Second week of Ed Psy learning.....

Here we are on our second week into this quest of understanding psychologists and educators! Wish me good luck folks! This week I felt like a pig in mud (no laughing) as most of our studies concentrated on language!  ESL and language go hand-in-hand.

Regardless of the fact that I had to inhale a couple of hundreds of pages in little time, and I am still trying to catch my breath, I feel supported by my classmates and professor. We had great discussions and what a bunch of talented individuals they are! In my last week’s blog, I engaged a heroine like Joan of Arc and I was wearing an armor to emulate her, whereas this week it is too hot for that, so I am standing on top of a Tower catching a breeze…oh, wait am I referring to the infamous...

Tower of Babel?

Mark Pagel is the speaker of this week’s Ted Talk (TT): “How language transformed humanity”. He recalls the story of the Tower of Babel and how his people wanted to build a tall tower to reach the Heavens. But God didn’t agree and not only He destroyed their tower but He also scattered them around the world by giving them different languages…unfortunately in the midst of Mark Pagel’s Talk I started drifting away because the story seemed familiar but not exactly the same. I dug deep into my long-gone church-going days and tried recalling how Padre Ottorino (the Father in my church in Italy) might have spun this story. After much thinking, here is my version of the Tower of Babel story without the intention of creating blasphemy with respect to the Bible: “Once upon a time there was a large group of people, all belonging to the same ethnicity, race, speaking the same language, living under the same rules and as they began building a tower to segregate themselves, to feel safer and keep going their merrily way something went awry. God had a different plan (isn’t this always the case?), He was bored by the monotony of his people and as a Teacher, God came up with the magic answer “diversification”. Isn’t diversification key to the survival of all species? In my view, the Tower of Babel was the beginning of “diversity” and “multi ethnicity”. For this reason God sent everyone his or her own separate ways and this is my version of how diversity came to be.

At about 17:58min of the TT, Mark shows a picture of a Chinese man in front of a huge blackboard and he claims that the man had to translate every word in English. This topic about English being globally adopted has been an ongoing discussion in my ESL classroom. We have had countless discussions on the topic of language globalization. Do you know that 20% of the world population speaks some sort of Chinese dialect and only 8.5% speak English? There are even more people who speak Indian (18.2%) than English. Who decided that English had to become the global language, I would ask my students?  In my case this is very good news as I teach ESL, therefore I should not run out of customer any time soon. This was always a fun topic for discussion, but I am still waiting for an answer to my question.   

Cognitive abilities, differences and complexity

Cognitive Skills and brain studies these days go hand-in-hand. Neuroscience uses brain imaging (neuro-imagining) and genetic studies to research how changes in the brain affect cognitive functions and intellectual abilities. We know that the development of the frontal lobes increases a leaner’s ability to deal with complex tasks. Through neuroscience we are able to see how genetic mutations, environmental factors influence gene expressions and developmental patterns of a learner’s cognitive skills.

As I am reading this research, I ask myself the question, whether neuroscience has been able to see the effects of a particular food on the brain. Is it true that Omega-3 fatty acids, Vitamin B12 and folic acid have a positive effect on our brain development and functioning? I remember as a child seeing the spoon full of cod liver oil slowly approach my mouth and I could not escape from its awful taste. I am a living proof that cod liver oil does not improve intelligence...
 

Sternberg helps us understand individual differences in learning. His theory relies on various models: 1) psychometric model, which uses data analysis to discover common patterns within individual differences; 2) the learning model which relies on the level of reinforcement in learning (necessary technique for foreign language retention is reinforcement); 3) the information-processing model which explains how individual processing of information develops with age; 4) the biological model which looks at the genetics of an individual as they interact with the environment surrounding that individual. Environmental and biological effects work together in a learner’s development of individual cognitive skills. I was dumfounded by the research which has shown that some genes are associated with intelligence (more to be said about this later on) 5) the systems model takes several elements into consideration while analyzing differences in an individual learning development. Research studies mostly use the psychometric, biological and systems models.

