IATEFL (international Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language) Conference at Liverpool 2013: Summary of the powerpoint presentation on ‘Mental Imagery in Language Learning’ by Rosemary Westwell

IATEFL (international Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language) Conference at Liverpool 2013: Summary of the powerpoint presentation on ‘Mental Imagery in Language Learning’ by Rosemary Westwell

What do we mean by ‘mental imagery’?

‘Imagery experiences are often understood as echoes, copies or reconstructions of perceptual experiences of the past or possible, desired or feared future experiences’ (Nigel Thomas 2011)

In other words, mental imagery means the pictures you form in your mind, pictures that are based on your previous life experience that may also help to shape imagery of the future.

Consider the following:

In various tests it has been shown that:

When reading, mental imagery has powerful effects on: comprehension, appreciation and memory.
(http://www.readingonline.org/research/Sadoski.html accessed March 2012 )

Consider also that:

Known techniques for remembering names often involve  visualisation.

e.g. Imagining going on a journey or imagining we are standing in a room with the words we are trying to remember associated with each item in turn.

Imagining success can improve an athlete’s performance by 50% (Metro 20/02/2013 p.27)

Our unconscious mind perceives far more than our conscious one. In the BBC programme of Horizon: ‘Out of Control’ on the 13^th March 2012, a subject was trying to spot buildings that may have contained weapons in hundreds of photos of the mountains in Afghanistan. His brain waves were tracked as he saw the hundreds of photos rapidly in succession. His brain wave pattern showed ‘aha’ moments when possible buildings had been spotted. His conscious mind saw nothing.
(Prof. Scheider, BBC Horizon programme: ‘Out of Control’ 13^th March 2012)

In the same ‘Horizon’ programme, when scientists were asked how much of our thinking is conscious and how much is unconscious – the vast majority believed it to be unconscious mind that is mostly in control.

How is this relevant to language learning?

We should relax and allow our unconscious minds ‘control’. We may not know how or why mental imagery helps language acquisition, but certain methods have been shown to be successful.
e.g. The Linkword Method  (Michael Gruneberg 1987)

Try the Linkword Method in its adapted form for yourself:

Try to learn words that are new to you e.g.

‘apozem’ (meaning medicine dissolved in water)

What does it sound like? Possibly the phrase ‘oppose ‘em’. Imagine interacting figures representing ‘oppose ‘em’ and medicine dissolved in water. For me, this consisted of parents trying to persuade a reluctant child to take medicine dissolved in water i.e. the child was ‘opposing ‘em’ when they were doing this.

Hold the image in your mind for 10 seconds while you look at the word: apozem

What was the word? What did it mean? (Hopefully, you remember.)

How can we apply this knowledge to our own students and their language learning problems?

Three case studies were offered:

The first, a girl of 9 years old, who had English as a first language, had a poor short-term memory and could not spell.

How would you help this student?

A suggested solution:

Give the student a list of words that are spelt similarly e.g. words containing ‘au’ such as
taut
audience
auditorium

Show her a number of pictures e.g. one of a bathroom, another of a waiter serving someone in a restaurant and the third a picture of a sumptuous meal. (Any pictures can be used.)

Then ask the student to relate the words to the pictures in turn by connecting them to sentences that contain the words.  

e.g. The toilet paper in the bathroom is taut.

The waiter was being observed by a hungry audience.

We had a lovely meal before watching the play in the auditorium.

This made the student not only look closely at the word and its meaning, but delayed recall. Thus her spelling and her short term memory was being improved.

Then the student was given the pictures as prompts for her to write down the new words learnt.

 The second case study was a 7 year-old Chinese boy, who was at the elementary level and who was not particularly interested in learning English at all.

How would you help this student?

A suggested solution:

Pretend that the student is only an observer of your own enjoyment of language e.g. You read the first verse of a poem that might appeal to the student such as “When Daddy Fell into the Pond’ by Alfred Noyes.

‘Everyone grumbled. The sky was grey.
We had nothing to do and nothing to say.
We were nearing the end of a dismal day.
THEN
Daddy fell into the pond!’

 

Ask him to draw a picture to represent each line. (Something he may be more willing to do that read for himself.) Then, using the pictures as prompts ask him to see how much of the verse he can remember.

