Unlocking Learner Motivation In The Age Of The Digital Native

Unlocking Learner Mo/va/on   In The Age Of The   Digital Na/ve  Paul Maglione                Co‐founder, 

The internet  is now  20 years old 

We live in a 9me of astounding change.   Who could have imagined 20 years ago that today… 

“A subordina,ng conjunc,on always comes at  the beginning of a subordinate clause. It  "introduces" a subordinate clause. However, a  subordinate clause can some,mes come a>er  and some,mes before a main clause….” 

1910  2010 

 It’s high 9me we put these four things  together and came up with a more eﬀec9ve  way of mo9va9ng learning and teaching  English to teens and young adults.  

Who Are Teens?    What’s going on with their lives?   -  hormones / sexual development  -  independence / autonomy  -  ques9oning of authority / rebellion  -  social hyperac9vity / peer pressure    What’s going on with their future?   -  pressure over educa9on, career  prospects, type of friends, values    What are their cultural references?    What is their rela9onship with  educa9on?     English: how do they see it as  relevant to them? 

What else do we know about teens?   Their brains  are in a very  speciﬁc      state of  development. 

THIS IS SO LAME!!!  Can’t wait to check out who tagged me on As if! I’m sitting next to the biggest geek in the class. I’d rather die. BORING   BORING  BORING  BORING  BORING  BORING   !!!  boring  boring  boring  boring  boring  What-ever…… boring  boring  boring  boring  Blah  Blah  Blah  I definitely like Matt; he’s so cute. I hope he likes me too…

But seriously, folks…. 

The Teen Brain: UNDER CONSTRUCTION  A framework, not an empty structure wai/ng to be ﬁlled 

Teen Brain  Development   Phenomenon #1  last  Prefrontal  Cortex  • Reasoning  • Organizing,  priori/zing  informa/on  Limbic  1st  System  • Control of  Impulses  • Physical     Coordina/on  Not fully mature  un.l age 25!  • Emo/on  • Mo/va/on 

Teen Brain  Development   Phenomenon #2  Maturing of brain as  Grey MaQer is lost   Adolescent Pruning Of Brain Cells  The brain selec9vely strengthens or  prunes neurons based on ac9vity.   Synapses con9nually used will ﬂourish;  those that are not used will wither away.   

Teen Brain  Development   Mylena/on (increase in White MaXer)  Phenomenon #3  Speeds the   brain’s  informa9on‐ processing  capacity  equivalent to   3,000 X  increase in  computer  bandwidth 

EFL teaching implica/ons 

Phased development of  cogni/ve func/ons:   EFL teaching implica/ons   Use teen craving for  NOVELTY and  EXCITEMENT to get their  ATTENTION.          +   video, music, movement,  news, games, anecdotes  ‐   worksheets, lectures,  objec9ve texts 

Phased development of  cogni/ve func/ons:   EFL teaching implica/ons   Break large, long‐term  assignments down into  short‐term objec9ves   Remind them of  concepts, objec9ves and  deadlines frequently. 

Phased development of  cogni/ve func/ons:   EFL teaching implica/ons   Use short formats.   Teens can only focus  on someone talking  for 15 minutes at a  9me  they need a  change in state of  mind every 20  minutes. 

Phased development of  cogni/ve func/ons:   EFL teaching implica/ons  For young  (13 – 16)   teens, don’t  make topics  too abstract 

Phased development of  cogni/ve func/ons:   EFL teaching implica/ons  The teenage   brain quickly  discovers a   need to   CONNECT.  INTEGRATE THIS  into Communica/ve  Task Work 

Pruning of neurons   maintaining only most‐ used connec/ons:   EFL Teaching Implica/ons  Aim for   relevance  and  usefulness  to their   lives 

Pruning of neurons   maintaining only most‐ used connec/ons:   EFL Teaching Implica/ons   Repe99on with varia9on. Get them to not just  read a vocabulary item, but also…  use it in a story  use it in a sentence  play a game  based on it   see a photo of it  unjumble it  hear it in a song  hear it spoken by a f amous actor 

Vastly increased  processing bandwidth:   EFL Teaching Implica/ons  Exposure  input  intake  

Vastly increased  processing bandwidth:   EFL Teaching Implica/ons   Provide data capable  of being processed  into knowledge while  avoiding boredom  ﬁlter (lexical /  communica.ve rather  than gramma.cal  approach) 

Vastly increased  processing bandwidth:   EFL Teaching Implica/ons   Provide ANALYTICAL  CHALLENGES that  s9mulate higher‐ order thinking: ask     How       What       Why 

Don’t forget: male and female  adolescents mature at diﬀerent rates  Grey cell  Grey cell pruning  pruning  starts at age 14 – 16   starts at age  10 – 12   Boys and girls may  be ready to absorb  challenging material  at diﬀerent stages. 

