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『地域政策研究』（高崎経済大学地域政策学会）　第 13 巻　第２・３合併号　2010年11月　63頁～ 71頁

＜研究ノート＞

Brain Function and Language Learning

Marie COSGROVE

Abstract

　　It is said that Japanese people use the creative (pictorial) side of the brain to study language.

When the author was learning Japanese the writing system kanji was easy to study because it

was like a picture.

　　However the listening exercises mainly used tape or CD without any picture such as in a

video, DVD and as a result took a lot of effort to practice. At that time the author always would

have liked to see what was being listened to. Now in teaching English language, video is readily

available and can be easily accessed by students on the Internet. In previous action research by

the author using CD-ROM it was shown that students enjoyed studying listening with video and

that such study obviously improved students English language ability. (collaborated research)

　　This paper will show that increasing the amount of video and self study for students using

the connection between visual and auditory links in the brain is very effective and enjoyable for

students.

The emphasis is on “Do it Yourself” by watching video.

Marie COSGROVE

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　　Recently the Governor of California known well as a hero of

action movies and not at all for his pedagogic prowess announced

that the State of California would stop using paper textbooks in

favor of online resources in the school curriculum. Japan Times

2009 Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger says textbooks are

outdated and an unnecessary expense in the world recession.

Figure 1 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8090450.stm

　　In 2008, 2009-10 the author had a chance to teach 3 classes

using online resources and no textbook. The course consisted of

42 videos following a story of two families from two countries.

This course has online study guides and quizzes that students can access freely. As in previously

published papers, http://ltsig.org.uk/newsletter-archive/38-1999-2003/99-summer-2003.html,

like CD-ROMs, the students can study at their own pace and in their own homes or use the

university computers. http://jaltcall.org/cjo/10_2.pdf “In truth,the most effective learning will

occur during the process of carrying out the research for oneself” Wray, 2009

　　The requirement is online Internet access which most students have. This is a prerequisite

to ultimate enjoyment of the course as shown in the graphs made from the questionnaires given

to the students at the end of the course in 2009. The majority of students enjoyed the study.

The minority did not have Internet access at home and as a consequence the enjoyment

decreased. But the benefits were obvious to even these students. Class size also played a factor

in the enjoyment as the smaller the class the larger the enjoyment. Perhaps access to the teacher

increases in smaller classes.

Data Collection

　　There were 12 and 13 questions on the questionnaire. The first four relate to the actual

content of the course

　Circle the answer of your choice

　　１．Which do you prefer?

　　　　　　　　Pocket book with Internet video study

　　　　　　　　　　OR

　　　　　　　　Textbook with CD

　　２．Did you enjoy the Internet video study?

　　　　Yes　　　　　　No

Figure 1

Brain Function and Language Learning

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　　３．Have you finished watching all 42 videos in the story?

　　　　Yes　　　　　　No

　　４．Have you finished all the prints in your clear pocket folder?

　　　　Yes　　　　　　No

　　 　　In the class with the smaller number of students (Figure 2) the preference for the

Internet video study and no textbook is obvious and the number of students who enjoyed

the story very much the majority. As this was a vast amount of homework and a lot of

writing it is surprising to have so many positive answers.

　　 　　What is even more surprising is that the students ask for more study questions And

keeping up with the demand for study prints keeps the author quite busy.

　　 　　Even a writing class would not do as much writing as these students did in a year for

homework. Watching the videos and answering the comprehension questions must take a

lot of their time but they obviously enjoyed it.

Figure 2

　　 　　The larger class showed more negative answers but still the majority enjoyed this

marathon study. Some students had to share computers with family and could not have

enough access to satisfy their needs. Others were not used to doing so much homework.

(peer requested homework maybe not their choice)

　　５．Do you want to be a good speaker of English?

　　　　Yes　　　　　　No

Marie COSGROVE

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　　６．Do you think English will be useful for you in your future?

　　　　Yes　　　　　　No

　　７．After watching the video story do you feel you would like to go to another country?