The third case study was an adult who worked in an office, who had English as a first language and who was keen to learn but had problems with spelling, lack of focus, and poor comprehension.

How would you help this student?

A suggested solution:

First improve her spelling with the same method used in Case study 1.

Then compose an advertisement for her to respond to in the way her clients should.

e.g.’ Advertisement: Busy office requires  temporary administrative staff  Summer 2013 …’

Ask her what the employer really wanted e.g. someone who can work on their own (evidence = ‘busy’). I gave as an example a letter I wrote asking for a temporary teaching position. I said that I had my own resources and would not need the photocopier – not mentioned in the advertisement, but, reading between the lines, would be what the employer really wanted. (I got the job.)

So I hope you will agree that mental imagery can facilitate language acquisition in many different ways and as experienced teachers we should have the courage to explore new ways of helping our students learn even if these are devised intuitively.  

If you would like more information you may wish to look at:

My PhD thesis
“The development of language acquisition in a mature learner” http://erints.ioe.ac.uk/48/
Books:
‘The Spelling Game’ word lists and pictures for using the method described for improving spelling, working memory and vocabulary

‘Teaching Language Learners’ a book of ideas for new and experienced teachers of English as a Foreign Language
‘ Twenty Tips for Teaching IGCSE ESOL’ Twenty tips for teaching the International General Certificate of Secondary Education English as a Second Language.

On a personal level: ‘John, Dementia and Me’ a semi-autobiographical novel based on early-onset dementia

Thank you!

Rosemary Westwell
rjwestwell@hotmail.com

 

 

 

Review of my book ‘Out of a Learner’s Mouth’

two learners of Spanish have very kindly sent me a review of my book called ‘Out of a Learner’s Mouth’ (still available from me, the author). I enclose it here. I would be very interested in any other commets/reviews…

 

‘What we find entertaining about this book is the amusing way Rosemary gives us an insight into her sometimes chaotic life while we find out how she is learning Spanish. A little to our surprise we also discovered that it was an effective motivator for us to spend more time at our own attempts to learn the language.

We were also reassured that it seems OK to use a variety of sources to try and learn another language.

It has encouraged us to continue with our struggle to communicate with our Costa Rican inlaws.

A real plus for us was that it was amusing and easy reading.’

Bill and Alison Perry

If you are learning Spanish, there is one person you should follow.

If you are learning Spanish, there is one person you should follow and this is Jane Cronin. She is situated near Torrevieja in Spain, but in this ever-shrinking world, there is plenty available for you from her on the internet no matter where you are situated.

I have not been asked to write this by her, I am writing this as an ‘experienced’ learner of Spanish and as a result of reading her contribution to the Costa Blanca News recently. This newspaper, based in Spain, but written in English, contains her words of advice on how to learn a little more Spanish.

I am a teacher of English as a Foreign Language and I have completed a PhD thesis on how we acquire language. The basis of the thesis was my observations of what happened while I was learning Spanish from scratch as a mature learner, so I believe I speak with some authority.

Jane has exactly the right approach. She writes in a relaxed, chatty style that engages and entertains you, yet it has enough content to introduce you to or remind you of plenty of Spanish. As a teacher, I always have difficulty in avoiding patronizing my learners as I inform them of certain vocabulary or points of grammar. Jane has absolutely no problem with this – the attitude she presents is one of genuine sincerity and interest.

Thank you, Jane, I look forward to your next contribution!

Writing for your audience is not easy but it matters much more than I expected.

Writing for your audience is not easy but it matters much more than I expected.

A number of years ago, I wanted to branch out into reviewing films. I went to a number of films in London and wrote my ‘usual’ style of review, sending them to a contact in the USA who had agreed to publish.

One tiny hint from this editor made all the difference to me. He tactfully suggested that I should include some description of what the film was about so that the audience was more informed – words of praise and critical comment were not enough. I was writing for a particular audience and this audience wanted to know about the content of the films before they made a point of seeing them.  I attempted to change my reviews accordingly and have tried this new approach ever since.

