The Science of Thinking and Language Acquisition
- Adam J. Stryker
- Mar 14, 2017
- 7 min read
Updated: Nov 6, 2022
My learners and I have been wrestling with the concepts of memory and thought for the past couple weeks. More specifically, I have been challenging them to think about how they learn language and what role different types of memory play in language acquisition and learning about language. Rather than reading the book "Thinking Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman, we watched this great video by physicist and science educator Derek Muller at Veritasium since it sums up the main points of Kahneman's work:
Learning About the Language and How Language Works
On one hand, we know that we learn about the language by studying word lists and tidy explanations of grammar made by textbook companies or study sheets our teachers create. We know that with a certain type of memorization using our working memory, we can set these in our memories to recall on test in a few days. However, are we able to say what we can really do in a new language? Can we say that we are bilingual or biliterate?
For example, when we enter a restaurant do we conjugate the verb comer --to eat --como, comes, come, comemos, comeis, comen? [Using short term working memory.]Will that help us get us something to eat and drink? Or can we greet people we don't know; ask if we can have a table; ask how long a wait; ask questions about the menu; order food and drink etc? [Using long term memory, procedural or "muscle memory" that we have cultivated from multiple times hearing, experiencing, reading, speaking in restaurant situations.]
After all, isn't our goal to make our lives better and the lives of our friends and family better? Are we adding value to our lives with this knowledge or skill? Are we able to get information, give information and negotiate ourselves through this world to survive and thrive?
Thinking in the Language and Spontaneous Speaking in Spanish
On the other hand, we know that to truly acquire a language and become proficient at interpreting spoken, written and visual messages we need to do something quite different. We know that to be able to start, sustain and advance a conversation in another language, we need to do something quite different. Also, we know that to have an impact on our audiences with what we present in written, visual and spoken form, we need to do something quite different. What is this "something quite different"? Why are these activities something we all must do but then other habits are more personal?
After watching the video in this post, some of my students are beginning to see the role of habits, memory and mindset in their quest to learn about language and to acquire language. We learn that to become effective language learners we have to shift our mindset and become more mindful of how we listen and engage with the speaker, author or text. It's super intense! Some say we have to concentrate 10 times more in a language class than a class taught in the language we are already used to hearing.
This is a giant revelation! We must start by juggling only two bowling pins. Then we can increase to three bowling pins, maybe even four. How can we integrate Spanish into our daily habits?
Just as the harpist describes her practice sessions of deliberate conscious practice plucking the strings from one end to the other, we have to consider the same deliberate practice to improve our Spanish:
How do you use deliberate practice to "get better" at Spanish?
If you're still learning numbers, have you accessed the "Real World Number Chart" in our resources to help you start with thousands, hundreds, tens, etc.? It is all right there. Better yet, I'll link to a screen shot of it right here.
Do you count to yourself in Spanish every time that you have to count in your head, add, subtract, multiply?
How do you add songs in Spanish to your Spotify, Pandora or any music playlist so that you can practice listening to different songs and genres?
How does deciding if you like certain musical genres help you enjoy and learn Spanish?
What responsibility do we have in finding things that we enjoy in Spanish and making sure that Mr. Stryker helps us find ways to learn those things?
What effect will it have if you make the conscious choice to practice deliberately?
How have effective language learners used this to become more proficient and acquire part of the language?
How are we moving the numbers from our working memories to our procedural or muscle memory?
In what ways do you build daily habits into your life to get better at Spanish?
Student Success Stories
Many language learners return to their previous language instructors excited to tell stories about what they had been telling them all these years was true. They talk about how as soon as they found ways to blend Spanish into their lives--talking to themselves or thinking in Spanish--the faster they learned and acquired the language! Imagine that! It's easy to dismiss how simply these habits can work. Why? Because it's easier to just say, "I can't do it" Well, that's not a choice. You have to start by just doing it. Start good language habits today.
Hundreds of former students of mine come to the realization every year that the more they read and listen to Spanish, the better they get at what sounds right or the better they get at understanding the main idea and details. They get an epiphany that trying to learn about topics that personally interest them but in Spanish instead of English is the best way to study and acquire a language.
