Tuesday's Tip for Language Learning: The Brain Scape
Excerpt from Think Yourself into Becoming a Language Learning Super Star
The Brain Scape
in
Language Learning
There
are some psychological phenomena that exist that are not exactly cognitive
distortions but have a similar effect on learning capacity and performance. They
might be called cognitive distractions, except that they also have a strong
emotional component.
Three
representative “cognitive distractions” include tolerance of ambiguity, ego
boundaries, and mental management. The uniqueness of this trio is that they are
continua with strong poles and weak poles. The strong poles—ability to tolerate
ambiguity, thin ego boundaries that allow you to approach the native speaker
with comfort, and mental management that puts you in charge of your own
performance.
Tolerance of Ambiguity
Do
you feel lost if you cannot understand 100% of everything going on around you
in your classroom, including every single word you hear? Do you need to know
every work in a reading text, broadcast, or movie before you can understand
what you are reading or listening to? If you answered yes to these questions, then
you have a low tolerance of ambiguity.
We
meet ambiguity in many places in life. Anywhere we find things less than
black-and-white, we meet ambiguity. Gray areas intrigue some people; they have
high tolerance of ambiguity. Gray areas trouble other people; they have low
tolerance of ambiguity. For some people, ambiguity is even perceived as an
existential threat (Budner, 1962).
Unfortunately
for language learners, languages are high in ambiguity, especially if you are
looking for direct correspondences with your own language and culture. There is
no way around it: if you want to become a good language learner, you will need
to work on developing a level of comfort in dealing with ambiguity.
Defining tolerance of ambiguity
Ambiguity
occurs when you are not sure what you have heard or read. It could mean one
thing; it could mean another; or, you cannot get enough of the thought to
understand anything at all.
It
is important to realize that language (not just foreign language), by its very
nature, is ambiguous. People are different one from another; their thoughts
differ; and the way in which people express their thoughts differ. So, there is
always room for misunderstanding—even in your native language. In a foreign
language classroom, the problem is compounded; a great amount of contradictory
information is encountered in learning a foreign language, but it must be
managed to be a successful learner (Brown, 2007).
If
you feel uncomfortable in any of the following situations, chances are you have
a low tolerance of ambiguity and will need to work to improve if you want to
succeed in your language class:
· Words have multiple
meanings; context decides, as in mumkin in Arabic which can mean perhaps,
maybe, yes, or no (welcome to the Arabic highly contextualized way
of speaking!);
· You feel lost entering a
subway system in the country of the language you are studying; it does not look
at all like the subway system at home; and/or
· You are pulled into a
game with native speakers and have no idea how to play it; it is not like
anything you have played before.
never done, never seen,
queasy stomach, shaky hands = low tolerance of ambiguity
never done, never seen,
sheer excitement = high tolerance of ambiguity
Tolerating (managing) ambiguity
Most
of the ambiguity you will probably encounter in the classroom relates to
reading texts that seem unclear or not understanding some cultural differences
you see in a film. However, if you are participating in a study abroad experience,
changes are you will meet ambiguity many times a day. The more the culture
differs from yours, the higher the amount of ambiguity. I have lived and worked
in 24 countries, and even though I had learned my way around Europe, Latin
America, and the Soviet Union, I still was not completely prepared for Asia or
the Middle East—or, for that matter, Russia once the USSR fell.
In
addition to acquiring good cognitive language learning strategies for when you
encounter ambiguity in reading or listening (see Oxford, 2017), here are some
ways to improve your tolerance of ambiguity:
· Accept ambiguity as part
of communication in any language, realizing that expecting to understand
everything in another language is unrealistic (even in your own language, you
do not always understand everything);
· Look for what you can
understand and ignore what you cannot;
· Use means other than
language to figure out what you do not understand: context, body language—and,
when you cannot express yourself with adequate language, point, gesture, body
language, and other non-linguistic cues; and/or
·
Let your brain, which is an extraordinary organ, do the work of
unconsciously putting meaning to the stream of words coming at you; though you
may not be fully aware of it, your brain is processing incoming information,
categorizing it, and organizing it.
acceptance of
ambiguity = control over ambiguity
Don’t panic in ambiguous environments, find and focus on the
familiar while accepting the unfamiliar!
