Yes, all learning/teaching must reflect the neuroscience of how we learn. I personally applied principles of neuroscience in my teaching of EFL. I will look for some materials that I had created for this purpose, and post them here.

A PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF SOME NEUROSCIENCE CONCEPTS

TO

TEACHING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

BY ANTONIO B. LUCERO

INTRODUCTION

I had taught English as a Foreign Language (EFL) for about fourteen years in three hotels in Los Cabos, Mexico. (English is my first language, but I am fluent in Spanish.) About half of the time was spent on General Hotel English and the other half on Job-specific English. During this time, I could draw on various grammar textbooks for topics in general EFL, but I had to create most of my own material for many of the other topics. I also had to imagine myself as a Spanish-speaker trying to learn English - in order to make the courses and the methods more relevant to their needs and interests. This required me to delve into deeper questions regarding motivation, cultural differences, and neuroscience.

Neuroscience knowledge and well-founded hypotheses about how our brains learn can serve as an important base for developing models of the learning process. Such models can provide heuristics for how to best teach our students. This is not to say that we should toss out other knowledge bases founded in psychology, sociology, philosophy, effective teaching practices, or our intuition. In fact, much of what neuroscience is finding reinforces much of what we already know. The added benefit is that high-level neuroscience conceptual models can be relatively simple, yet effective, guides to be better teachers.

I have written this short note in response to a request from a ResearchGate colleague, Ljubomir Jacić , for any references I might have on the application of neuroscience to teaching. In searching on the internet, I have found a few; but they were not as complete as I had hoped to find.

Most of the neuroscientific research articles one comes across are delving into fine details. But, it is rare to come across a reference that provides meta-models of how the brain learns, and that can be applied, almost directly to teaching. An excellent reference that I came across a few years ago, and have used ever since as my principle guide, is the 2001 book written by Elkhonen Goldberg titled: The New Executive Brain. Among various other activities, Dr. Goldberg is currently Clinical Professor of Neurology at New York University School of Medicine. (An Annex is provided at the end of this note giving the pages in his book that I found applicable to this topic, in case the reader would like to read more from his book.)

I should point out that Dr. Goldberg often uses the concept of right hemisphere and left hemisphere as a convenient model for referencing two complementary ways of processing information. Among other caveats, he has explained that the situation is actually much more complicated; for example, that the bicameral brain model is more suitable to males than it is to females. To avoid such complications, I have chosen to refer to these distinct ways of processing information simply as Novelty Processing (ref. the right hemisphere) and Routine Processing (ref. the left hemisphere), consistent with Dr. Goldberg’s notions of their respective functions.

MAIN NEUROSCIENCE MODEL

According to Dr. Goldberg, there are two distinct parts of the cortex that process two distinct types of information: Novelty and Routine. And in some manner, not yet fully understood, as we learn new things the emphasis in processing shifts eventually from Novelty Processing to Routine Processing.

Physically, the neurons used in Novelty Processing are long and disperse; whereas the neurons used in Routine Processing are short and compact. The respective processing speeds are also contrasting, with Novelty Processing being relatively slow and Routine Processing being very fast.

Consider for example, a piano student beginning to learn to play a new song. At first he will play rather slowly, tentatively, making many false starts. This is characteristic of Novelty Processing. With more and more practice, he will play much faster, with confidence, making very few mistakes. This is characteristic of Routine Processing.

So with these two end states in mind, we teachers are to help our students, regardless of the skill or knowledge being taught, to transition the emphasis of their processing from Novelty to Routine. From the student’s point of view this transition is called learning.

Although we do not yet have a good understanding of what takes place in the brain to effect this transition, we do know that overt repetition, being focused, and attributing importance to the learning task facilitate this transition. The time required to achieve such transitions can range from minutes to years.

CONJECTURE

Based upon my personal experience and introspection, as well as other readings in neuroscience, I would suggest that we can consider segmenting the cognitive EFL learning process for a given topic, or strand, into about eight phases – i.e., going from an emphasis on Novelty Processing to eventual emphasis on Routine Processing – as outlined below:

PHASES OF COGNITIVE EFL LEARNING FOR A GIVEN STRAND

PHASE A: INITIAL BRIEF EXPOSURE

PHASE B: FAMILIARITY

PHASE C: RECOGNITION PRACTICE

PHASE D: APPLICATIONS PRACTICE WITHIN CONTEXT

PHASE E: APPLICATIONS PRACTICE OUTSIDE OF CONTEXT

PHASE F: GAMES AND HAVING FUN WITH NEW KNOWLEDGE

PHASE G: DIAGNOSTIC TESTING

PHASE H: REMEDIAL WORK, IF ANY

ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLE FOR A SINGLE STRAND

As an illustrative example for a single strand of learning, consider the context of teaching EFL to Spanish-speaking students. Now suppose we are teaching the use of gerunds as nouns, with the oversimplified example of the gerund “flying.” The following sequence of phases of learning can be thought of as occurring on successive classes, separated by one or more days:

Phase A: Show the students examples of the use of the gerund “flying” in various natural sentences. The objective is to just show these examples and explain what is meant. Then just leave it as is, without further elaboration. The objective being that now they will have seen it, but not understood it well, yet.

