Understanding How Cognitive Psychology Can Informand Improve Spanish Vocabulary Acquisition

in High School Classrooms

Stella Erbes, Michael Folkerts, Christina Gergis, Sarah Pederson, and Holly Stivers

Educators deal with the many dynamic functions and applications of the humanbrain on a daily basis. The theoretical research of the biology and functionality ofthe human brain is on the rise, and educational publishers continue to support booksand scholarly articles that promote the notion that "brain research" can and shouldbe applied to classroom teaching. Key terms such as brain-differentiated learning,brain-compatible learning, brain-friendly learning, and brain-based teaching havebeen used to lure educators to adopt these theoretically supported teaching strategies.Much of the literature on brain research deals with explaining the memory systemsof the brain, or more specifically how the brain works to retain and retrieve bits ofinformation. The idea that applying this knowledge base to educational psychologyto yield positive outcomes in the teaching and learning process sounds promising,however, there is a lack of empirical research conducted in K-12 classrooms to supportthe positive results of applying brain research to teaching practices. So, the questionarises: Have educators and proponents of brain research assumed all too quickly thatbrain-informed teaching strategies will yield consistent positive results? Our studyoffers empirical evidence which helps answer this question. This empirical studyhas investigated how infonnation about human memory from the field of cognitivepsychology can be applied specifically to teaching Spanish vocabulary in high schoolclassrooms. Our interdisciplinary study brought together the fields of cognitive andeducational psychology along with foreign language teaching in order to understandbetter how research on human memory can improve teaching vocabulary in highschool Spanish classes.

Literature Review In the field of educational psychology,Giventheinterdisciplinary nature of this brain-based, brain-friendly, or brain-com-

study, we reviewed literature from several pai/è/e/eac/img have become popular termsdifferent fields to gain a comprehensive un- that are prominently noted in the literaturederstanding of the issue at hand. Educational and commonly included in programs of wellpsychology, cognitive psychology, and foreign attended teacher conferences. Understandinglanguage teaching all intersect when consider- how the brain works and applying this infor-ing the implications ofthe knowledge of human mation to teaching practices has become amemory and its impact upon teaching vocabu- popular phenomenon in education. Best-sell-lary in high school Spanish classrooms. ing books and curriculum have saturated the

book market to attract educators to purchaseDr. Stella Erbes, Assistant Professor of Teacher resources which will teach them how to ap-

Educaüon, Humanities & Teacher Education Division, ply information about the physiological andPepperdine Universi ty. Dr. Michael Folkerts, Associate biological functions of the brain to enhanceProfessor of Psychology, Social Science Division, Pep- °perdine University. Christina Gergis, M.S., Graduate Ae teachmg and learning process (JoSSey-Student, Califomia State University. Sarah Pederson, Bass, 2008; Täte, 2003; Sousa, 2003; Sousa,SpanishTeacher,ForeignLanguageDepartment,Alham- 2006; Jensen,2000;Caine,etal. ,2005). Forbra Senior High School. Holly Stivers Spanish Teacher, ^^ j Sprenger (2005) explained brainWorld Language Department, Royal High School. t- ' f e> v / f

Correspondence conceming this article should be ad- terms and extracted examples from her owndressed to Dr. Stella Erbes at stella.erbes@pepperdine.edu. teaching when she found successful learning

720

Cognitive Psychotogy.. / 121

outcomes after applying insights from thefield of cognitive psychology. Though thistype of anecdotal evidence of brain-basedteaching methods is common throughout edu-cational psychology texts, empirical studieswhich highlight particular teaching methodstested in K-12 classrooms are lacking. In fact,Smilkstein (2003, p. 124) asserted, "althougheducators have an understanding of howthe brain leams, that alone is not enough togenerate a methodology for developing anddelivering curricula that trigger and sustainthe brain's innate leaming process as wellas the leamer's motivation and attention".The Commission on Behavioral and SocialSciences Education (1999) also cautioned,"In considering which findings from brainresearch are relevant to human leaming or,by extension, to education, one must be care-ful to avoid adopting faddish concepts thathave not been demonstrated to be of valuein classroom practice" (p. 102). Caine andCaine (1991, p. 88) suggested that "we [still]need a way of selecting the methodologies thatwill maximize leaming and make teachingmore effective and fulfilling".

