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To
Learn English
Remember Just Before You Forget!
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How To Teach English (with DVD) Paperback |
To learn English, why should you remember just before you forget it?
Because remembering it too early doesn’t help, and trying to remember it too late means you have already forgotten it. At least, this is what the late Dr. Paul Pimsleur discovered in his research.
Dr. Pimsleur was a Fulbright lecturer at the University of Heidelberg and a founding member of the ACTFL - America Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. He became one of the world's leading experts on language teaching before his untimely death at the age of 48 in 1976.
His language teaching courses have since become very popular. They include what he called Graduated Interval Recall, in other words, remembering what you are learning by having it repeated just at the point before you forget.
Pimsleur’s recommended recall rate went as follows:
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While there may be some latitude in that schedule, it gives some idea as to the kind of repetition required for information to go into long-term memory if you want to learn English.
A teacher then, should skillfully weave repetition into the language syllabus, using a variety of methods to teach the same keywords at various intervals.
Use Anticipation
Closely associated with remembering before you forget is another key component
of the Pimsleur method – Anticipation. 
Anticipation involves getting the student to recall information previously learned and then having it confirmed by the teacher. The student therefore is encouraged to ‘anticipate’ a correct answer.
How is a student encouraged to recall previously learned information? Simply through questions.
This may seem obvious but there is a crucial brain function involved here. Questions are the digging tools of the mind. The brain is greatly affected by a question.
"Of all the things we could be noticing at any given time, there is only a small number we can consciously focus on. By asking a question, either of yourself or of someone else, you can instantly change focus." (Robbins, 1994, p.133)
Questions can be compared to the interrupts function on a computer. A computer can be processing a number of commands at any given time, but when another job is given it, through a keystroke for example, the processor is interrupted, the new command is evaluated, and then put in a predefined order of priority.
Likewise, a person can be busy involved in working on a particular task, but as soon as a question is raised, it’s almost as if thinking processes come to a shuddering halt until the question is addressed.
If you are concentrating on something, and a family member asks: "Where did I put my keys?" you are almost compelled to stop what you’re doing and give an answer, even if it is: "I don’t know!" Such is the power of a question on the brain!
The Power Of Questions
Questions, questions, questions! They are the barbs that
hook a learner’s attention. So by asking the student a question related
to previously taught vocabulary, the brain is activated to dig through
the memory bank, retrieve the appropriate information, and then present
it audibly.
The teacher then simply reinforces the answer by repeating what the student just said, thus confirming the student’s answer and completing Pimsleur’s Anticipation stage.
Every language teacher would do well to study Dr. Pimsleur’s methods and endeavor to incorporate the core ideas in the syllabus they use.
By combining the Anticipation method using questions with Graduated Interval Recall, repetition carefully staged at set time intervals, the student will enjoy a much higher retention level in their desire to learn English. Such is the power of remembering just before you forget.
References:
Anthony Robbins (1994). Giant Steps. Simon & Schuster Inc. New York
10020. p.133