This astute editor, Andre Soares, of the Alternative Film Guide has again come to the rescue. I have been blogging about my recent book ‘John, Dementia and Me’ and was surprised when he contacted me again and offered to include a free advert in his publication. I immediately became suspicious and demanded to know if I would be expected to pay up immediately after the ad had been published. He assured me there was no catch and, indeed, the advertisement has been published and there have been no demands made. I hasten to add, this adulation of Andre is solely my own idea! Against the advice of a web designer I have been in contact with recently, I quite happily advised readers of my blog that if they are interested in films, they should look at Andre’s offering – and I willing do the same here.

Not only have I learnt the salutary lesson that one should always have the audience in mind, but I have learnt that not all offers of help come with some kind of trap. Sometimes the offer of a helping hand is just that.

I was to discover this myself recently, when I offered a word of advice about how a certain educational resource could be more effective if it was altered in a certain way. I did not expect any form of reply; I was just interested in the subject.  I was pleasantly surprised when offered the job of reviewing a resource professionally.

So, before you succumb to joining the set of jaded writers who believe there is no future in the business and that you should never offer to write or contribute anything gratis, it never hurts to receive or offer a helping hand or word of advice solely for the purpose of adding to the list of editors and writers out there who are genuinely interested in the subject of writing and in the future of the business.

Seeking fame and fortune with thousands of ‘friends’ you have never known is not always the most productive way of improving your writing or your standing in the business.

What is a poem?

 

Yes, it’s

‘a piece of writing arranged in patterns of lines and of sounds which often rhyme, expressing thoughts, emotions and experiences in words that excite your imagination.’  Longman (1995) ‘Dictionary of Contemporary English’

 

Then we have particular types like ‘free verse’, and ‘blank verse’.

 

Free verse is ‘poetry that does not have a fixed structure’ (Longman (1995) ‘Dictionary of Contemporary English’

 

and blank verse is ‘poetry that has a fixed rhythm but does not rhyme: Shakespeare’s blank verse’   Longman (1995) ‘Dictionary of Contemporary English’

 

When a dear friend passed away, I felt moved to write a ‘poem’.  I believe it is a poem in the true sense of the word.

 

The poem is as follows:

‘Soili

One click of a camera’s eye captures her:

the girl from the land of sweet-scented silver birch.

Dappled leaves fluttering in pale wide skies,

a flat land; a wooded land that lies

between lake upon lake.

A solitary green snake

slips into cool pools of darkness.

Stark contrasts: boiling saunas, icy pools, stark naked!

Rustic everyday things: wooden platters, garden peppermint tea

Summers of lazy games: croquet, tennis, mah jong, moments free

to lie beside her pond of great crested newts to doze and dream,

soulful themes drift from her piano keys

while she, creates her own percussion,

clattering pots and pans, getting the tea.

A hammock fixed between the heavy limbs of an ancient tree.

A bright yellow sports car streaks

through the village streets;

the soft air of her cosy cabin

filled for a moment with the babble

of voices among

friends who speak the smooth rhythms of her native tongue.

This is the language of Soili.’

 

The patterns of lines and of sounds in my case express single ideas and/or thoughts that often rhyme within the line or from one line to the next. The patterns are not strict – they are dictated by the sounds, the idea and even the different rhythms of the chosen words, phrases and or ideas.

I asked a fellow poet to comment on my poem and he said he did not like the way it moved from inside to outside and back again. He wanted more consistency. I agreed, but then – I was trying to reflect what one thinks when one is at a funeral wake, remembering an individual and maybe one’s thoughts do wander, which is what I was trying to represent i.e. random memories.

Then, he said he did not like the idea of free verse and rhyming combined. I should do one or the other. I asked another friend about this and she said she thought that Shakespeare combined both free verse and rhyming.

 

So I looked up his sonnets.

 

In sonnet 1V I read:

 

‘Unthrifty loveliness, why dost thou spend

Upon thyself they beauty’s legacy?

Nature’s bequest gives nothing, but doth lend

And, being frank, she lends to those are free.’ Spring Books ‘The Complete Works of William Shakespeare’

 

This does seem to be ‘free’ verse in one sense. It’s very hard to say to lines to a strict rhythm – and yet it rhymes as well.   What do you think?

 

 

 

What’s the secret to writing a page-turner – a book that you cannot put down?

What’s the secret to writing a page-turner – a book that you cannot put down?

This is the question that I think we would all like answered.