The field of cognitive psychology layscui important foundation in teacher prepara-tion because all prospective teachers beginthe road to teacher certification with coursesthat present literature dealing with cognitivedevelopment. In schools, teachers interactregularly with students in classrooms wherestudents are continuously receiving, process-ing , storing, and retrieving information usingtheir brains. It is clear that the brain is capableof receiving and storing information in manydifferent ways. Through numerous sensoryrich input mechanisms, the brain receives bitsof information and carefully stores it into itsshort term, working, or long term memory.For the educator, the question lies in howwe can use the knowledge gleaned fromcognitive psychology to teach our studentsmost effectively. Bruer (1997) believedthat through understanding brain stmcturesand cognitive functions, we could connect

our leaming capacities with instmctionalgoals and outcomes to bridge the two fieldsof educational and cognitive psychology.Sylwester (2004) defined many brain termsand explained how the brain functions inan attempt to expose K-12 educators to thebiological background of the brain. Thougheducators have typically been trained in thesocial sciences, with special attention to be-havior theories and modifications, Sylwesterhas noted an increased need for educatorsto become knowledgeable about cognitiveneuroscience. This connection of educationaland cognitive psychology is also evident intexts like Woolfolk (2008) which explainedcognitive views of leaming. Woolfolk de-scribed a model of information processingthat involves the brain's capacity to retainand retrieve knowledge using its differentmemory systems. This perspective offers ascientific explanation of how leaming occursin today's classrooms.

In analyzing the memory functions of thebrain, Caine and Caine (1991) have discov-ered that there are two types of memory thatthe brain utilizes: taxon memory (memoriesthat consists of lists or categories) and localememory (a memory system which constmctsmaps or schema of new information andconnects it to our prior knowledge and ex-periences). Foreign language classes havetypically presented declarative knowledgeby implementing teaching practices whichrequire students to use heavily their taxonmemory, or memorizing lists and categoriesof information. This limits the opportunitiesfor students to exercise their locale memory,which in tum reduces the possibilities to ex-plore and discover a deeper understanding ofthe material and inhibits longer term recall.In essence, what Caine and Caine (1991)pointed out is that there are different typesof memory functions of the brain that canbe utilized more frequently to help studentsretain and retrieve information leamed in aclassroom.

Foreign language teaching, particularly

122/ Journal of Instnjctional Psychology, Vol. 37, No. 2

Spanish in this case, is a prime example ofthe implementation of teaching methodolo-gies which do not take full advantage of thelong term memory capacities of the brain.Rote rehearsal (traditional learning method)is typically being implemented in highschool foreign language classrooms and is aconventional technique that involves mainlycontinual repetition (Maximo & Sadoksi,2000). Elaborative rehearsal (non-traditionalmethod) links new information with familiarmaterial. Through elaborative rehearsal,learners extract the meaning of the newinformation and then link it to pre-existingmaterial already in memory. The more as-sociations , the more likely one is to rememberthe new information later. Using this method,we tend to remember meaningful materialbetter than arbitrary facts (Caine & Caine,1991). The literature dealing with brain-basedteaching calls educators to rethink currenteducational practices of teaching lessons,like new vocabulary in high school foreignlanguage classrooms, and move beyond theconventional methods of rote memorizationand rehearsal in order to optimize learning.

