much more complex, and other This comparison is very flattering. Indeed, I in different classroom contexts.
factors such as motivation, anxiety and other like solving problems related to language
cognitive abilities which are independent of learning and teaching, and most of my
working memory, also pay a strong role. In research questions originate from classroom
simple words, someone with high motivation practice. I believe that second language
and low anxiety might overcome working learning is far too complex to be explained by
memory limitations. one overarching theory. This is not to negate
There are also tasks where working memory the importance of theories in our field, which
limitations might become less important. In have been very influential and helpful in
fact, well-designed instructional tasks should many respects.
editorial@elgazette.com 33