I have noticed that some books read really smoothly and quickly. You are swept along and cannot put the book down until you reach the final page. Other books are more leisurely but are very enjoyable in their own charming way, while some are difficult to get into, seem to block the natural flow and yet are deemed successful by ‘those who know’.

Having been made aware that much of my writing is ‘lumpy’ (a lovely description which makes me know exactly what it means) I plan to look at three different books that represent the three different types I have just mentioned to see what secrets they hold.

The first, the page turner: This book raced along. It almost seemed too simplified. Did it miss subtleties that make good literature that we can appreciate? This was by … no, I will not say the names of the authors for then you, like me, may already assume that they are brilliant – too good to criticise. This first author writes in short snatches of sentences, sentences that none-the-less create images that stay with you and speed you along with the action.

A sample of 76 words: (Sample ‘A’):

“A beer?”

“It’s customary to say a kind. Like … or something.”

“Oh, what have you got?”

The bartender started ripping off about a million titles. M stopped him on the Flying Fish Pale Ale, mostly because he liked the name. The beer ended up being awesome, but M wasn’t much of a connoisseur. He grabbed a wooden booth near a group of lovely young, uh, girls-cum-women. It was indeed hard to tell ages any more.” …

Comment: I find this really easy to read. My eyes sweep across the lines while I ‘get the picture’ immediately. I notice the sentences are nearly all short. They nearly always involve someone doing or saying something. The atmosphere and characters are created, I have decided, largely by the choice of vocabulary. The first person to speak is a man of few words, a man of action. The second has more time – slightly opinionated – why does he say “It’s customary to say” and not “People usually say”?, for example.

Now for Sample ‘B’:

“The wide reception squelched with the footsteps of my flat driving shoes as I walked over the polished stone slabs. To the right and opposite of the dark wood desk was a dark wood staircase with ornate banisters that swept up to the first floor. Coming down the stairs were two people. A couple.

They weren’t holding hands but had the air of being ‘together’. It was most likely their first holiday together. They’d probably spent the morning …”

Comment: This seems to be a more leisurely style. As the reader I have more time to savour the moment. Again the atmosphere and characters are created by choice of vocabulary – using the word ‘squelched’ rather than ‘made a noise’. The use of the preposition ‘of’ after ‘opposite’ made me stop for a moment – I was expecting something different – I was expecting opposite ‘to’. This sample is interesting and ‘easy’ to read because the sentence lengths are varied. There are even two words that are grouped as if making a sentence yet there is no verb to make it grammatically correct. However, I do not mind – it gets the point across. We are told not to repeat the same words close together but here the repetition of ‘dark wood’ emphasize the atmosphere, they do not detract from it.

Of the two styles, even though the first seems to fit the criteria of today’s successful writer, I prefer to have an opportunity or two to savour what is happening as in sample ‘B’.

sample ‘C’:

“She looked around the foyer. This being where N lived, and therefore some of the most expensive real estate around, the communal areas were furnished as if they were private, too; fresh flowers, sofas, a coffee table with magazines, thick carpet, artworks, no expense spared. It left her with a feeling that she was going to trespass into someone else’s apartment on her way to N’s. In the corner was a Victorian style desk with everyone’s  …”

This script I found less easy to follow. Why? I enjoyed the story and some of the most meaningful moments between the characters. Perhaps I find it more difficult because it seems to me that even though the sentences here are varied they do not seem to follow on from each other.

The first sentence lets me know who immediately and where she is. Good. However, then there is an awkward passage: “This being where N lived, and therefore some of the most expensive real estate around, the communal areas were furnished as if they were private, too; fresh flowers, sofas, a coffee table with magazines, thick carpet, artworks, no expense spared.”

Why say ‘This being where N lived’ and not “ N lived here” or “It was obvious that N lived here.” Or why not describe her looking directly at the objects mentioned later so that we are still with her and seeing the scene through her eyes?

