Priorknowledge angloslides

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Carol Lethaby
clethaby@clethaby.com
Twitter: @clethaby
Website: clethaby.com
Use your brain!
Prior knowledge in ELT

Before we start:
1 What do you understand by the term
‘prior knowledge’ or ‘background
knowledge’?
2 What kind of prior kn...

1 What is ‘prior knowledge’ or
‘background knowledge’?

“If I had to reduce all of cognitive
psychology to one principle it would be
this: the most important single factor
influe...

•“the single most widely
demonstrated difference [in
learning outcomes] is prior
knowledge.”
•(Clark, 2014: 335).
Prior kn...

Students who have a great deal
of background knowledge in a
given subject area are likely to
learn new information readily...

Prior and background knowledge
•Prior knowledge – previously acquired
knowledge gained through life and
experience
•Backgr...

•Note: faulty background knowledge can
also affect learning, so it’s important to
check for this too.
Prior knowledge: Car...

2 What kind of prior knowledge
does the learner have?

Two types of knowledge
•A knowledge of the world
•B knowledge of language
Prior knowledge: Carol Lethaby, 2018

A Knowledge of the world / content
knowledge
Prior knowledge: Carol Lethaby, 2018

B Knowledge of language
•Knowledge of L1
•Knowledge of L2
•Language awareness
Prior knowledge: Carol Lethaby, 2018

Knowledge of L1
Prior knowledge: Carol Lethaby, 2018

implicit knowledge
Prior knowledge: Carol Lethaby, 2018

Present perfect
tense? I’ve never
heard of it!
Excuse me,
could you tell
me about the
present perfect
tense, please?
Prior...

Knowledge of L2
Prior knowledge: Carol Lethaby, 2018

explicit knowledge
Prior knowledge: Carol Lethaby, 2018

Excuse
me, could
you tell
me about
the
present
perfect
tense,
please?
Certainly! It’s
formed with the
present tense of
the...

Language awareness
•Understanding of how language / languages work
“Insight into pattern in language has been
shown to be ...

What do we know about what our
learners already know?
•They know a lot of Spanish
•They live in Mexico and know about
Mexi...

3 What does prior knowledge have
to do with the brain and learning?

Neuroscience
Prior knowledge: Carol Lethaby, 2018

Brain cell
Prior knowledge: Carol Lethaby, 2018

Brain cell (neuron)
• Adults have about 100 billion
Prior knowledge: Carol Lethaby, 2018

Neural network based on synapses
(connections)
Prior knowledge: Carol Lethaby, 2018

Connections!
•Language processing in left hemisphere
•Different processes / tasks associated with
different areas, but …
•...

So …..
How can we use this information
to help learners to learn?
Prior knowledge: Carol Lethaby, 2018

Howard-Jones et al, 2018
•Applying the Science of Learning in the
Classroom
• In Impact Journal of the Chartered College o...

Howard-Jones et al (2018)
•Engagement, building and consolidation
Prior knowledge: Carol Lethaby, 2018

Engagement
•“The relationship between engagement
and learning is not a simple one. While
engagement can lead to learning,
...

Building of knowledge
•“For new learning to be acquired in an
educational and meaningful sense, it
must also be connected ...

•In other words, teachers need to find
out and activate what learners know
already.
Prior knowledge: Carol Lethaby, 2018

•(“the building of new knowledge is
often accompanied by increased
activation of the prefrontal regions of
the brain” Van ...

Consolidation of learning
•New learning is more vulnerable to loss
• While we are using effort to process to remember and
...

For example:
• Ss learn that by adding –ed to a verb they can speak about
the past
• At first they apply this rule conscio...

For example:
• Ss learn new set of vocabulary items – about 10
• When you first introduce the words learners can hold them...

First principle of neural connectivity
“cells that fire together wire together”
•The more you do something the stronger th...

Second principle of connectivity
“use it or lose it!”
•If you don’t use the connection – it will
be pruned!
http://www.the...

•“On a daily basis, we adjust and extend the
enormous knowledge base in our brain.”
•“It is very important in education th...

Applications to education
“… once we understand more about how
our brain uses prior knowledge (the stuff
we already know) ...

“the single most widely
demonstrated difference [in learning
outcomes] is prior knowledge.”
•(Clark, 2014: 335).
Prior kno...

4 How can we use what learners in Mexico
know already in English language teaching?
Prior knowledge: Carol Lethaby, 2018

“the single most widely
demonstrated difference [in
learning outcomes] is prior
knowledge.”
Clark, 2014: 335
Prior knowled...

•“.. what students already know about
the content is one of the strongest
indicators of how well they will learn
new infor...

What prior knowledge do L2 students have?
•Content
•L1
•L2
Prior knowledge: Carol Lethaby, 2018

How can we use what students know to help
them to learn more easily?
1 Use pre-tasks
• activate background knowledge
• bui...

From: English ID 2 by Paul Seligson, Carol Lethaby and Luiz Otavio Barros, Richmond 2013
Prior knowledge: Carol Lethaby, 2...

From: English ID 2 by Paul Seligson, Carol Lethaby and Luiz Otavio Barros, Richmond 2013
Prior knowledge: Carol Lethaby, 2...

How can we use what students know to help
them to learn better?
2 Re-cycle and build on what
learners know:
- use a spiral...

From: English ID 1 by Paul Seligson, Carol Lethaby and Chris Gontow, Richmond 2013
Prior knowledge: Carol Lethaby, 2018

From: Just Right Pre-Intermediate by Jeremy Harmer, Ana Acevedo and Carol Lethaby Cengage 2006
Prior knowledge: Carol Leth...

•“It is very important in education that
courses build on each other as much as
possible, because knowledge builds from it...

How can we use what students know to help
them to learn better?
3 Know about learners’ interests / what they
know
•We are ...

Check for ‘faulty’ prior knowledge
•Constantly be aware of prior knowledge –
don’t assume that learners know something
– c...

How can we use what students know to help
them to learn better?
Cognitive overload
4 Don’t overload learners
Prior knowled...

“Visual representations appear to be
most effective when they are designed to
support the cognitive processes
necessary fo...

Prior knowledge: Carol Lethaby, 2018

•If we present learners with too much
information – text and complex visuals that
don’t support comprehension of the text
...

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

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

How can we use what students know to help
them to learn better?
5 Use L1 to help learners learn English
“Research consiste...

Language knowledge
• Research shows that learners need to know
approximately 98 percent of the words in
written or spoken ...

6 Use L1 and L2 knowledge
•Help students to notice similarities and
differences
•Use cognates – false cognates
•Build on w...

Summary
•Prior knowledge is essential in
helping us to learn new things
•We are finding out more about the
brain and how p...

Before we start:
1 What do you understand by the term
‘prior knowledge’ or ‘background
knowledge’?
2 What kind of prior kn...

Carol Lethaby
clethaby@clethaby.com
Twitter: @clethaby
Website: clethaby.com
Use your brain!
Prior knowledge in ELT

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