MODIFIABILITY

“Modifiability” is key to our understanding that cognitive skills can be modified. Similarly an inherited trait may be modified given certain key environmental factors. “Gene-environment interactions, recognizing that the expression of genes is often subject to environmental and behavioral influences” (Lickliter Honeycutt, 2003)….”gene expression is not strictly preprogrammed but is regulated by signals from the internal and external environment and that development is therefore subject to bidirectional interactions between genes, neural activity and the physical and social environment of the developing child” (Gottlieb 2007).

INTELLIGENCE..from Latin..”intelligere” or “understand”.

Here are the various types of intelligence according to Gardner and Sternberg: logical, mathematical, linguistic, musical, spatial, bodily kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalist, emotional, practical and social. I know that I do not have mathematical intelligence but studies show that I can compensate for it and I can tap into another type of intelligence. This makes me feel so good about myself! I know I have practical intelligence, which keeps my family, and I organized, but it certainly did not help much in my elementary days as teachers only cared about the math test scores. I am sure my feelings are shared by millions of people. So does this mean that standardized tests are NOT created by people with practical, emotional and/or musical intelligence for instance?  I think so!

Gardener and Sternberg’s views should shed a light on the potential of our students outside the realm of conventional teaching. While Gardner’s believes that various types of intelligence are distinct from one another, Sternberg believes they work together, I prefer the latter version. Sternberg theory identifies an important triage, which states that intelligence is related to the internal and external world as well as our experiences. We learn based on how these three components affect us. According to Sternberg, while making a decision we apply analytical, practical and creative abilities not necessarily at the same time but in stages. Sternberg discusses an extremely important issue related to
testing. He believes that in some cultures practical and creative intelligence are very dominant and since conventional testing are not based on practicality and creativity, these individuals may be mistakenly considered less intelligent than others. He also adds the heredity and the environment factors to our cognitive skills. Heredity? How? He states that heredity creates genetic differences in children, which cause individual differences.

A few weeks ago, I read that birds have almost the same amount of neurons as mammals. Imagine the intelligence of migrating birds? I have to use a GPS anywhere I go. What I want to say is that we should honor every one’s intelligence and not penalize them or torture them for not following the conventional mathematical or linguistic intelligence patterns dictated by our school system.

IQ and Flynn Effect

This is a very touchy subject, indeed. Few weeks ago I decided to finally come to term with my intelligence level and I took an IQ test. I was alone and tried to concentrate really hard as if I was taking an entrance exam to medical school. For the purpose of this blog it is not necessary to share my IQ test score, isn’t it? I readily admit that after the 3^rd question I felt quite stupid! Am I supposed to really believe that if I do not score high on an IQ test I am not intelligent? In my opinion, being an intelligent individual, means to be able to adapt to the environment and its challenges in order to stay alive. The IQ test questions are structured in an analytical way. Look at the question below for instance:

Which number should come next in the series? 1 - 1 - 2 - 3 – 5  8 13
8    16     21    26     31 I wonder how by answering this question correctly I can show my IQ. Is the lack of this type of analytical skills detrimental to my well-being? Analytical skills are very important, however the way the IQ test is structured seems to be bias to other types of skills an individual may own. I have practical analytical skills hence the above question is absolutely not practical, in my view.
Sternberg concludes that: “it is so difficult to come up with what everyone would consider a culture-fair test, a test that is equally appropriate for members of all cultures and that comprises items that are equally fair to members of all cultures. If members of different cultures have different ideas of what it means to be intelligent, then the very behaviors that may be considered intelligent in one culture may be viewed as unintelligent in another”.

Sternberg writes that today most psychologists do not completely rely on IQ tests to identify gifted learners. He introduces motivation, commitment and high creativity into the picture. IQ testing nowadays does not test creative and practical skills, which leaves out a large part of the population.
 

