How to train the ageing brain (14+ years for second language learners)
This NY Times article is very illuminating and again, with other research I have highlighted on this site, points to there being an awakening of interest in the real reasons people actually learn stuff.
Anyone over 14 years of age who is trying to learn a second language could reasonably have their brain classified as 'ageing', I think most experts would agree.
In line with the previously mentioned research by Travis and Proulx on meaning threats and that by Kuhl and Rivera-Gaxiola on the neural substrates of language acquisition the information in this article points to there being an essential need to snap adult learners out of their cosy pre-conceptions about how they are going to be most successful at learning something new (language in our specific case).
Here is the article from the NY Times and below it the really crucial bit that, someone, in their wisdom, edited from the UK supplement I read last night:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/03/education/edlife/03adult-t.html
'Jack Mezirow, a professor emeritus at Columbia Teachers College, has proposed that adults learn best if presented with what he calls a “disorienting dilemma,” or something that “helps you critically reflect on the assumptions you’ve acquired.”
Dr. Mezirow developed this concept 30 years ago after he studied women who had gone back to school. The women took this bold step only after having many conversations that helped them “challenge their own ingrained perceptions of that time when women could not do what men could do.”
Such new discovery, Dr. Mezirow says, is the “essential thing in adult learning.”
“As adults we have all those brain pathways built up, and we need to look at our insights critically,” he says. “This is the best way for adults to learn. And if we do it, we can remain sharp.”'
Food for thought.
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