　　　　Yes　　　　　　No

　　８．Do you have more confidence in your English ability now?

　　　　Yes　　　　　　No

　　 　　Looking at Q3 in Figure 3 the vast majority finished the 42 videos in the story and half

finished all the writing of answers to the homework.

Figure 3

Figure 4

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　　 　　Another larger class with a similar result in preference for the Internet study and

enjoyment. However more students finished all the 42 videos and slightly more finished all

the homework questions.

　　The vast majority of students want to be able to speak English and think English ability will

be useful for them in the future. Again the vast majority would like to go to travel abroad but

surprisingly in the largest classes more students lacked confidence in their English ability than in

the smaller class. For conversation practice to be really effective for students smaller class size

may be more desirable.

　　Many students think video is good to improve listening ability and about half think it is good

to learn vocabulary. Whether students can measure, by themselves, how much they have learned

is something to study further but it has been evident through testing that they certainly learnt a

lot of new vocabulary and lexical items through many hours of online home study.

　　９．Have you watched any other videos in English on the Internet such as

　　　　Passport　　　　You Tube　　　　News videos　　　　Sports videos

　　　　　Yes　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　No

　　10．Do you think watching English videos is the best way to learn listening skills?

　　　　　Yes　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　No

　　11．Do you think watching English videos is the best way to learn new vocabulary?

　　　　　Yes　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　No

　　12．Have you enjoyed the conversations with a partner in this class?

　　　　　Yes　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　No

　　13．Do you have Internet at home?

　　　　　Yes　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　No

　　The enjoyment of communication with a partner is high in the smaller class and seems to

show that the smaller group is the ideal for conversation practice. Even so the vast majority

enjoyed pair work.

　　Question 13 was to determine if students had Internet access at home. It seems that many

did have Internet access.Although some students said they had to share a computer with other

family members so they could not use to their own satisfaction or to study as much as they

wanted to.

Marie COSGROVE

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Student’s Comments

ビデオを見て学ぶと言う新しい勉強方法を知ることができて楽しく授業を受けることができた。

I could come to know a new way of studying using video so I could enjoy taking this class

他のビデオも見たい

I would like to watch other videos.

もっと多くコンピュータルームを使いたかったです。

I would have liked to use the computer room much more

（These classes did not use computer rooms but this students’ class had a chance to use the computer

room a few times because they were having difficulty using the website and needed some

explanations and help）

宿題を増やす Please give us more homework

ビデオの話がとても面白くて、英語に興味を持てた

The video story is very interesting so I became more interested in English

Figure 5 6 Students using their own data

collected in answer to video comprehension

questions, requested by peers and supplied by

the author (teacher). The students use 40 clear

pocket folders containing the answers to the

questions on the prints supplied. The answers

written by the students are to be obtained by

watching and listening to the video story many

times and at the students own pace. The total

concentration on the task is obvious. Nobody

noticed the photograph being taken they were so deep in concentration to fill in the blanks in the

story test paper using their clear pocket folders..

　　The student’s evaluation of these clear pocket folders is seen in the Questionnaire Question

1 answers (figures 2,3and 4). The vast majority preferred them to a textbook. Because the pages

are clear it is easy for teachers to check the students are doing the work. It is also easy for them

to review the work already finished or find the spelling of names etc….

　　They take pride in the work they are doing and are not afraid to ask questions about

anything they do not understand. In previous work with CD-ROM the only requirement was a

computer but using Internet online study the students need to have Internet access. Recently

Figure 5　doing fill in the blank pop tests

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most students do have Internet access at home

but those living alone may not. It is important

to regularly check the availability of Internet

access. Of course universities provide Internet

access to students but there may not be

sufficient time spent in the university because

of part time jobs, club activities, travel time

between university and home etc…

therefore it is necessary to verify student’s

situations through results of Pop tests etc..

　　Listening tests are also given to check if

students are really listening to the video as much as necessary to improve their listening skills.