Ego
Boundaries
Ego boundaries, also called
boundaries of the mind (Hartmann, 1991), refer to someone’s willingness to let
someone into his or her inner circle and reflect the ego’s function of
distinguishing between self and non-self (i.e. someone else). When that someone
else comes from another culture, the ego boundaries of a language learner (or
anyone) between self and the “other” can be either thick or think. Thick
boundaries make it difficult for an individual to assimilate into another
culture. Thin (permeable) boundaries make assimilation much easier. These
differences are also called strong and weak ego boundaries.
Defining ego boundaries
Every learner has a barrier between
“self” and “other.” This is normal; this is healthy. When the boundaries are
very thick, however, they do not allow the learner to build a relationship with
a native speaker from the culture of the language being studied. The barrier
between them is too thick, too strong. Thin boundaries are generally viewed as
more favorable for developing the kinds of foreign relationships needed for the
development of good intercultural relationships.
Here are some examples of ego
boundaries:
·
You do not like the taste of nearly any food in
the foreign country or in your home country made by ex-pats of the country
whose language you are speaking;
·
You do not like being touched by a native
speaker, even casually, and you certainly could not walk arm-in-arm with
someone from your gender though that is the custom in the country you are
studying; and/or
·
If you are in a study abroad program, you look
forward the diurnal ending of the daily required activities that require mixing
in with native speakers.
ego
boundary = barrier between self and other
Managing thick ego boundaries
Managing or overcoming ego
boundaries, or, using another image, thinning your boundary, can be
accomplished by anyone. Those with thin boundaries need no further thinning but
to just leave the minimal barriers in place for safety. Too-thin boundaries
blur the distinction between self and “other,” which is not good. Most
activities associated with managing ego boundaries require interacting some way
with the target population or culture.
Here are some ways to develop
thinner boundaries:
·
Spend a lot of time in-country and become
actively involved with native speakers there; since familiarity breeds
discontent, over time, you will find yourself comfortable with your foreign
counterparts; and/or
·
Develop a personal friendship with someone from
the culture you are studying; it will improve your language skills and thin
your ego boundaries.
familiarity
= comfort level
Tear down ego walls between you and
your foreign counterpart for more natural language learning success!
Mental
Management
What is a goal
without a plan? A dream?
Mental
management techniques work at turning dreams into reality by requiring the
setting of goals and establishing a clear and comprehensive (and do-able) plan.
In his book, With Winning in Mind (2011, The Mentashowinl Management
System), Lanny Bassham discusses the importance of setting goals and tracking
progress. The right—and positive—mental attitude can definitely assist a person
in accomplishing his or her goals.
Defining
mental management
Mental
management is the process of being able to improve your progress or show your prowess
while under stress. Have you ever been under stress in a language course? Of
course, you have!
If any of these
following circumstances apply, you could benefit from training in mental
management:
·
You draw a blank on a test even though you know
the material well;
·
You have trouble sleeping the night before a big
exam;
·
You are so nervous during class that you cannot
learn new things because you are afraid that the teacher is going to call on
you at any minute;
·
You have much trouble remembering the content of
your assignments because you are spending time worrying about what the results
of your work on your assignments will be; and/or
·
You feel nauseous during class because you are
having trouble keeping up with your classmates.
stress
during performance = need for mental management
Developing
good mental management
If any of the
conditions above describe you, time to develop some good mental management.
Good mental management will get you though many difficult activities and help
you improve your language performance.
Here are some
ways to develop good mental management:
·
Control your conscious thought: don’t be
distracted, focus on your goal, visualize you using your language well at an
important event (this has the additional value of improving your self-image)—if
you can visualize it, you can become it;
·
Plan how you will achieve each step of your goal
and visualize those steps; and/or
·
Monitor your level of stress, keeping in mind
that moderate amounts of stress release adrenaline which an actually improve
performance by focusing your attention and giving you better endurance.
planning
+ monitoring + visualization = control
Take charge of
your thoughts!
See more posts about/from this book.
See more posts about language learning.
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