Phase B: Present a variety of sentences where the gerund is used as the subject or as the object of a verb that they already know. (Flying an airplane is fun; She does not like flying.) If not too advanced for them also use it as the object of a preposition or as an adjective (She is afraid of flying; Only flying passengers are permitted in this area of the airport.). And relating to their prior knowledge of the gerund form of verbs, present examples of the present participle. (They are flying to Saudi Arabia.) Give them homework to translate a few short sentence, similar to the ones presented in class. The objective is for them to become somewhat familiar with various uses of the gerund form.

Phase C: Present texts to them that contain many sentences with various examples of the gerund form. Have them identify the gerunds within each sentence, translate each sentence, and explain the use of each gerund. The objective is for them to be able to recognize gerunds and recognize their use in each case.

Phase D: Hand out sheets to the students that contain numerous English sentences with gerunds; and also contain numerous Spanish sentences whose translations to English should require the use of English gerunds. The objective is to give them practice within the same context that has been used previously (i.e., flying airplanes)

Phase E: Hand out sheets to the students, similar to Phase D, except that the contexts are different from what has been used previously (e.g., flying animals or flying kites). The objective is to develop the confidence of taking what was learned in one context to other new contexts.

Phase F: Hand out sheets with jumbled English sentences (sentences with the words in random order). The challenge is for the students to unscramble the words to make a meaningful sentences. (The sentences would have been derived from ones containing gerunds.) This game encourages the students to challenge the students’ mastery of the topic.

Phase G: Inform the students that you are giving them a short diagnostic test to identify what they have mastered and what they need more work on. Interchange their answers among the students to grade and discuss each test item, as guided by the teacher. Collect the graded test sheets to assess which problems may merit further remedial work now.

Phase H: If you feel it is necessary, explain more fully the items that the majority are having difficulty with, including assumed prerequisite background knowledge that they had not mastered (e.g., prepositional phrases). Then give a very short test on these selected items.

(If some of the students are still having difficulties, remember that all natural languages are very redundant. So, it is very likely that the students will encounter these items again sometime in the future; and maybe at that time they will be able to understand the items much better.)

In this example, the development of the use of gerunds through the various Phases would constitute a strand of learning. In most EFL courses there may be a few strands of learning to be developed concurrently.

IMPACT ON PRELIMNARY LESSON PLANNING

Keeping in mind the dynamics of the conjectured learning process, the lesson plan becomes a continuous living document.

Before classes begin, the course syllabus is defined in terms of core topics that must be covered, together with other topics that may or may not be covered, as time permits.

The teacher, first of all, has to define the prerequisites that are necessary for a smooth flow of instruction. Then the teacher has to design a short prerequisite test to evaluate each new student. A short remedial course may have to be created to help those students who lack these prerequisites to get up to speed.

Most significantly, the teacher also attempts to develop a plan that covers all topics in the syllabus, as he/she estimates the rate at which the strands for each topic can be covered in the course of the scheduled class days. However, rather than being segmented into separate computer documents for each day, the plan is written as one long, continuous document that is demarked by each class date.

In the course of developing the plan, the teacher will have to look for, or generate materials that are useful as teaching aids. For example, sources on the internet, such as www.manythings.org which has excellent short stories with audio recordings and accompanying, downloadable written texts. For example, on this website just click the tab at the top of the home page titled “Reading with Audio”, then select “American Stories.” Or, if necessary, the teacher can write very short vignettes (one or two pages long) of realistic scenarios that are relevant to the type of class (e.g., a class for accountants) and that include the core topics to be addressed over a period of a few classes. The teacher should record his/her reading of these texts aloud – the recordings should be downloaded onto a master thumb drive to be distributed to the students for making their personal copies.

The next step is to insert routine activities for each scheduled day. At the beginning of each class, indicate a short time for small talk for the purpose of helping the students relax and switch their way of thinking from Spanish to English. The next step is to take roll. And the final initial step is to review any homework that might have been assigned – this is to guarantee that the effort they put into doing the homework will be acknowledged and they will receive rapid didactic feedback. At the end of each class, indicate a time for assigning homework, if any; and for reminding them of upcoming events, such as tests or reports that will be due.

This is the preliminary version of the lesson plans.

THE LIVING LESSON PLAN

In so far as the lesson planning is concerned, before each class, the teacher will printout, as one scroll, the lesson plans for three consecutive days: the previous day, the current day, and the next day.

While the class is being conducted, the teacher will make notes on observations that may influence the plan for the future. After the class is finished, the teacher will incorporate changes to the lesson plans: 1) Indicate which of the items were completed; 2) Pass items that were not completed to the next day’s list of items, or indicate if they will be omitted from future treatment; 3) Insert any new items wherever it is most appropriate into the scroll of lesson plans (such as assumed prerequisite knowledge that was discovered to be lacking).

Besides helping to control the flow of strands of topics, the scroll provides a snapshot of the topics completed, which is invaluable when designing quizzes and tests.