The Flynn effect indicates that IQ scores have been going up every 30 years or so, they believe this is due to an improvement of the environment. I am not sure this is longer the case, our environment is more challenging now than it was 30 years ago, consider the abuse of technology by the vast majority, obesity, pesticides and GMOs. We may see a decline in IQ scores.

Neural constructivism

This word alone is a mouth full indeed! I can barely say it, may be it is my accent. But what is it?

Studies have shown that growing up in a stimulating environment increases the cortical weight and thickness, a part of the brain directly linked to cognitive abilities.

“…from a neuroconstructivist perspective these mechanisms are important because they indicate that experiences can alter the neural networks that are in place to support the processing of these experiences”  (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010)

From this week’s material I do want to take away two words: Embodiment and Embrainment, as they triggered my curiosity:

 “Embodiment” means that since the brain is contained in our body in a way it is constraint…isn’t this outrageous concept? Does this mean that if our brain was able to develop outside our cranium it may even be more functional? This is sci-fi! It actually means that since our bodily experience goes hand in hand with brain development, the brain is not completely free to go outside its realm of possibilities. “The embodiment view highlights the proactive exploration and manipulation of the environment are essential part of cognitive development. The child does not passively absorb information but actively generates and selects the information from which to learn” (Kleim, Vij, Ballard & Greenburgh, 1997).

“Embrainment” means that our brain regions interact with each other and depend on each other to become functionally specialized. Which in my point of view, is similar to Sternberg’s view that various types of intelligence cooperate.

The neuroconstructivism theory teaches us that development is a journey affected by genes and social environment, which interact and affect the cognitive development. For this reason the positive input of a peer, teacher, parent, and siblings in a child’s environment is instrumental to his/her cognitive development.

The teenager’s brain
 

S-C-A-R-Y! As a mother of a 13 and a 16 year old, I honestly was not sure whether I wanted to engage in this topic and get to the bottom of what goes on in a teenager’s brain, good news, bad news, hopeless news? May be the latter. I probably lost a night sleep thinking about it.

Here we go, put your seat belts on: The teenage brain goes through several changes, kind of guessed that... Sarah Blakemore in the Ted Talk: “The mysterious adolescent brain” explains in further details that the brain of a teenager isn’t developed enough to make smart decisions or stop him/her from saying rude things. Thank you for the scientific approach Sarah, I really needed it!
Shortly after I watched this TT, I emailed it to my teenage daughter and demanded that she watch it immediately. So there is a reason behind all of the drama and the crazy teenage stories? What are we supposed to do, just wait it out? Too painful. Do you mean to tell me that neuroscience cannot help accelerate the process of maturation? I seem to understand that many of us have high hopes that through education we can help the proper development of a teenager’s brain. Sarah says that:” the ability to take into account someone else’s perspective in order to guide ongoing behavior, is still developing in mid-to-late adolescence” I can now scientifically explain why I have had countless hours of discussions with my daughter, whom by the way I love dearly, about understanding each other’s point of view.  So if a stubborn teenager is caused by a biological condition my suggestion to parents and teacher is “hold on to your reins”. Sarah confirms my hope that teaching and environment can and does shape the developing adolescent brain. There is hope out there teachers and parents, do not despair.

Making sense of Piaget’s Educational Psychology

I love this quote from Piaget, 1972: “…it is impossible to deduce good pedagogy from psychology, it is better for a child to find and invent his own solutions rather than being taught. Pedagogically acceleration is possible but whether it is advantageous to development we do not know”. This is an intriguing statement.

A important aspect of Piaget’s theory in terms of language teaching and assimilation is summarized in this beautiful question: “Does the success of such linguistic communication depend on the relative quality of the presentation made by the adult or what he desire to inculcate in his child, or does it presuppose in the latter the presence of instruments of assimilation whose absence will prevent comprehension?” (Piaget 1970).