Literature dealing with foreign languageteaching offers suggestions and activitiesthat are recommended for teaching foreignlanguage. Notable researchers like Krashen& Terrell (1983) have made significant theo-retical contributions to the field of secondlanguage acquisition, explaining the impor-tance of the natural approach to teaching asecond language and the value of providinga comprehensible input to set the stage forsuccessful learner outcomes. For the purposesof our study, we investigated the literature thatdealt not only with the theories that underliesecond language acquisition but also morespecifically with the research completed onthe instruction of foreign language vocabu-lary. Commonly cited strategies of teachingforeign language vocabulary included thekeyword approach (Sagarra & Alba, 2(K)6),the use of realia or real life items (Brown,2001), attaching personal connections to the

semantic structures of words (Lorayne, 1973),rote rehearsal (Maximo & Sadoksi, 2000),using picture-word pairs (de la Fuente, 2006),and rehearsing vocabulary using flashcardimages (Liebowitz, 1988; Elliot &Adepoju,1997). Many articles and texts promoted avariety of creative strategies that could beused to teach foreign language vocabulary,however, empirical research completed inhigh school classrooms to support positiveoutcomes after implementing the recom-mended teaching strategies was scarce.Interestingly, when empirical studies werecited in the literature, they were conductedmainly in college classrooms with smallsample sizes. The bridge between researchand K-12 teaching is left to be constructed, andthe foundations of such a connection stemsfrom carrying out studies like ours in K-12classrooms and studying their outcomes.

MethodologyData collection took place in the spring

of 2007 at two public high schools in southemCalifomia. The schools are located within 30miles of one another, and both are comprisedof approximately 2,000 students. Studentpopulations reflect upper-middle class com-munities.

Seven Spanish I classes, periods 1, 2,and 4 from School A and periods 1,2,5, and6 from School B, were purposefully selectedfor this study. The classes were chosen basedon teacher permission and class scheduling.Spanish I classes were chosen because thestudents are at the beginning of their for-eign language leaming experience, whichis an ideal starting point for the building ofa foundation for students. The majority ofstudents who participated in these classeswere freshmen, and their age mean was 14years old. Each class consisted of an aver-age of 25 students. The teacher from SchoolA was a female in her mid-50's and was anexperienced teacher, whereas the teacherfrom School B was a male in his mid-20'sand was a relatively new teacher.

Cognitive Psychology../123

To be included in the study, all studentparticipants had to complete a pre-survey, bepresent for both scripted lessons, and takeall six post tests. Students' backgroundsand prior exposure to the vocabulary wordspresented in the lessons were assessed witha pre-survey. The pre-survey allowed theresearchers to rule out certain vocabularywords that students previously knew and ex-clude any students who had prior knowledgeof the language. The students included in thedata collection spoke English as their firstlanguage and were learning Spanish for thefirst time. The data analyzed for this studyincluded a total of 78 students, 42 students(21 males and 21 females) from School Aand 36 students (22 males, 11 females, and3 unknown) from School B.

Regular classroom teachers followedscripted lessons to control the number ofvariables in both classrooms. Scripted les-sons were used for this experiment to ensurethat both teachers followed the same meth-odology. Regular classroom teachers wererecruited to present the lessons rather thana guest teacher, so that the students' typicallearning environment was not changed.

Our experiment involved two phases ofdata collection. For each phase, the regularclassroom teacher followed scripted lessonplans for a 'traditional' or 'non-traditional'vocabulary lesson. The objective of eachlesson was for the students to learn 15 foodvocabulary words (all nouns) in Spanish. Forthe purposes of our study, we have defineda traditional lesson as one which involvesmainly rote repetition. In this case, studentswere given a list of 15 food vocabulary wordsin Spanish and English. The teacher began thelesson by having students repeat each Spanishword twice along with its English translationafter the teacher. {*Example: Teacher: "el bo-cadillo". Students: "el bocadillo" ,Teacher: "elbocadillo". Students: "el bocadillo". Teacher:"the sandwich". Students: "the sandwich".)Afterwards, the teacher proceeded with anactivity where the students orally repeated

each Spanish word again after the teachermodeled the pronunciation of the word, andthen students wrote the vocabulary wordunder its visual image which was providedon a worksheet.