The phrase “and therefore some of the most expensive real estate around” worried me. Why? I think it is because I became fixated with the word ‘some’. It was probably one property so why did the author not say ‘a most expensive piece of real estate’ – instead of ‘some of the most expensive  …’? Then I got hung up on the ‘too’ in ‘the communal areas were furnished as if they were private, too;’ I think the punctuation confused me here – I’d have preferred the words to flow on without the comma before ‘too’.  Finally the list of things in the foyer did not seem to help me absorb the atmosphere as well as the description in ‘B’ – why not? I think it is because there were so many different ones – too many to envisage or to appreciate fully. Maybe I would have preferred just one or two items mentioned and described a bit more. What colour were the flowers – what kind? Then the phrase ‘no expense spared’ worried me. it I expected would help me get involved with the scene but it did not seem to follow on directly from all the objects – yes the thick carpets, but everyone has coffee tables with magazines – they do not epitomize ‘expense’.

Perhaps I am being too picky but as one of the most ‘lumpy’ writers around, I hope I can take this to heart and look again at some of my own writing and improve it.

 

 

A suggested lesson for adults learning vocabulary in an EFL (English as a Foreign Language) lesson

‘Lesson’

Resource

Level 2: Pre-Intermediate >> Vocabulary Worksheets >>

http://www.esl-lounge.com/level2/lev2seasons.shtml

Comments on using lesson material for teaching adults vocabulary relating to the seasons as provided by the website above.

In the lesson material above, students are asked to place a list of words under seasonal headings.

This would be an excellent revision exercise after an extended lesson on the vocabulary.

Vocabulary is stored in our memories according to the particular sound and meaning of the words. That is why we often make mistakes by recalling words that sound very similar to those we are trying to retrieve from our memory. It is also easier to recall words that belong to the same topic area, such as ‘pins’ and ‘needles’. In addition, words that we are familiar with can be recalled more effectively than those we have never come across before. This knowledge can be used in a lesson by concentrating on the words in a series of concentrated stages so that the vocabulary is fully acquired and most likely be recalled quickly and effective becoming part of the student(s) fully acquired ‘automatically retrieved’ language.  

Stage 1 of a 60-minute lesson:

Ask the student(s) to name the four seasons. Once these have been named and written down for the students to see, the students add words associated with the seasons that they already know and these are written down under the respective headings. (Note, many adults need to see the written word to be able to acquire new vocabulary.)

This may appear to slow the learning process down. It would be much ‘quicker’ for students to simply list the words they know under the respective headings and then ask their friends, look up on the Internet or a dictionary to find out the meanings of unknown words and add them accordingly. However, if the aim of the lesson is for the students to acquire the new words for long-term usage, much more than mere listing is required.

Stage 2:

Depending on the ability/personality/academic capability of the adult, if they are already aware of teaching methods, the student(s) should be reminded of the way in which we store and recall words.

The students are offered the remaining words from the list. Then students try to relate as much vocabulary as possible to words from their first language. For example, if the student is Spanish, the word ‘la flor’ may sound similar to ‘flower’. (Note, with adults, making associations with new vocabulary is particularly important and/or effective).

Stage 3:

In this stage words that are completely new to the students and/or that do not sound similar to words in their own language are taught. Different methods for vocabulary memorization may be offered or one chosen according to the nature of the student(s). One of the most effective ways of memorizing vocabulary is using a method similar to the ‘Linkword’ method in which mental images are created that link the sound and meaning of the new words so that they will become memorable. For example, If a Spanish student were trying to remember ‘flower’ they could picture a person dressed as a flower speaking and hesitating within the speech by saying ‘ –er’ (Hence, a Spanish student may think of the following: ‘flor-er’ = flower).

Stage 4:

When the entire list has been ‘learnt’ students are then encouraged to explore these words further so that they continue to stimulate their previously acquired language and thus embed the new word(s) so that it/they can be quickly – even ‘automatically’ —  retrieved and used. Students try to name additional associated words or forms. For example, ‘sun’ could be extended to ‘sun cream’, ‘sunbathe’, ‘sunhat’, ‘sun bed’, ‘sunning oneself’ and/or ‘suntan’. In this way they reinforce the initial word while becoming familiar with a wider vocabulary than the lesson requires. This will aid full acquisition of newer words later.

Stage 5:

In this stage the student(s) practise recalling the words to use them in different situations or contexts. For example, students may be asked to interview a weather reporter. While concentrating on shaping the interview and also including as many of the new words as possible, they will be engaging their cognitive powers effectively. Any misunderstanding of the meaning of some of the words will come to light as they try to use them in different contexts, for example, the student(s) my need to have explained the difference between ‘sunshine’ in ‘I love sitting in the sunshine’ and ‘Just do it, will you ‘sunshine’! (Even though this is a ‘pre-intermediate’ level sometimes humour using a different tone of voice is readily understood in the early stages of learning, although the full meaning may not be wholly understood.)