The pop test of one of the 42 videos requires students to watch and listen and answer about 10

listening comprehension questions. As reported by Shimo 2002 p15, Japanese students feel

they cannot get enough listening practice in Japan. Some of the students who studied the 42

videos reported their best score on the TOEIC test was in the listening section of the test.

Figure 7Student engrossed in listening practice at own pace in own home

Figure 8Student using ipod for extra study on the go

Figure 6　 Students totally engrossed in doing pop tests

Marie COSGROVE

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Discussion

　　When the author was studying education to become a teacher in the NSW Education

department in Australia she remembers being taught that students learn through their senses

and so it is best to utilize as many senses as possible in teaching methods. As a language student,

studying Japanese again the author felt a gap when listening to tapes and CDs and this was the

lack of visual material. Learning by only listening to tapes and not being able to see was very

frustrating. If only one could see what was happening it would be much easier to listen to long

unfamiliar Japanese passages or stories.

　　Recently with the invention of robots mimicking brain function this means that a lot of study

is being done on how the brain works. According to .Wennekers 2010 study the visual and

auditory paths in the brain are joined or linked together. This means that usually we recognize

sounds also by sight. “the laminar microcircuitry of the neocortex which is involved in higher

brain functions such as seeing and hearing.”

http://colamn.plymouth.ac.uk/colamn-project/

http://www.pion.ac.uk/~thomas/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10685138

Wennekers wants to model specific physiological features of the way that neurons in one part of

the brain communicate. This seems very logical and a reason why we should encourage visual as

well as auditory learning for students of language. The author also has made a homepage for

students to help them find other ways to use the Internet to study English and it is also possible

to study other languages by Internet. http://home.att.ne.jp/gamma/mari-at-oz

　　Empowering students by giving them the video and making them responsible for their own

learning means they can study when they want at their own pace. “Empowering students,

student autonomy, means student’s accepting responsibility for their own learning” Agota et al

(1999)

Conclusion

　　From previously collaborated research using video in CD-ROM format it has been shown

that students enjoy video study and as a way to improve listening ability it obviously improves

their language ability as well as listening ability.

http://www.tcue.ac.jp/homel/c-gakkai/kikanshi/ronbun12-3/content12-3.htm

Brain Function and Language Learning

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http://ltsig.org.uk/newsletter-archive/40-2009-2013/195-winter-2009.html

　　Therefore the author hopes, for the enjoyment and rapid language assimilation ,with

increased listening ability, of students, that video on the Internet will be utilized much more by

language teachers in Japan.

　　Using clear pocket folders makes it very easy for teachers to check their students work as

they walk around the classroom and for students to review the vast amount of data they have

collected during their enjoyable study. (figure9)

（マリー　コズグローブ・高崎経済大学地域政策学部非常勤講師）

ReferencesAgota Scharle, Szabo Anita (1999), “Learner Autonomy: A Guide to Developing Learner Responsibility” (Cambridge Handbooks

for Language TeachersCosgrove Marie E (2002) “CD-ROM Internet and Student Autonomy” JALT CALL Newsletter Vol 10/2Cosgrove Marie E (2003) “Student autonomy, Internet and CD-ROM”, IATEFL CALL JournalCosgrove Marie E (2010) Intensifying Intrinsic Motivation Kogakuin University Research essays 48-1Cosgrove Marie E (2009) Success and student autonomy TCUE Regional PolicyShimo Etsuko (2002) “Learning Listening Comprehension Skills in English: The Analysis of Japanese Learners’ Beliefs and Its

Implications.” The Language Teacher JALT Vol 26 No 10 p15-18Wray Allison (2009) A research Network Model in Fitzpatrick, T., & Barfield, A. (Eds.). Lexical processing in second language learners: Papers and perspective in honour of Paul Meara. Bristol, U.K.: Multilingual

Matters.Japan Times page 5 June 11th 2009

Figure 9　student's file-clear pockets are easy to see