Stephen van Vlack Sookmyung Women s University Graduate School of TESOL Second Language Learning Theories Spring 2016

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1 Stephen van Vlack Sookmyung Women s University Graduate School of TESOL Second Language Learning Theories Spring 2016 Week 7 Answers Hulstijn, J. and B. Laufer. (2001). Some empirical evidence for the involvement load hypothesis in vocabulary acquisition. Language Learning 51(3): Hulstijn, J. (2002). Towards a unified account of the representation, processing and acquisition of second language knowledge. Second Language Research 18, 3: Schneider, V., A. Healey, and L. Bourne. (2002). What is learned under difficult conditions is hard to forget: Contextual interference effects in foreign language vocabulary acquisition, retention and transfer. Journal of Memory and Language 46: Robinson, P. (2003). Attention and memory during SLA. In A. Davies and C. Elder. (eds.). The handbook of applied linguistics. Oxford: Blackwell, pp Terry, W. (2000). Learning and memory (3 rd Edition). Boston: Pearson, pp Terry discusses processes of memory. What are the different stages of memory? Terry (2000) in looking at conceptual approaches to memory discusses three different stages of memory. These are important to us because a stages approach can be used to tie together the other information we have about the different parts of the brain supposedly claimed to be complicit in the functioning of memory. They are also ideas that are readily useful to classroom experiences. Encoding is the process by which information enters and leaves a lasting impression within long-term memory. Again, the modern view is that we encode everything that we somehow perceive whether intentionally or not intentionally, but of course we can talk about good or bad encoding based on how that information is encoded. For us as teachers is very important to realize that encoding is a process and it's an ongoing continual process. Simply exposing your students to what you believe to be salient and important information does not necessarily mean that they have encoded that information or encoded it well. It takes many and multiple exposures before something can be really said to be encoded. We know that something is encoded because we can get it out (it is available for retrieval) and that is what we think of as being good encoding. As many of the papers we read for class today have pointed out encoding is a developmental process by which the things we encounter more and which require one to put more energy into dealing with will be encoded in different ways than the things that we don't encounter very offer that we don't put very much energy into. As we discussed in class the amount of energy one puts into something will also determine how well it's encoded. Thus, encoding is mediated by the system of attention. Researchers in memory often talk about flashbulb moments in which an event is so emotionally charged the one remembers an extreme amount of detail in relation to the event. We can say that these flashbulb moments are extreme examples of encoding and they remind us of the very strong impact of emotion on encoding. Emotion is another system that has very much to do with the amount of energy that a person puts into something. In highly emotional situations more energy is used and in this way it leads to stronger, if not better,

2 encoding of information. From a physical perspective, putting more energy into the encoding process means that a larger and stronger chemical impression is left. It also means that more different associations will be encoded simultaneously and this is good. So we can talk about two major elements of encoding. This is about the strength of the impression left and also the amount of connections that are formed immediately when it a bit of information is encoded. These associations and connections will be information that is in the background. But of course it's also important to remember the, as mentioned above, encoding is a process. Every time that we encounter a bit of information, let's say a word for example, it becomes recoded. New information becomes added and variant forms are also added into this type of network. Again we can think of bits of information are being stored as symbols such as would be the traditional suggestion but we need to think of each bit of information is being its own network the larger, the stronger the more information within the network the better the network will function. Also thinking about encoding, yes, it's great to have an initial good strong encoding but we cannot neglect the idea of repetition and of course important to this is varied repetition. It is not so much the encoding is important but the recoding and continual recoding of information that enables effective systems to build. The second stage in this view of memory is storage. Storage is basically about the amount and types of connections that are formed between a bit of information and other it's information within the brain. Again, location is not the most important element to storage. It is more about how rather than where. For information to be useful it needs to be stored with as many connections as are necessary to other bits of information. This could be connections within its own specific neural network, as the case of /i/ we discussed in class, words could be connections to other elements outside the network, so for example connections between the neuronal network for /i/ and words containing that sound. Storage is important because it is the variable that makes certain bits of information easier to access and retrieve. Information that is not well stored is lost. It is still inside the brain but since it's not connected to other things then it's for all intents and purposes gone. Things become connected or assist you when they our related either within a certain context or have certain similarities impel them to be connected. So, again connections can be the result of the type of input received, it can be through explicit instruction, or to be something that a learner itself herself realizes through reflection and awareness. In any case these are all things that teachers can do to help. As we mentioned in class, the directionality of the different connections within the storage of items is also very important. Teachers present information that creates and fosters links from one bit of information to another, such as showing the translation equivalents in the L1 when teaching L2 vocabulary, but this fosters a link from the L2 word form to the L1 word. This type of connection does not help students very much at all when they are actually trying to use the L2 because the best connection to help them use the L2 would be a connection from L1 to the L2, but that's not necessarily something that teachers help foster in the classroom. So it's not just a matter of building connections which lead to better storage but also thinking about the types of connections. The final stage in the process of memory is that of retrieval. Retrieval is basically the act of being able to access and make use of the information we have stored. This generally occurs in two different ways. In receptive mode (listening or reading) we need to be able to access the right form from the stream of speech or the graphic representations that are coming through visual processing. So when you read a string of letters you need to be able to connect that to the right word form that you have stored in the brain. That is you need to be able to retrieve the correct work from the mental lexicon. In productive mode retrieval starts

