When I was looking for a graduate course to take for recertification last summer, the title Brain-Based Teaching and Learning caught my eye. After chuckling to myself about where learning could be based other than the brain, I became intrigued. The course attempted to present current research findings in neuroscience in a practical way to benefit educators. It covered what imaging technologies like PET scans have revealed about how people learn and retain information, and it identified “brain-compatible” principles and techniques to guide teaching. Many of the techniques, such as multisensory activities, were already familiar to me, and some were new, but all of them seemed like effective techniques for ESOL.

Below is a list of principles I gleaned from the course, various books and articles, and from the forum How Students Learn: An Inside Look at Neuroscience, which I attended in January at Towson University. The forum featured renowned neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson and Dr. Martha Denckla, director of the Developmental Cognitive Neurology Clinic at the Kennedy Krieger Institute.

Principles of Brain-Based Teaching and Learning

1. The brain needs
• glucose and water,
• safety (anxiety and stress interfere with learning),
• interaction with people and the environment,
• choice and control of experiences.
2. The brain is always trying to make meaning and find patterns. Mnemonics and chunking help with remembering unrelated information.
3. Cross-lateral movement gets both brain hemispheres working together.
4. Movement anchors thought and builds nerve cells and neural networks. Students should have opportunities to talk and move their bodies to facilitate learning and reduce stress.
5. Multisensory activities increase retention. The brain processes and stores information in multiple pathways or neural networks.
6. Repetition of information creates the synaptic pathways. Although rote rehearsal helps with memorizing simple facts, elaborative rehearsal allows the learner to reprocess information by making connections and associations to establish sense and meaning.
7. Excitement at the time of learning enhances learning. Novelty and humor “wake up” the brain and get the learner’s attention.
8. Learners tend to remember best what comes first in the lesson, second best what comes last, and least what comes in the middle of the lesson. Try to teach in learning episodes of about 20 minutes.
9. The frontal lobes regulate executive function. Children’s frontal lobes develop at different rates.
10. Neuroplasticity and neurogenesis continue throughout life.

Implications for Teaching

The brain needs water. The water fountains in my elementary school were shut off years ago due to lead in the pipes, and water is supplied by large jugs stationed in the hallways. Students depend on teachers to provide cups in order to get the water. As a pull-out ESOL teacher with multiple classes, my students’ requests for water used to seem like one more demand threatening to eat up limited instructional time. Only when they finished their work, or when room temperatures were particularly high, would I allow time for water. Now, I try to honor these requests more regularly, hoping that my hydrated students will also soak up more learning.

The brain needs a low-anxiety environment. We are all familiar with Krashen’s affective filter and the need to make our classrooms nurturing. Dr. Denckla stated that anxiety and stress chemically interfere with learning to the point that it is like “unplugging the frontal lobes.” Sometimes, the pressure to get students to meet learning goals or finish assignments by a deadline can reduce my patience for off-task behavior. Knowing the research helps me keep things in perspective and keep the pressure on students at a level that is facilitative rather than debilitative. When I have the urge to tell Pedro to hurry up and write, I will say to myself, “I will not unplug his frontal lobe.”

Multisensory activities increase retention. Most good ESOL teachers know this, but in an effort to prepare students for paper-and-pencil multiple-choice tests, we may find ourselves neglecting multisensory experiences or wondering if lessons incorporating movement, songs, chants, and hands-on activities will be deemed not rigorous enough by those who evaluate us. If we want students to be engaged and retain the learning, however, we need to keep doing multisensory activities, which build multiple neural pathways in the brain.

Cross-lateral movement gets both brain hemispheres working together. In the past, there was an emphasis on the differences between right-brain and left-brain learning styles. Although the hemispheres do have specialized functions, current brain research suggests that the various parts of the brain work together in more ways than was previously thought. A dramatic example of this is the hemispherectomy which Dr. Ben Carson performed on a young girl named Jody Miller, whose debilitating epilepsy necessitated such an invasive procedure. The girl regained the ability to walk and function normally due to the neuroplasticity of the brain: One hemisphere actually compensated for the loss of the other.

Physical movements that cross the body’s midline (sometimes called “brain gym” exercises) facilitate full brain function. An exercise that can be easily done in a classroom is called the “hook-up.” (You might want to use a different term if you teach above the elementary school level!) I had students do this activity during breaks in WIDA testing, and it seemed to help refresh their brain and relax them.

How to do Hook-Ups (seated or standing):

Put the left ankle over the right ankle.
Extend arms and put the left wrist over the right wrist.
Rotate the hands inward, and interlace the fingers.
Bring the interlocked hands into the chest.
Stay in this position for several minutes, breathing deeply.

Increasing wait time leads to more higher order responses and increases participation of slower retrievers. This is another principle that I know but often fail to implement consistently because it can seem to slow down the lesson.

The frontal lobes regulate executive function. Children’s frontal lobes develop at different rates. Dr. Denckla stated in her talk that some children who have difficulty with self-control or who have ADHD have less brain tissue in the frontal lobes. Many students struggle with attention and focus, and this impacts their learning. However, there are strategies teachers can use to increase executive function skills in students.

Neuroplasticity and neurogenesis continue throughout life. I like this principle, because I will soon be eligible to join AARP. Our brains continue to form new neural pathways as we age, as long as we make the effort to keep our brains stimulated. A dramatic example: Several years ago my brother, who is in his 50s, suffered severe head and brain injury in a catastrophic car accident. He was rushed to Shock Trauma and nearly died, then was in a coma, then came out of the coma but was not himself cognitively. During this time he continually stated his desire to recover so he could get back to work. Despite suffering major setbacks due to an allergy to the titanium with which they had rebuilt his skull, after several months he was walking and talking, and within a year he had returned to his full-time job as a lawyer.

Continuing the Learning

The topic of brain-based teaching and learning is vast, complex, and will continue to evolve as brain research gradually reveals more of the mysteries of the 3-pound universe that is our brain. Educators may not be able to become neuroscientists, but they can access this important information through courses, conferences, and websites. Learning and the Brain is an organization that provides conferences and 1-day professional development trainings. The Johns Hopkins School of Education has an organization called the Neuro Education Initiative. Another resource for teachers and schools is Hopkins’s Making Neuroscience Fun outreach program, which gives talks to students on neuroscience.

Although brain-based teaching and learning is not focused on second language learning specifically, the research increasingly shows that learning involves many parts of the brain in complex ways. Gaining understanding of these processes can enrich our educational practice by making us better teachers and stronger advocates for effective instruction for students.

Resources

Genesee, F. (2000, December). Brain research: Implications for second language learning. Eric Digest.

Hannaford, C. (2005). Smart moves: Why learning is not all in your head. Salt Lake City, UT: Great River Books.

Jenson, E. (n.d.). Brain-based learning strategies. Retrieved from http://feaweb.org/brain-based-learning-strategies

Sousa, D. A. (2011). How the brain learns (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Adreon Hubbard has taught ESOL in Baltimore City Public Schools for 16 years, the last 12 at William Paca Elementary School. She has taught middle school ESOL, adult ESOL, and high school Russian and enjoys developing and facilitating workshops for teachers. She has served on the Maryland TESOL Board for 4 years, where she is currently co-chair of the Elementary Education IS.