The non-traditional lesson involveddeeper processing with the use of realia, or realfood items, and an exercise which promptedstudents to consider whether they liked ordisliked the food items. First, students wereall given a list of 15 food vocabulary wordsin Spanish and English. The teacher thenheld up a real food item of each vocabularyword and asked the students to repeat eachword in Spanish. Afterwards, students weregiven a worksheet witb various food imageson it. For each item, students followed alongwith the teacher and after the instructor saidthe word, the students repeated the word inSpanish, wrote the word below its picture inSpanish, and then marked the box next to "MEGUSTA" (I LIKE) or "NO ME GUSTA" (IDON'T LIKE) which indicated a pleasant orunpleasant connection to a particular vocabu-lary word. Researchers provided all suppliesthat were needed for the regular classroomteacher to present each lesson. During PhaseI of data collection, School A implemented atraditional lesson, whereas School B used anon-traditional lesson .During Phase II, eachteacher used the other strategy, so School Afollowed the non-traditional lesson whileSchool B used the traditional lesson.

Students were tested three times on thevocabulary words that were presented aftereach given lesson. The students took a quizpromptly following the lesson to test for im-mediate recollection of the vocabulary words(quiz 1 ), then another quiz after 3 days (quiz2), and again 24 days later to test for long-termretention (quiz 3). Each quiz consisted of 15fill-in questions which asked students to writeout the vocabulary word below its image. Toavoid order recognition of the words, eachquiz was randomly sequenced.

After all the data were collected, an es-tablished rubric was used to grade each quiz

124/ Journal of Instmctional Psychology, Vol. 37, No. 2

objectively. Barcroft (2002) created a gradingsystem based on the orthographic division ofa given word. Students ' abilities to retain andretrieve the orthographic representation of thevocabulary word that was taught using thetraditional or non-traditional method wereanalyzed. Students' scores could range from1 (totally correct response). .75 (3/4 of word),.5 (half of the word), .25 (1/4 of the word),or 0 (no recall of the word). So, if the wordwas cereza (cherry), and the student wrote"cer" as the response, the item was scored.50. Articles (el. la) and any accents for eachword were not included in the grading. Threeundergraduate researchers served as raters ofthe students' responses, and all raters weretrained and blind to experimental conditionsand groups. A high inter-rater reliability wasdetermined with a Pearson product-momentcorrelation (PMCC) that calculated a r valueof 0.92. Microsoft Excel and SPSS were usedto conduct statistical analyses, examining theeffects of the two teaching methods on theretention and retrieval of Spanish vocabularywords based on the results of the quizzes.

ResultsThree different perspectives were con-

sidered when interpreting the data. First,we examined the school effect, comparingthe results from each of the two schools thatparticipated in the study. Next, we analyzedthe memory effect, or the differences foundwhen analyzing the number of words eachstudent could recall after each of the threequizzes and over time (immediate recall, 3days after the lesson, and 24 days after the

lesson). Last, we took into considerationthe lesson type effect, or how each lessontype (traditional or non-traditional lessons)influenced the quiz outcomes.

Significant School EffectWe used statistical analyses (repeated

measures design) to determine the similarityof the scores between the two schools. Herewe present with a three way interaction (quiztime X school x lesson). Results showed asignificant overall multivariate effect (F=7.3 ;Pillai's Trace; p<.001) (see Table 1) andsignificant within-subjects effects (F=9.2;p<.001). Tests of between-subjects effectsrevealed a significant school effect (F=25.5;p<.001). Thus, there was a school effect or asignificant difference in the means for specificquiz scores between the two schools. We,therefore, did not combine the traditional ornontraditional groups across schools. Thedata now will be presented separately perschool for each of the three quiz scores withina lesson type.

Memory Effect for School AThe results for School A are shown in

Figure 1. Examination of the mean quizscores for the non-traditional lesson, revealsthat quiz 1 scores were higher than both quiz2 and quiz 3 scores. Thus, memory for thesevocabulary words was highest immediatelyafter the non-traditional lesson followed bya loss of memory after 3 days (quiz 2) and24 days (quiz 3) after the lesson. In contrast,mean quiz scores forthe traditional lesson weresimilar to each other at every time point.