In our discussion panels this week I think the overwhelming majority agreed that while teaching we must look at Piaget’s developmental stages as a helping hand rather than an absolute.

Piaget’s theory “places a limit of the scope of teacher’s talk which is directed upon the transmission of knowledge”. This is conclusion affirms the constraints of teaching. I am going to conclude with another instrumental aspect of Piaget’s theory: “Piaget did us all a great service by pointing out that children may grow intellectually by constructing their intellectual world for themselves”. Lets’ recognize our limits!

The Neo-Piagetians: Case, Mclaughlin, Pascual-Leone, Fisher to name a few.

Pascual-Leone’s theory is instrumental in the studies of cognitive development, because it is a testable theory and it also analyzes children processing capabilities and its speed. Processing speed of information in a learner is an interesting topic for the purpose of teaching. Among a large array of neo-Piagetian theories, there seems to be an agreement that intelligence is not linked to the processing speed of a learner.

Vygotsky

As you may recall, Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive skills acquisition relies on the effects of the social-cultural environment on a learner. In our society we give importance to social and cultural items, may they be concrete or abstract. I was particularly interested in Vygotsky’s idea of what material and ideological tools represent in a learner’s mind. Material tools are derived from the social and cultural influences around the learner, and the ideological tools express a learner’s intentions and goals. An abacus is used in the Chinese culture as a concrete tool for learning, however it is not used in England for instance. An ideological tool for an Asian learner may be linked to his/her social-cultural experience which differs from an English learner.

Language..from Latin:”tongue”

Let’s not forget that our tongue is anatomically necessary to construct sounds… in Latin there is a great expression: ”Ex Nihilo Nihil Fit” (nothing comes from nothing).

According to Merriam- Webster the definition of language is:

“the words, their pronunciation, and the methods of combining them used and understood by a community b (1) :  audible, articulate, meaningful sound as produced by the action of the vocal organs (2) :  a systematic means of communicating ideas or feelings by the use of conventionalized signs, sounds, gestures, or marks having understood meanings (3) :  the suggestion by objects, actions, or conditions of associated ideas or feelings <language in their very gesture — Shakespeare> (4) :  the means by which animals communicate (5) :  a formal system of signs and symbols (as FORTRAN or a calculus in logic) including rules for the formation and transformation of admissible expressions.”

I like the gesture explanation; I guess I am under-stating the number of languages I speak, because if I include all the gestures Italians make while speaking, I may be able to add another couple of languages to my repertoire. The fact of the matter is that as an ESL teacher I’d better put all my ducks in a row before teaching.
 

We concentrated on the role of language in relation to cognitive abilities and which factors are parts of this process. We looked at the role of language as it relates to game playing in children and adults, and I was able to transfer this new knowledge I have acquired this week to my ESL classroom. I remember noticing an increase in fluency in my students while playing games, my goal was not directed on language development, rather on vocabulary or grammar, however I now understand that game playing is a positive factor in the development of fluency and proper use in its social context. “Through the talk, players open their own ideas up for feedback. As such, running conversation that is a core element of adult play simultaneously socializes play and encourages individual reflection on that play” (the Journal of the Learning Sciences, S. Nasir, 2005). I would like to add that I have observed that the “competition” factor is very dominant in ESL classrooms (maybe also due to the various nationalities), which in turn creates the motivation for winning. Competition triggers motivation, and it ameliorates one’s skills.

Language Development (L. Wagner and E. Hoff)  

 Wagner and Hoff provide a study, which indicates how language is acquired.

1.    Biological approach. Language is linked to specific parts of the brain, but we apparently do not have enough data to state that genes can affect specific linguistic abilities.

2.    Linguistic approach to language learning supports the innate capabilities of the learner. However Wagner and Hoff indicate, “the linguistic approach has dramatically underestimated the power of the rest of cognition in solving a learning problem”.

