Application of Neuroscience in The English Learning Class

Introduction

The neuroscience contributions applied to the English class suggest that the English teacher should be able to explore and use multisensory teaching in a social and emotional environment. The teaching of English requires a mixture of news and being flexible and nice so the teacher motivates and catches the students’ attention. That is why we propose to implement the English lesson with more didactic games, interactional teamwork, to use more technology gadgets, images, music, and objects to encourage more positive attitudes in the learning process in agreement with neuroscience.

Neuroscience

Neuroscience is the study of the brain and nerve system, in human beings as in animals, in health and sickness contexts. This discipline has been developed to revolutionize other disciplines as psychology, education, sports, mathematics, and more. Neuroscience is no longer a discipline that works alone but influences other disciplines to have a bigger overview of those. To start talking about neuroscience, we should explain how the brain and nervous system are composed. The Nerve system is composed of the spinal cord and the brain. The brain sends nerve signals to different parts of the body through the central and peripheral nervous systems. The peripheral nervous system is connected to the muscles of the body and with sensorial specialized cells that respond to stimuli such as pain or touch.

The brain or encephalon is the most important organ of the nervous system and has a storage capability bigger than any supercomputer. This brain is divided into two hemispheres: left and right that are bounded by the corpus callosum of the brain and each lobe is sub-divided into four lobes: frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital lobe. The frontal lobe is known to be related to emotions, control of voluntary movements or activities, and cognitive functions.

On the other hand, the parietal lobe is more related to sensorial perception and processes such as processing information about temperature, taste, touch, and movement. The lobe responsible for vision is the occipital lobe. The hearing and listening process is a task for the temporal lobe that also processes memories and integrates them with sensations of taste and sounds. Anatomically, the brain is composed of neurons that are the basic unit of work of the brain. Neurons have the function of receiving signals or information to the body, integrates incoming those incoming signals, and communicate the signals to the target cells.

Brain Functions

Another important nervous system function is processing sensorial information like sight, listening, smell, and touch. When the sensorial receptors are stimulated, they generate electrical signals and travel through the nerves. Sight is a complex sense because it links a person with the outside world in a more meaningful way. Listening is the sense in charge of communication, sounds perception, and interpretation of speaking.

All this happens in the Wernicke area which is located in the left hemisphere and it is the key to understand oral language. Smell and taste are the senses that allow to distingue different flavors. Touch sense works together with the skin cells to transmit sensations as temperature or pain. Language as a superior function of the brain is one of the remarkable skills of a human being and it is a complex system that involves many elements. Language is an ability to codify ideas in signals and distingue them from thoughts. Nowadays, it is known that the recognition of sounds and words happens in the temporal lobe, and speaking is controlled by the left hemisphere of the brain.

Learning and memory are superior functions that work along because both of them can modify the conduct which is the result of the interaction of environmental and genetic stimuli. Through the learning process, we can acquire new information that later is going to be stored by the brain and memory will process the retention and recovery of the new stored contents. The perception is a sense that is manifested in several ways such as visual, auditory, olfactory taste, and touch. By these pathways, the information is received and reconstructed to generate an internal representation of the object. Here, we analyze characteristics of the objects as colors, smells, sounds, or forms. Perception and sensation have a strong relationship with cognition because they provide plenty of information to the brain.

The brain is considered an organ that changes its structure in time thanks to plasticity and is naturally oriented to learn. Brain functions that are located in the neocortex are functions that influence the learning process and release emotional sensations such as anger, fear, threat, and others. In the case of English students, these emotions could be scare, anxiety, or rejection and can influence the learning process. English teachers must accept that learning and emotions are very connected and it is in their hands to create an environment where the students feel secure to interact in a foreign language.

Cognitive Neuroscience

Cognitive neuroscience looks for understanding how the brains’ functions bring mental activities like perception, memory, language, and even consciousness. Part of cognitive neuroscience also develops how does the brain processes information. This is called cognitive processes. These superior functions are language, learning, memory, perception, and attention. About second language learning, methodologies implicate the implementation of innovations that are against the traditional teaching process. The traditional teaching methods are characterized by repetition, memorizing grammatical structures generally with a context.

Neuroscience in Education

The field of education has always been linked to neuroscience investigation which provides education with discoveries of how the human brain works and processes the new knowledge. For the educational field exists the possibility to embrace that information to stimulate the learning process and be able to transform the teaching through the multisensory pathways. The learning process starts with the nerve cells called neurons. Neurons represent the 10% of the brain composition approximately and they responsible for the processing of information. The 90% is composed of the glial cells. Synapsis takes place when the neurons connect with other neurons. A neuron can connect with thousands of other neurons.

Back in the days, it was thought that neurons were once specialized in certain skills and they could not take part in the development of other skills. Nowadays, neuroplasticity is a term well used to explain that neurons can reconfigure themselves with every new stimulus and create new connections. As a result, teachers can use neuroplasticity or neuronal plasticity as support because teachers have the responsibility to promote efficient apprenticeship in their students. Neuroscience also suggests that while more sensory pathways are stimulated, more synapsis are created. This means that the new knowledge is going to make a big impact on the learner’s brain. By learning this way, it is guaranteed that the learner will remember what he just learned much more easily.

Neurosciences will work in the educational field not only to provide new information but also to give new challenges to the teachers. Teachers must now try to understand the learning process in an anatomical way in addition to the psychological way. The human brain is a complex system able to work and adapt to a different level and way simultaneously. This means that teaching must take place in an enriched environment in multiple pathways as cinema, music, drama, games, videos, and others.

The brain is also a social organ because it interacts with the environment so the learning process can be influenced by social relationships. During the English lessons, the teacher must promote teamwork where respect and tolerance which are very important. Emotions are important as well so working in an emotional environment is required to develop a healthy education. The English teacher must look for a nice environment join with respect and fellowship. Since both hemispheres interact in between during every activity, the brain creates an image from the part and the whole. So the teachers must use strategies that required the activity of the brain as a unity.

The learning process implicates focus attention and peripheral perception. Teachers should pay attention to all the stages of the class to motivate the students and catch their attention. Learning also requires the processes to be conscious and unconscious. This means that teachers must be able to link the reflection and metacognition so they can provide students with new ideas creation, new skills, and experiences. Metacognition is a self-regulatory process that lets the students plan and conquer goals to evaluate their achievements. So, to reflect on the new topics is a very important task during and after the lesson.

The human being has many ways to organize memory. It happens more often when the information is meaningful and it reaches a connection with learning and previous experiences. That is why it is important to stimulate all the sensorial pathways by using images or music and experiences related to the topic during the class.