Table 1Means (SEM) of Vocabulary Quiz Scores afler Traditional and Non-TraditionalLessons in two schools (Quiz I = immediate. Quiz 2 = 3 days after the lesson,

Quiz 3 = 24 days after the lesson)

School A

School B

Traditional Lesson

Quiz 1

.422 (.035)

.327 (.040)

Quiz 2

.361 (.033)

.162 (.037)

Quiz 3

.362 (.027)

.122 (.031)

Non Traditional Lesson

Quiz 1

.506 (.035)

.335 (.040)

Quiz 2

.365 (.033)

.246 (.037)

Quiz 3

.281 (.027)

.195 (.031)

Cognitive Psychology../125

0.6-

0 .5-

0.4-

0.3

0.2

0.1

0 •

School A Performance

1 3 24

Time of Quiz (Days)

- M •Traditional Lesson

• Non TraditionalLesson

Figure 1.

Memory Effect for School BThe results of vocabulary quiz scores for

School B are revealed in Figure 2. Both tra-ditional and non-traditional lesson exposuresproduced the highest scores when testingwas conducted immediately after the lesson(quiz 1). Subsequent testing which occurred3 days (quiz 2) and 24 days (quiz 3) after theinitial learning period revealed progressivelylower scores. This set of results showed thatmemory for these vocabulary words, regard-less of lesson type and after a single exposure,decreased over time.

For School B, comparisons of mean quizscores were also made between traditionaland non-traditional lesson exposures (Figure2). There were no differences found betweenlesson types when comparing responseswhich tested immediate recall (quiz 1).However, mean quiz scores for both quiz 2and quiz 3 were higher in the non-traditionallesson group than in the traditional lessongroup. These results indicate that memoryfor these vocabulary words was higher aftera single exposure of the non-traditional (vs.traditional) teaching methods, even 3 daysand 24 days later.

Lesson Type EffectExamination of mean quiz scores be-

tween lesson types for School A (Figure 1),shows that they were higher immediately(quiz 1) after the non-traditional lesson.Mean quiz scores after 3 days (quiz 2) weresimilar to each other regardless of lessontype. However, 24 days after a lesson (quiz3), the mean quiz scores were interestinglyhigher in the traditional lesson.

DiscussionThe two most profound results that we

found were in the school effect and lesson ef-fect of our study. Both outcomes offer supportfor the need for more empirical research to beconducted in high school classrooms so thatboth researchers and educators can uncoverwhat can be learned when theoretical findingsare tested out in real classroom settings.

School EffectAfter reviewing the data from both

schools which participated in the study, itwas clear that scores from School B weregenerally lower than scores from School A.Though the two schools shared many similardemographic features, during our data col-lection, we noted differences between theclassroom management and the students'motivation within the classrooms of the twoteachers who had agreed to participate in the

126/ Journal of Instructional Psychotogy, Vol. 37, No. 2

0.6-,

0.5-

0.4-

0.3-

0.2-

Q.^

0-

School B Performance

•• if • Traditional Lesson

• Non TraditionalLesson

1 3 24

Time of Quiz (Days)

Figure 2

study. As researchers, our intentions were toexplore the effects of specific teaching meth-ods by having classroom teachers follow ascripted lesson format. The decision to have ascripted lesson,or more specifically to isolatethe effects of a particular type of teachingmethod, brought forth some challenges afterviewing the pre-established conditions of theclassrooms used in our study. Factors liketeacher quality, classroom management, andstudent motivation all ultimately contribute tothe teaching and leaming process and shouldbe included more in the research literaturethat promotes these brain-based teachingstrategies, as well as in similar future stud-ies. In our case, we attempted to isolate theteaching methods to see what effects wereproduced if high school teachers implementedthe teaching strategies that were used. In theend, the school effects noted in our resultsshow that implementing the same teachingstrategies in high school classrooms withsimilar demographic backgrounds can stillyield significantly different outcomes due tooutlying factors like classroom managementand student motivation. Interestingly, whenwe look back upon studies that have exploredthe leaming methods of beginning foreignlanguage leamers, we find that the studieshave been conducted largely at the universitylevel where students have been compensated

for volunteering their participation withuniversity course credit (de la Fuente, 2006;Sagarra & Alba, 2006; Shapiro & Waters,2005). Some participants of previous studieswere also not tested in a regular classroomenvironment (Sagarra& Alba,2006; Shapiro& Waters, 2005); instead, they were requiredto show up at particular times to complete thetasks outlined for their studies. Thus, the needto control the regular classroom environmentand student motivation was not addressed inthe previous studies that were reviewed.