3 not with the forms themselves but with meaning and intent. In order to retrieve the right lexical item we need to be able to get the form from the meaning we want to convey. It should be clear that directionality, then, plays a very important role in being able to access the right information either in productive or in receptive mode. Being able to pick the right form at the right time it's very important skill and do something in which working memory is certainly implicated. But of course good retrieval is also going to be based on good storage. This something is stored well with lots of links to other things then not only is harder to forget but also easier to access. More connections me that there are more different pathways which will lead to that. From the connectionist viewpoint, having lots of different connected information not only makes a representation stronger but also means that there are a lot more different triggers that will lead to that information. So, in the end for retrieval there are two important things we need to remember. First and foremost is its reliance on good storage but it is also a skill with these to be practiced. Practice for retrieval in an L2 is very important because not only do we need to try to access and retrieve the correct forms in the L2 but we also have to learn how to manage the L1 at the same time. It is the overriding, often dominant presence of the one that makes retrieval in the L2 rather difficult process. 2. What are the contributions of attention and noticing to memory in general and language learning in particular? As we have mentioned in class within the field of cognitive neuroscience different mental functions have been identified. Banich (1997) lists these as motor control, object recognition, spatial processing, attention, language, memory, executive function, emotion, and artistry. This list is not universally agreed on but it does include the function of attention, which all agree is an indispensible part of how the brain works. The important thing for us to remember is in each of these systems what they are separate systems are also highly interrelated and very strongly affect each other. When we think about attention for example, it certainly plays a very important role in language learning which is why we are addressing the issue now. Obviously it strongly affects the development and maintenance of memory. It probably is in turn affected by executive control and it certainly is strongly affected by emotion. So it is important for us to think of these systems as being built together and integrated together and language plays a central role in this. Likewise, many SLA researchers have focused attention on attention and what they believe are related systems. There have been lots of different terms used by the SLA community over the years (for example, consciousness) but the term that has endured and become the norm is attention. There has been a lot of focus on attention because the system of attention seems to play an important role in what is learned. It is also something that is discussed in Krashen (1982) s highly influential monitor model ( which claims as one of its six main hypotheses the distinction between acquisition and learning. Attention is a mental function that guides our perceptual systems and allows them to focus in on any one thing. It is a limited commodity in that, like STM it is limited in time and also allows one to only focus on one thing at a time. As a result we think of attention as being very fleeting. We are constantly shifting attention from one thing to another and are certainly not able to focus attention on everything that is coming into the brain through our five perceptual streams. It was formerly believed the only things upon which attention has been focused would end up making it into long-term memory, but we now know that that's no longer true. Information that is acquired without attention also makes it into memory systems although it works in different ways.

4 Within SLA and ELT attention is linked to such important concepts as implicit and explicit learning/teaching as well as incidental learning. But these are terms which don't always fit exactly what we now know about the brain. Particular teachers are often confused by the distinction between how information is presented and how it is learned with the naïve assumption being that the two are synonymous. Simply not true. Explicit learning is when a learner sits down and tries to learn a specific thing. That is their goal. So, for example if I want to learn variations in the inflectional systems of Finnish and I look at books and try to memorize those endings and that is an example of explicit learning. If I sit down and just read books in Finnish enter thereby exposed to inflectional endings I can also learn. The main idea here is intentionality. Explicit learning has intentionality while implicit learning doesn't or has it in a much vaguer sense. Teachers of course are aware of their own intentions but they are certainly not necessarily aware of the intentions of their students especially any given moment. Learning is an internal process that is of course affected by external stimuli but is certainly not controlled by external stimuli. People learn what they want when they want and how they want based on a complex array of variables which he will discuss in this course later. The big issue in the field of SLA relates to what happens to information based on how it is learned. We all know that language is very much reliant on a lot of different types of procedural information. Traditionally language has also been talk focusing only on semantic information. That is language instruction was very explicit presumed explicit learning of facts related to the target language. We also know that that is not very useful or trying to get people to be able to actually use language. Use is based on procedural information. The big debate of course is whether things that have been learned explicitly can be then turned into implicit type of knowledge. Certainly the information that enters the brain changes and shifts and we may argue that some of the art of knowledge can become non-declarative. In reality, I'm not sure that the explicit implicit question is really something that we need to be asking because your brain is in a constant state of flux. Certainly for adults it seems that they enjoy a little bit about and this is something that actually do some advantages over children who tend to learn more implicitly. But of course the big problem that we have in our field is that we often assume the way we teach is the way students learn and that definitely not true. 3. What is the role of memory is SLA and how can knowledge of memory help us as second language teachers. For language teachers I think there are many lessons we can learn by enhancing our understanding of memory within the learning process. The most general and possibly the most important of these is the fact that learning is a physical and personally internalized process. Neither teachers themselves nor the input that they provide leads to any specific type of learning or memory storage. Students themselves will decide consciously or subconsciously what it is they will learn and how they will learn it. As teachers of course we can affect this process but it is very dangerous to feel that we control it because these are processes that are clearly way beyond our control. Among the things that we want to be aware of regarding memory would be how we can develop these different stages effectively. The tremendous focus within SLA on the difference between implicit and explicit learning and what is learned was acquired I think is more fusing that it is helpful. Rather I think we need to focus on how we can help our students encode certain information well, store it well, and also develop skills for retrieval. All these things are interconnected and like anything else our main goal is to build an integrated system. Understanding how the different parts affect each other and how we can help our students with these different things is important.

5 References Banich, M. (1997). Neuropsychology: The neural bases of mental function. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Krashen, S. D. (1982). Principles and practices in second language acquisition. New York: Phoenix ELT.