3.    Social approach is what most of us can relate to: “learning the system is a natural consequence of children’s social cognitive abilities to understand others’ intentions, their desire to communicate...” (Wagner & Hoff).

4.    Domain-general processes do not support language development according to our research paper by Wagner & Hoff.

Critical period of learning a language

As I was reading these research papers I was quite afraid of finding out the truth about the “critical period” for a language learner. If someone told me that after the age of 5 it is impossible to learn a language I could just close my books and forget about ESL all together! However, our psychologists pleasantly informed me that the “critical period” of learning a language is a myth. It is necessary to say: “languages are in fact only acquired or created when people have the opportunity for social interaction with other humans. That our innate social nature must be considered to understand the language capacity” (Language Development, Wagner &Hoff). To my great joy research confirms that learning a second language is possible at almost any age, however the process may slow down after the age of 60. I beg to differ with the latter part, I taught an 83-year-old Japanese woman last year and she was at the top of her class in grammar, vocabulary and everything else. The exception confirms the rule.

Universal grammar

Here is my weekly confession: Chomsky claims in his Universal Grammar (UG) Theory that the ability to learn grammar is hard-wired in the brain, also called mental grammar, is confusing. Maybe I am not fully versed on this topic, however I do not see how this is possible and I really did not find enough evidence in our material to support this statement. What happens is someone is not hard-wired for grammar? Can anyone help?

Desirable Difficulty

If I transfer this theory into my classroom, I can see that teaching is like juggling thousands of balls at the time. I remember having gone to class last year with what I thought was the best lesson plan in my teaching career. I had spent hours planning, preparing cards with vocabulary words, cutting them for various groups, in my view it was state-of-the-art. After the first ten minutes of class I realized that this was not my best lesson plan at all. At that time, I concluded that my audience was not prepared for my teaching, and I must have done a poor job in assessing the levels of my students. Now that I have been exposed to the research by Mark McDaniel and Gilles Einstein: “Material appropriate difficulty: A framework for determining when difficulty is desirable from improving learning”, I can better analyze the weaknesses of my lesson plan.

McDaniel and Einstein suggest that “desirability of difficulty for enhancing learning and retention will depend on three fundamental components: a) distinguish the type of processing stimulated by a particular difficulty, b) the educator must be sensitive to the type of processing afforded by the to-be-learned material, c) the overlap between the type of processing stimulated by difficulty and that encouraged by the material will determine the desirability of the difficulty”.

Therefore the material to be presented to the learner and the difficulty are related, which also means that “some difficulty may be desirable when applied to a type of material but not desirable when applied to another type of material”, and studies show that “determination of desirable difficulty for enhancing educational practice needs to include in part consideration of material appropriateness”. I found quite interesting the example of word generation versus word unscrambling in this research as it could apply to an ESL lesson plans, and how some word related exercises may either generate individual-item processing (organized by the individual) or relational processing (context based) in a learner. The characteristics of the learner are another important aspect of desirable difficulty. A learner’s characteristics will also influence which type of processing will result from the presentation of material. This study recognizes its own limits and calls for more research “Interactions are the rule rather than the exception, and the mnemonic benefits of different orienting tasks will depend on the nature of the materials, characteristics of the learner, and type of criterial task” (Jenkins).

Bilingual Students

According Woolfolk (2013) a bilingual student may be underestimated. I concur with her observations; an accent or lack of perfect English grammar in an ESL context may be seen as a downside. However, I have encountered many gifted students from China, South America, Saudi Arabia just to name a few, who brought an enormous amount of knowledge to the table. Some of their traits are described in Table 5.7, Woolfolk (2013). Here are few I can personally testify to:

·      Willing to take risks in communicating and writing in English

·      Extensive daily practice of English on their own

·      Outgoing and willing to inter-act with native speaker regardless of their English skills

·      Curious

·      Helpful with other students

·      Open to discussions and well informed of current topics.

That is all for now folks. Looking forward to next week.

Ciao,

Cecilia