MSI Press Blog

  From  Think Yourself into Becoming a Language Learning Super Star WORK YOUR MEMORY  Just having a memory is not enough for good langauge learning. One just use it. Here are some ways in which you can use your memory.  Make rote memory your back-up, not your primary approach Learning "by heart" ids the least effective means of remembering anything. Yes, there are tools, such as flash cards. Yes, this is among the most popular approachces of traditional textbooks. And yes, relying on rote memory can set learners up for overload and failure. As a back-up, yes, it can provide a sense of support and be there when you need automatic and even unthinking recall, but as s business-as-usual approach to language learning, rote memory is not the business you want. Associate memory works better, and binnding works best. Take a look --    Rote memory Rote memory is what you learn without a whole lot of meaning attached. Just repetition. Of course, repetition is one of ...

  I am a linguist. That means I live and breathe words: I analyze them, collect them, play with them, and use them professionally every day. So when I take memory tests that rely heavily on recalling lists of words, I tend to do... oddly well. Maybe too well. Case in point: I volunteered for an Alzheimer’s research study recently—just doing my part for science. One of the first tasks? A verbal memory test. I breezed through it. Actually, I aced it. Perfect score. As a 70-year-old, that put me in the same memory tier as a 40-year-old, and the researchers raised their eyebrows. I was declared an “extreme outlier” and—because I had agreed to be part of the study—was promptly invited to donate some of my DNA for further analysis. I tried to explain: “I get paid to remember words.” They smiled politely and handed me the blood draw kit anyway. Now, here's the question that still nags at me: is this kind of test really measuring memory across the board, or is it just measuring one k...

  From  Think Yourself into Becoming a Language Learning Super Star How Memory Works (simplified) If you know how memory works, you can learn faster because you commit information to memory--and it stays there better.  The stages of memory, briefly and simplistically, are attention awareness repetition/rehearsal (for short-term storage) m anipulation of information (in working memory, in preparation for moving it to long-term memory use, recall/retrieval, and re-storage to make information impervious to loss (long-term memory). Test this process out. You will have to do it over time. 1.      Find 5-10 words (open the dictionary and blindly pick, if you like) in either English or your foreign language that you do not know. Figure out what those words mean. Do that first on your own by using some of the techniques listed above. Then, ascertain your accuracy by asking someone or looking up the meaning in the dictionary or online. You have now accomplished...

Excerpt from  Think Yourself into Becoming a Language Learning Super Star Memory, Forgetting, and Lapses   Just to reinforce the matter—or in case you are skipping around in this book and did not see the earlier memory discussion; there are three stages to memory: awareness/attention, encoding/storing, and recall/retrieval. In this section, we are focused on what happens after you have learned something and need to use it. When you want to remember, you will need to recall the information you have learned. One of three things he can happen, and we have all experienced all three: we remember it perfectly (yippee—hope that happens always, but it does not), we remember it imperfectly (oh, too typical), or do not remember it all (even if we remember having spent time studying it). Knowing what has happened in each case, brings us to a point of orienting our study and actions for better recall, as well as teaching us not to beat ourselves up when we have a glitch or lapse. Reme...

  If there’s one truth all language learners must face, it’s this: memory matters. Whether you’re building a basic vocabulary, mastering grammatical structures, or internalizing entire passages of speech, your ability to remember and retrieve what you’ve learned is central to your progress. And yes, this includes the much-maligned practice of rote memory. While modern teaching often favors “natural” learning and immersion, there’s no getting around the fact that some elements of language acquisition—like spelling, pronunciation, and syntax—benefit from repetition and memorization. But not all repetition is created equal. If you’ve ever struggled to retain a long word, complex sentence, or structured piece of discourse, you might be practicing in the wrong direction. Let me introduce you to a technique that makes memory work more efficiently : backward buildup . What Is Backward Buildup? Backward buildup is a simple yet powerful strategy that involves memorizing language startin...