good teaching strategies: using prior knowledge and retrieval practice

A very practical piece of research highlighted in the EL Gazette looks at common teaching strategies and procedures:

The importance of prior knowledge
BY Carol Lethaby
Educational research shows us how essential prior knowledge is to learning new things. The average correlation between background knowledge and achievement is meaning that students who have a lot of background knowledge on a topic will learn new information on that topic better and more easily than students who do not have good previous knowledge of the topic.

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Retrieval practice
By Russell Mayne
One of the most robust findings in educational research is that retrieval practice is important for learning. That is, asking students to try to recall items previously studied will help them to retain the information.

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elgazette.com/exploring-the-evidence

With a bit more here:

PRIOR KNOWLEDGE:

New learning is constructed on prior knowledge. The more we understand about what students already think, and the more we help them engage their prior understandings, the more likely they are to learn well – and the less likely they are to misinterpret the material in our courses.

hampshire.edu/ctl/2017/09/14/the-importance-of-engaging-prior-knowledge

Videos:

strategiesforspecialinterventions.weebly.com/activating-prior-knowledge

If we don't ignite the prior knowledge of our students when we teach, we may fall prey to what the late Brazilian educational theorist Paulo Freire referred to as "the banking concept" in pedagogy -- treating students as if they are empty vessels waiting to be filled with the knowledge of the teacher. Basically, taking on a view that the kids have very little to offer to the classroom learning and discussions.

edutopia.org/blog/prior-knowledge-tapping-into-often-classroom-rebecca-alber

Assessment:

teaching.cornell.edu/spring-teaching-resources/assessment-evaluation/assessing-prior-knowledge

We do not always consciously make use of what we already know when we try to learn new information. But evidence is piling up that suggests this is a smart thing to do. So how can you make the most of your prior knowledge to prepare for acquiring – and retaining – new knowledge?

theguardian.com/education/2016/jan/09/what-you-already-know-is-the-key-to-learning-new-things

RETRIEVAL PRACTICE:

Let's focus on getting information "out" of students' heads.
Retrieval practice boosts learning by pulling information out of students’ heads, rather than cramming information into students’ heads.

www.retrievalpractice.org/why-it-works

Podcast:

cultofpedagogy.com/retrieval-practice

(see diagram)

Video:

academicaffairs.arizona.edu/l2l-strategy-retrieval-practice

More techniques:

teacherhead.com/2019/03/03/10-techniques-for-retrieval-practice

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bouba/kiki

 An interesting piece in today's EL Gazette:

What shape are the words ‘bouba’ and  ‘kiki’, pointy or round? 

The shape of words | elgazette.com

The first research was carried out in 1929 - and repeated in 2001:

This picture is used as a test to demonstrate that people may not attach sounds to shapes arbitrarily: American college undergraduates and Tamil speakers in India called the shape on the left "kiki" and the one on the right "bouba".

Ramachandran and Hubbard suggest that the kiki/bouba effect has implications for the evolution of language, because it suggests that the naming of objects is not completely arbitrary.7  The rounded shape may most commonly be named "bouba" because the mouth makes a more rounded shape to produce that sound while a more taut, angular mouth shape is needed to make the sounds in "kiki".

Bouba/kiki effect | en.wikipedia.org

The EL Gazette shows the most recent research:

Co-author Dr Marcus Perlman, Lecturer in English Language and Linguistics at the University of Birmingham, commented: “Our findings suggest that most people around the world exhibit the bouba/kiki effect, including people who speak various languages and regardless of the writing system they use. “Our ancestors could have used links between speech sounds and visual properties to create some of the first spoken words and today, many thousands of years later, the perceived roundness of the English word ‘balloon’ may not be just a coincidence after all.”

And there are some great videos which show how it works:

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