IATEFL Discovery Learning or Direct Instruction? Cognitive Load Th...

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Discovery Learning or Direct Instruction?
Cognitive Load Theory and ELT
Carol Lethaby clethaby@clethaby.com
Website: http:...

Before we start:
• What is discovery learning?
• What is direct/explicit instruction?
• How can we make sure that tasks ha...

Discovery Learning
•When learners are not provided with
the answer, but materials and data to
find the answer by themselve...

We assume that this is better for learners:
•We learn better if we discover for ourselves:
•“The more the self is involved...

Carol Lethaby 2017

•Compare Tom and Chris. What are their good
points and bad points?
Carol Lethaby 2017

Chris Tom
6ft 3in 5ft 7in
(1.91m) (tall) (1.70m)
200 lbs 150 lbs
(91 kgs) (heavy) (68kgs)
1983 (old) 1962
handsome? handso...

•Now look at the language.
•Can you work out the rules for adjectives
when we compare people?
Carol Lethaby 2017

Direct Instruction
Carol Lethaby, 2019 clethaby@clethaby.com
Adrignola

Direct Instruction
Carol Lethaby, 2019 clethaby@clethaby.com

Carol Lethaby 2017

•Rules for comparing people using adjectives:
•We use –er with one syllable adjectives
•We use –ier when the adjective end...

Chris Tom
6ft 3in 5ft 7in
(1.91m) (tall) (1.70m)
200 lbs 150 lbs
(91 kgs) (heavy) (68kgs)
1983 (old) 1962
handsome? handso...

•This is related to the cognitive load theory of
instructional design which Wiliam (2017) insists
is “the single most impo...

•Sweller, J (2017) Cognitive Load Theory and Teaching
English as a Second Language to Adult Learners in
TESL Ontario CONTA...

Types of knowledge
1 Biologically primary knowledge
2 Biologically secondary knowledge
(See for example, Sweller, 2017, Sw...

Types of knowledge: primary
•Biologically primary knowledge is knowledge
that we have evolved to acquire over countless
ge...

Many primary knowledge skills are generic-
cognitive skills
• listen and speak
• recognize faces
• engage in basic social ...

Generic-cognitive skills
•A generic-cognitive skill is a basic
cognitive skill that we have evolved to
acquire instinctive...

•We need to learn how to use biologically
primary knowledge in specific domains,
which leads to biologically secondary
kno...

Types of knowledge: secondary
•Biologically secondary knowledge is knowledge
we need because our culture has determined
th...

•All secondary knowledge tends to require
conscious effort on the part of the learner
and explicit instruction on the part...

Primary vs secondary knowledge
• Learning to listen (in L1) vs learning to read (in L1)
Carol Lethaby, 2019 clethaby@cleth...

Generic vs domain-specific
• We have evolved to learn how to solve a variety of
problems using generic-cognitive skills.
•...

Can you see where I’m going with this?
•Learning your L1 involves primary
knowledge
•Learning another language involves
se...

Direct teaching or discovery learning?
Carol Lethaby, 2019 clethaby@clethaby.com

How we learn secondary knowledge
•Working memory and long-term memory
Carol Lethaby, 2019 clethaby@clethaby.com
Erich park...

Working memory
• Working memory is the memory system where small
amounts of information are stored for a very short durati...

Working memory is limited
• There is a limit to how much new information the human
brain can process at one time
Carol Let...

The limits of working memory
•Vocabulary items?
How many new ones at
a time?
•Very few, but if the
learner already knows
t...

Long-term memory
• ‘that big mental warehouse of things (be they words,
people, grand philosophical ideas, or skateboard
t...

Long-term memory has no known limits
The brain can process large amounts of material
that is stored in the long term memor...

Knowledge Schemas
•1 System to organize and store knowledge
•2 Reduce working memory load (a ‘schema’
is just one element ...

Working and long-term memory
•Try to remember the following combination of
letters:
•y-m-r-e-o-m.
•Now try to remember the...

Knowledge Schema in Language Learning
•How to greet someone
•How to talk about the past
•How to compare people or things
C...

Summary
•Two types of knowledge: primary and secondary
– L1 primary, L2 secondary
•Working memory – limited – can hold few...

Cognitive Load
Carol Lethaby, 2019 clethaby@clethaby.com
The theory refers to the
amount of mental effort
required to comp...

Carol Lethaby, 2019 clethaby@clethaby.com
www.cese.nsw.gov.au

Cognitive load
1 intrinsic load
2 extraneous load
3 germane load
Carol Lethaby, 2019 clethaby@clethaby.com

1 intrinsic load
•how difficult a task is inherently based on what
the learner knows already (background
knowledge / knowl...

•What has high ‘intrinsic load’ for a beginner will
probably have low ‘intrinsic load’ for an
advanced learner.
Carol Leth...

2 extraneous load
•the extra visual and/or aural information
required to process the new information in
working memory – w...

3 germane load
•relevant cognitive processing needed to
integrate the new information into long-term
memory – how learners...

Minimising extraneous load
•extraneous load - the extra visual and/or aural
information required to process the new
inform...

Carol Lethaby, 2019 clethaby@clethaby.com

•Learning from Text with Diagrams:
Promoting Mental Model Development
and Inference Generation
•Butcher, Kirsten R.
•Journ...

Working memory
•Overload leads to information loss – either
incoming information will not be processed, or
an item “in pro...

Second language learners
•“… Students [in a second language] are
constantly under a high cognitive load.”
•(Sweller, 2017)...

The ‘split attention effect’
•When learners have to process two or more
sources of information at the same time
•“Learners...

Split attention effect
• As you read, look up the words that you don’t know in
a dictionary.
• As you read, match the word...

Desirable difficulty
•Bjork (1994) coined the term ‘desirable difficulty’ to
describe a task that requires considerable co...

Desirable difficulty
•Learners think that reading vocabulary lists
through helps them to learn them, but this is not
chall...

Problems with Discovery Learning
• It increases cognitive load – strains the working
memory
• It’s hard to apply new knowl...

Discovery learning and creating desirable
difficulty in ELT:
• Potential problems with discovery learning?
• How to create...

Carol Lethaby 2017

•Compare Tom and Chris. What are their
good points and bad points?
Carol Lethaby 2017

Chris Tom
6ft 3in 5ft 7in
(1.91m) (tall) (1.70m)
200 lbs 150 lbs
(91 kgs) (heavy) (68kgs)
1983 (old) 1962
handsome? handso...

•Now look at the language.
•Can you work out the rules for using adjectives
when we compare people?
Carol Lethaby 2017

Potential problems
•1 Not enough examples – only one or two
•2 Too many rules – spelling rules, 3-4 rules
•3 Learner doesn...

Does this mean we should explicitly teach all
grammar rules?
• Not necessarily!
Carol Lethaby, 2019 clethaby@clethaby.com

Desirable difficulty – optimizing germane load
• 1 Use explicit instruction – make the teaching point clear
• 2 Make sure ...

Summary
• Learning a second language is biologically secondary knowledge
so needs to be taught.
• The theory of cognitive ...

Discovery Learning or Direct Instruction?
Cognitive Load Theory and ELT
Carol Lethaby clethaby@clethaby.com
Website for sl...

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