Many experienced language learners, linguists and second language acquistion researchers agree:
Who? What? How?
It's important that we let both "Gun" and "Drew" do the work thinking as we listen, read, view and entertain ourselves in Spanish. Effective language learners know that thinking using our short term memory and pushing that into our long term memory and procedural memory is unavoidable!
To help you find your groove quickly, let's give some examples of what these effective learners have found:
Movies, movies, movies
Some students of mine find that watching some of their favorite Pixar and Disney movies in Spanish, even if only a few scenes, is highly entertaining and motivating. They learn how to go to the main menu to find the SET UP menu and they learn they can change the subtitles and/or the actual audio or "dubbing" in Spanish. Pixar spends a huge part of their budget on superior quality "dubbing" because the Spanish-speaking market is a multimillion dollar audience. Pixar goes so far as making sure their voice actors sound almost to the character in English. You bought the DVD. Get your money's worth and watch it in as many languages as there are on the disc.
Must Be the Music
Most learners love at least one genre of music that really energizes them, motivates them or helps them deal with the trials and tribulation or joys of daily life. We share this music with our friends and family and slowly start to appreciate different artists and different genres.
I dare you to not like this song by Marc Anthony. Watch the video below a couple times, get some of the lyrics stuck in your head, then try the lyricstraining.com game:
https://es.lyricstraining.com/play/marc-anthony/vivir-mi-vida-audio/HvrcQjK1Lv#ibc
My students have helped ME learn about the tons of Spanish speaking musical artists out there. Music in Spanish is huge international phenomena! You will discover like me that you like music in Spanish even more. Or at least you will appreciate that something in the original language is even better! There are many songs that Enrique Iglesias, Ricky Martin, and Chayanne are better in their original Spanish.
Many students over the years have kept me growing by teaching me about dubstep, reggaeton, bachata, salsa, merengue, rock alternativo, etc all in SPANISH! Yes! Did you know that the fastest growing musical genre in the Dominican Republic is not merengue, it's metal rock! It's fascinating.
How do you find these artists and the appropriate lyrics?
Talk with your mom and/or dad about what you are going to be researching and type in your google search the words musica en espanol, musica salsa, baladas, merengue, rock en espanol just for starters. Click on video or mp4.
Type in some of the same words in Spotify or Pandora and watch what songs are revealed. Pick some and just start listening and deciding what you like and don't like. Listen daily. Hey, even if you think the lyrics are annoying, they will get stuck in your head. One day, this same annoying line may help you learn an important language structure of useful expression.
Here is an example of song that helps you learn about the whole GUSTAR thing: ME GUSTAS TU by Manu Chao
This song is a good way to drill into your head the grammar of the verb gustar. If what you’re talking about is singular, the verb gustar is singular (for example, me gusta el mar — I like the sea). If you’re talking about something plural then gustar is plural (for example, me gustan los aviones — I like planes). So when he sings, me gustas tu, he is singing to the love of his life, not a friend or family member but the true LOVE of his life.
A few other songs that we have done in class or played on Lyricstraining.com were songs by Marc Anthony, "Vivir mi vida" where we are inspired to be ourselves and learn the future tense in Spanish at the same time. We learn that "Voy a" plus another verb in the infinitive creates a future tense. It also reminds us that when we have two verbs together that the first one gets conjugated but the second stays in dictionary format or the infinitive. Stuff that we can try to memorize but we can put it into our long term procedural memory by singing in a lyric that gets stuck in your head in a matter of days versus weeks.
Remember that we also listened to some songs like "Waka, waka" by Shakira, "Titanium" by David Guetta and "No se que voy a hacer conmigo" by Cuarteto de Nos.
Have you made it a daily habit to see if you can sing these songs from start to finish without using the written lyrics? If not, lets get you started.
Go to lyricstraining.com Pick some of the songs we have done in class or try some new ones. Do some in English. Do some in Spanish. Listen to them without trying to guess anything. Just watch the video, listen to the lyrics and how they rhyme and just be entertained. The second time is when you can try to quiz yourself. Try the different modes? The choice mode is best until you start to recognize the words more easily then choose the keyboard typing mode. Challenge yourself to see how you improve.
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