Stage 6:

At the end of the lesson students are given a positive experience in the usage of the newly acquired vocabulary. The exercise such as the one initially provided above (in which students list the words associated with the different seasons) or a quick team quiz which the teacher knows should be easy for the students will achieve further, positive reinforcement of the new words.

Ideally, these new words would be visited a day or two later, then a week later continuing i.e. the words should be recalled after increasing lengths of time.

The inclusion and/or the length of the different stages of the lesson will depend on the nature of the student(s). Some may be able to acquire new words quickly without a great deal of help so these stages may not need to be extensive. However, there will be those student(s) who find language learning particularly difficult and the stages listed above would be the best way for him/her/them to acquire new vocabulary effectively.

Mini Book review: ‘The Ghost’ by Robert Harris published by Arrow Books 2007

The ‘ghost writer’ weaves a fascinating tale of him at work, ‘ghosting’ the memoirs of a charismatic but enigmatic ex prime minister. He is taking over from another ghost writer, Mike McAra, who had been found dead – one of the many strands of mystery that keeps you hooked as you enjoy this fine author’s friendly and relaxed style of writing. I thoroughly recommend this book for a great read – one that is hard to put down once you start involving yourself in this web of intrigue.

Book Review ‘Alone in Berlin’ by Hans Fallada published by Penguin

When I first began reading this novel, I wanted to discard it. Life is too full of unpleasantness already, did I want to spend my leisure time reading about a degenerative society? Not really. But then I realized that this is one of those books that you should really read, because it is based on facts and on the history of a time that should always be remembered as a warning that unless we are careful, it could easily happen again.

The characters are believable people with their own idiosyncrasies, problems and relationships. The time is in the time of Hitler and society in Berlin had become one driven by fear and the rise of bullying, torture and cruelty as a way of life. Within this world of suffering, an ordinary couple decides to make a stand in their own simple way by writing postcards of defiance and distributing them secretly within the city. It is inevitable that they will be caught and executed because of this and they know it.

Events unfold in a credible way and in short enlightening chapters we are introduced to the mindset of these people as they battle with a world that is becoming more and more alien. No one is safe from the clutches of the Gestapo.

While I can’t say I ‘enjoyed’ the book, it certainly made an impression on me and contained salutary lessons for us all. Whatever is said in the future, there is no doubt that Hitler and his regime of bully boys existed and their willingness to condone if not participate in the murder of often innocent people culminating in a policy of extermination of the Jews, will haunt us well into the future and remind us that we must guard against anything like this happening again. We should all take care and hope that we too can stand against such tyranny with the same defiant courage the people in this book displayed.

Rosemary Westwell  

Book review: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

This book was recommended to me by a ‘lad about town’, so I was expecting one of those can’t-put-it-down action packed thrillers.

This was not the case. There was far more realistic depth to this than a mere action thriller. Mikael Blomkvist was an ‘ordinary’ journalist earning his crust and the book opens with what appears to be  a monumental failure when he loses a battle in court. He had published remarks about renowned business tycoon Wennerström – remarks that he could not substantiate because he refused to reveal his source and so had to pay damages and spend time in jail.

From the seeds of this failure we are led through a labyrinth of characters and events that take us into the worlds of publishing, big business and emotionally fragmented families and individuals. The girl with the dragon tattoo is not the oriental glamour puss one imagines but rather a feisty young girl who has dragged herself up from a deprived background and used her natural talents to become a master of the computing world and a highly skilled investigator, sometimes using unorthodox methods that always achieved her aims.

The gentle flow of prose, the gradual believable development of Mikael’s relationships with the characters and the taste of life in Sweden made the text very approachable and the book very readable.

There were times when the blood and gore shocked, but nevertheless the overall theme, the mystery and intrigue and the moments of climax were beautifully handled as you reach the end of the novel you are very much aware that this had been a very carefully sculptured piece.

This is definitely well worth reading.

Rosemary Westwell