Primed For Learning

John Thompson

John Thompson was born in Ayrshire, Scotland in 1961 and after working in Press and Public Relations, moved to Izmir, Turkey in 1999. Psychology has been a life long interest and he is particularly interested in the psychology of language acquisition. He has taught English at Izmir University of Economics for the past five years.

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Introduction
A Classroom Exercise

Introduction

One of the difficulties faced when teaching is preparing students for learning. Often the teacher has spent time preparing for their lesson and enters the classroom with a sense of intention and purpose whereas the students may have not reached that stage of receptivity or co-operation!

Priming is associated with priming a pump where a little water is introduced to produce a regular flow. In human terms this means preparing somebody for a situation by giving them special information to prepare them for action. In language learning this forms part of the cognitive approach in which students are introduced to certain words to prime them for learning.

I have modified a priming exercise, which can be used as an introduction and stimulation for learning. The basis of this exercise has been taken from Malcolm Gladwell's book entitled 'Blink' - 'How to think without thinking', in which he gives an example of a psychological priming exercise in which a group of people were asked to rewrite jumbled sentences which had no apparent connection but each sentence contained a key word relating to old age, for example: elderly, sunset, slow, retired etc. It was observed that the participants became noticeably slower in their movement and pace following this exercise.

As a follow up a second experiment was undertaken this time with two separate groups - one group of sentences contained words relating to calm, peaceful, patient, polite etc. The other group had words relating to aggression, rudeness, and impatience. At the end of the test each participant had to take their completed tests to the administration office. It was arranged that when they came to the office the office staff would be engaged in conversation and ignore the participants. Those who had completed the test with the 'patient' words did not interrupt but waited until they were attended to, whereas those with the 'impatient' words were more aggressive and demanded attention. This is not brainwashing, but 'priming', where the use of words implants reaction and attitudes in the reader. The creative power of words is often ignored and underestimated; a carefully chosen word can have spectacular effects.

A Classroom Exercise

I have modified this experiment as an introductory activity for the second language classroom by using groups of only five key words usually in adjective form for example comfortable, co-operative, attentive, receptive, relaxed. (see attached lists for examples)

Initially the meanings and other forms of the words are explored and then the adjectives are collocated with nouns then finally the students produce a complete sentence. As an extension and follow up at a future date the sentences can be used in jumbled sentences or gap fill exercises. It may be that because this is a second language activity for the students the effect may be reduced. On the other hand, I believe because more time is spent in using and exploring the use of the key words it may be more effective. Words can be chosen depending on the level and needs of the student group, and the adjectives used are positive words which engender a positive classroom atmosphere, and as a result our students are primed and ready to learn.

Reference

Gladwell M. Blink- How to Think without Thinking Penguin 2006

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