…also don’t forget: the average teen is  SLEEP DEPRIVED Physiologically,  teens require  Sleep  9.25 hours of  depriva9on  sleep.   makes it more  Most teens  diﬃcult for most  report sleeping   students to  5 hours or less  learn, remember  per 24‐hour  and think  period.   crea/vely.  

WHAT ABOUT EFL PEDAGOGY?   What have we learned these past 20 years? 

NEW EFL  Approaches  MOST of these match up with recommended Brain Learning  techniques for engaging teens and young adults 

What else do we know about teens?     One of the things they really enjoy, even  seem addicted to, is VIDEOGAMES. Why? 

What can we learn (and adopt) from  Video Games?  •  Failure is part of the game  •  Try and try again without s9gma   •  Repe99on breeds competence  •  Posi9ve reinforcement all the ,me  •  Posi9ve vs. nega9ve stress  •  Level design: progress to next level is  always a challenge, but achievable  •  Progress = status enhancement  •  Social (mul9player gaming; leader boards;  in‐game chat; challenge‐a‐friend) 

Where it all comes together for teens:  MOTIVATION

Understanding Learner Mo9va9on  •  The “neglected heart” of our understanding of  how to design instruc9on.   •  Par9cularly an issue for teens, due to:   ZZZZZZZ 

Learner Mo9va9on For Teens   Exploit learners’ natural curiosity to explore the  world, which is at its most powerful during  teenage and young adult years    

Learner Mo9va9on For Teens   Make the  input material  relevant to  them.    Do they  believe that  what they are  learning will  be useful to  them soon?  

Learner Mo9va9on  for Teens   “The simplest  way to ensure  that people  value what  they are doing  is to maximise  their free  choice and  autonomy”                    ‐ Good & Brophy, 2004 

Learner Mo9va9on for Teens   Three strategies* to encourage posi9ve  self‐evalua9on:  Promote / Reward  Increase  Provide  Mo9va9on   Eﬀort   Mo/va/onal  via   rather than   Rewards,   Feedback  Ability  not Grades  *Dornyei, 2001 

 A word about   technology… 

Class Time Is Precious Time:   Technology Can Op/mize It  •  Exposure / input and repe99on:   outside the classroom as much  as possible.                 •  Use precious class 9me for:  •  discussion  •  interac/on  •  group work  •  tasks requiring teacher  supervision  •  face‐to‐face intelligent error  correc/on 

English AQack! ‐ English 2.0  Bringing all these ideas together: ENGLISH ATTACK!  Video‐based learning units  Thema/c visual dic/onary wikis  Prac/ce &  drill games  Social Networking 

The Web allows learners to go beyond  learning: to create 

Some Ed‐Tech Gurus  #eﬂ  #esl  #elt  #edtech  #iateﬂ  #tesol  

A ﬁnal point about teens and language 

 Language is part of one’s iden/ty and is used to  convey this iden9ty to others.  

 Teens’ iden9ty is in  full‐swing evolu9on,  so both L1  sophis9ca9on and L2  learning have a  signiﬁcant impact on  the social being of  the learner.  *Thanasoulas, 2007 

 If we can integrate  English into teens’  idea of self, we  turbo‐charge their  learning, reten9on,  and enjoyment of the  process.   *Thanasoulas, 2007 

Unlocking Learner Mo/va/on   In The Age Of The Digital Na/ve  TwiXer:     @paulmaglione         @englishaXack  Web:       www.english‐aXack.com  Blog:      hXp://blog.english‐aXack.com  E‐mail:     paul.maglione@english‐aXack.com  LinkedIn:    Paul Maglione  Ob r i g ado !

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Unlocking Learner Motivation In The Age Of The Digital Native

by Paul Maglione on Jul 22, 2010

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Unlocking Learner Motivation In The Age Of The Digital Native Presentation Transcript