The role of the memory in languages acquisition
Today, there is still difficulty in effective language learning. The problem is not related to the student’s ability to acquire, interest, or discipline, but rather the way they were taught to learn, from their early childhood. If you can speak your mother tongue, you can learn any other language in the world. Discovering the type of learning will make the process of mastering other languages simple.
One of the important factors between memory and language learning is the way they are connected to important learning processes, such as audio skills, comprehension, and attention. In general terms, memory processing tends to involve information storage and retrieval. This means that it is necessary to first consider the best way to present new information to the brain so that it can maximize learning. These considerations must be planned in the classroom, adapting memorization techniques to the methodology, and creating study habits outside the classroom.
For effective foreign language learning, the use of memorization techniques is essential. Learning vocabulary is often a matter of associating a set of syllables with a word in your mother tongue. Traditionally, people associate these words by repetition — pronouncing the word in their language and translating it into the language studied. An effective technique is to identify key points, make clear associations, and establish keywords. Dr. Michael Gruneberg, a language specialist, presents several vocabulary acquisition techniques in his studies. One of them involves the use of images linked to the word in their language with the respective translation into a foreign language. The secret is to spend at least 10 seconds watching each image. That way they will lodge in your memory. He says that using this technique allows students to understand the language three times faster than other students. A study with learners of a new language revealed that after 12 hours using this technique, students reached a standard that would normally take a 40-hour practice to memorize the new vocabulary. According to Gruneberg, the skills of seeing, hearing, repeating, and writing help to provide a child, for example, with a concrete basis necessary to make clear associations and connections between facts, old and new. This can be accomplished through games with objects or images. The use of active learning strategies can lead to the development of necessary thinking and memory planning processes.
Another smart study technique is the creation of mind maps. The technique developed and initiated by Tony Buzan. The idea is that mind maps mirror the way our brain naturally thinks — with colors, images, and associations — which makes words easier to learn than in a linear way. Each of us has a preference for what we receive, we process and transmit information. There are different strategies for determining your type of learning, from the left or right brain. Our ability to learn new words is directly related to the frequency with which we are exposed to sounds. Just listening to another language helps build new neural pathways in the brain, which is necessary to learn the new language, says Dr. Paul Sulzberger, from the University of Victoria, New Zealand. Babies do this, children who move countries do this, but adults tend to avoid it. In 2010, the University of Cambridge Medical Sciences and Research Council found that the brain learns a new word in less than 15 minutes. The brain forms a new network of neurons specifically tasked with remembering that word, automatically making connections to use it correctly in the future.
Following this thought, Tony Buzan created a challenge to learn the Spanish language in 40 hours. He then discovered that the intermediate level person in a language speaks at least 1,000 to 2,000 different words, but there will be at least 100 words that will be repeated regularly. So by learning these keywords — which include words like ‘’ me ‘’, ‘’ you ‘’, ‘’ thank you ‘’, ‘’ why ‘’, ‘’ who ‘’ — you’re already taking a big step.
