Neuroscience and Psychology for TEFL
Robert Murphy
Murphy's basic introduction gave us just enough insight into behavioral psychology to follow his reasoning and understand his practical advice for class organization. He is concerned with students missing out on the full potential of language acquisition due to a lack of the necessary support, reminding us that learning without application falls short of understanding. He walked us through the four tiers of understanding-- reflexes, actions, representations and abstractions—explaining when and how they each kick in, how they can be augmented for optimal results with "High Support Conditions", and why ongoing assessment is the only worthwhile form of assessment. (Everyone has good and bad days.) Many commonly accepted psychological truisms were entertainingly debunked—excepting that believing something made it true.
A simple diagram illustrated how three developmental archetypes-- Linguistic Structures, Nonverbal and Cultural Manifestations, need to be balanced for good L2 performance—and how overemphasis on the former is counterproductive. Self in Relationships (SiR) interviews showed that father and teacher roles (which demand arbitrary filial respect) are the ones viewed most negatively by students in Japan. "Consciousness raising maps" - grouping of terms and assigning of emotional valences to them, help students focus on Performance of Understanding—entirely in English.
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