EXAMPLES FOR A REALISTIC EFL CLASS

Below are two snapshots taken a day apart for a fairly realistic EFL class. They indicate the possible trajectory followed by three strands as they are being developed. The three strands are: 1) Treatment of a new portion of a short story (Reading, Pronunciation, Translating); 2) Vocabulary Development, as related to a previous portion of the short story; and 3) Grammar Development, also as related to a previous portion of the short story.

DAY N Snapshot:

STRAND 1: Reinforce the previous day’s homework assignment which was PHASE A – INITIAL EXPOSURE to read and listen to a new portion of the current short story. Now have the students do a round robin of reading aloud a sentence for review of their pronunciation. Then repeat the round robin by having each student attempt to orally translate each sentence, where they are encouraged to guess meanings of new words or phrases based on the context of the sentence, who the character is that is speaking, the situation, and the story as a whole. (This strand would now be in PHASE B – Familiarity.)

STRAND 2: Build on previous day’s PHASE C – RECOGNITION PRACTICE, by having the students work on translating sentences from English to Spanish within the context of the short story (This strand would be in PHASE D – Applications Practice Within Context.)

STRAND 3: Build on previous work on PHASE B – FAMILIARITY of the modal verbs “should”, “could”, and “ought to” – material based on an auxiliary textbook. Today, we are working on

PHASE C – Recognition Practice by using exercise sheets in English with diverse sentences using these three modals. The students are to use the context within a given sentence as well as the context provided by a preceding sentence to interpret and translate the given sentence to Spanish.

DAY N+1 Snapshot:

STRAND 1: Reinforce the previous day’s classwork with a homework assignment to attempt a written translation of designated sentences. This is a continuation of PHASE B – Familiarity. It is intended to reinforce what had been covered orally previously.

STRAND 2: Continuing with PHASE D – Applications Practice within Context, by today, doing translations from Spanish to English of sentences within the context of the short story.

(Exercises in recall).

STRAND 3: Apply what we learned about the underlying ideas or sentiments of these three modal verbs to appropriately fill in the blanks in prescribed English sentences. PHASE D – Applications Practice within Context. (Exercises in recall).

ANNEX: Applicable Pages from Elkhonen Goldberg’s Book, The New Executive Brain

Types of cognition p 107

Veridical cognition = descriptive -> posterior parts of hemispheres (analog computational?) (Hebbian learning – driven by externals)

Actor-centered cognition = prescriptive -> frontal lobes (digital computational?)

(driven by back-propagation & internal representations of a goal)

Novelty – Routine p 66-69, 71- 75, 266-270

Right hemisphere (r.h.) adept at processing novel info.

Left hemisphere (l.h.) adept at processing routinized, familiar info.

Separate, but interconnected

End stages of every learning process

Overrides all other variables in determining hemisphere affiliation of a task

Transition

Not well understood yet.

Experimental investigations would be imprecise, with arbitrary assumptions

Theory – simplified model of some aspect of reality

Computational models & simulation of learning

Dynamics between the two hemispheres in space and time and individual past experiences

Likely, mental representations develop interactively in both hemispheres, but their rates of formation differ.

Rate of formation in r.h. faster in early, novelty stage

Rate of formation in l.h. faster in later stages

Rate of transition r.h. to l.h. takes time (hours, days, weeks, months, years)

Hypotheses

r.h. coarser representations or

maybe only a single undifferentiated network capturing averaged properties of prior experiences

Novelty -> resonance with the course, less bounded, less specific

Mild updates of the larger-scale coarse network

l.h. finer representations

Familiar -> resonance with specifics

New, relatively narrow-scope representations formed to capture the specific properties of the new type of cognitive challenge

r.h. more a priori and diffuse

l.h. more a posteriori and modular

Combined r.h.& l.h. learning advantage

being able to switch between the leading roles of each hemisphere

(My comment: does this manifest itself in learning by trial and error?)

Some type of short-term working memory may keep track of successes and failures between the two hemispheres?

Dopamine p 258 – 259

Unique and important role in learning

Reward mechanism/teaching signal

Stimulus-reward paring stimulates release of dopamine

Ultimate sources rich in dopamine

Prefrontal cortex (for broader context)

Elaborate, slower, learned, “cognitive” appraisal

Amygdala (for survival)

Automatic, rapid, coarse

Intermediate sources

VTA, ventral tegmental area,

Instructed to stimulate hippocampal dopaminergic pathways

which in turn facilitates formation of long-term memories

Altogether, the “Executive-significance Memory Loop” (ESM) is a fine-tuned mechanism for selecting certain inputs for the privilege of passage into long-term memory and denies such passage to other inputs.

Dopamine cycle probably operates in both hemispheres, but more efficient in l.h.

Bicameral brain p 261

Signal transmission

r.h. relies more on long myelinated pathways interconnecting distant regions

l.h. relies more on short nonmyelinated pathways interconnecting proximal regions

Other dynamic aspects p 287

In learning, besides to shift from r.h. to l.h., there is a shift in emphasis from the prefrontal cortex to the posterior cortices

Other dynamic features may be more task-specific and need to be studied further