Lesson EffectThe most interesting finding that we

discovered when reviewing the quiz scoresbetween schools was that the scores fromquiz 3 of the traditional lesson of School Awere higher than the scores from quiz 3 ofthe non-traditional lesson of School A. Thisoutcome seemed most puzzling because theliterature states that "the more senses thatare used in the rehearsal of information, theprobability of long term storage rises dra-matically" (Sousa, 2006, p. 118). SagarraÄAlba (2006, p. 228) found that "vocabularymemorization strategies requiring deeperprocessing have been found to result in betterretention of words than strategies involvingshallower processing". In our study, the non-traditional methods purposefully employed

Cognitive Psychoiogy.. / 127

more sensory rich teaching methods as op-posed to the traditional teaching sti"ategies."Rote memorization of isolated facts oftenneeds more explicit work to leam and recallthe information" (Fogarty, 2002, p. 59), yetthe students of School A were able to achievehigher quiz scores after being exposed to atraditional lesson. We could attribute SchoolA's higher scores after the traditional lessonto the fact that students from this school wereaccustomed to using traditional methodsmore frequently in their Spanish class. Asa result, these students could have excelledmore after being exposed to the traditionalteaching method, because they had been regu-lated in leaming foreign language using thisparticular method. This empirical evidence isimportant as we take steps to bridge the gapfound between theory and actual classroompractice and to show that educators cannotsimply assume that research from the areaof cognitive psychology can be quickly andeasily applied to classroom practices to pro-duce positive results. In this case, the resultssupport traditional methods are still effectiveand can yield scores that are comparable to,if not higher, than non-traditional methods.This outcome supports that assumptions ofstudent achievement outcomes based simplyon theory cannot be made; instead, theseassumptions should be further explored andtested through empirical research.

Future ResearchThis interdisciplinary study has pre-

sented many interesting findings, challenges,and observations as we seek to understandhow information about the memory processesof the human brain from the field cognitivepsychology can inform the process of teach-ing and leaming Spanish vocabulary in highschool classrooms.

Recognizing that there is a growing trendof brain-based literature in the educationalmarket, our research sought to carry out anempirical study conducted in high schoolSpanish classrooms that could offer evidence

of the outcomes achieved by students afteremploying teaching strategies informed bythe brain's memory processing functions.Given the fact that methods of rote repetitiontypically reinforced short term memory recall,and that more elaborate forms of rehearsal likeestablishing connections to prior knowledgehave been noted to establish longer termmemory storage, it is understandable thatmore researchers and theorists have tried topromote "non-traditional" or "brain-compat-ible" teaching methods through the literatureand workshops of those involved in teachereducation. However, empirical studies tosupport these claims are scarce, and morestudies, like ours, are needed to offer evidencefrom K-12 classrooms.

After reviewing the significant differ-ences found when comparing scores fromthe two schools used in our study, it becameapparent that pre-established conditions ofthe classrooms should be accounted for someway when conducting similar studies in thefuture. What we have found is that thoughthe literature regarding brain-based teachingpromotes the use of strategies like the non-traditional methods employed in our study,the caveat ofthe successful outcomes gainedfrom using such teaching methods may be thatstrong classroom management skills and highstudent motivation must be predeterminedto produce optimal results. Our findingsprompt teachers and researchers to considermany variables that should be consideredin a classroom leaming environment (i.e.,teacher quality,student motivation,classroommanagement style) before we quickly acceptand assume that applying research from thefield of cognitive psychology will producepositive results in the teaching and leamingprocess. These observations may perhapsanswer the question of why more empiricalstudies of this nature are not completed inK-12 classrooms.

Results from the lesson effect com-parison of our study prompts educators tore-examine the effect of traditional teaching

128/ Journal of Instmctional Psychology, Vol. 37, No. 2

methods while still entertaining the integra-tion or addition of non-traditional teachingstrategies. As evidenced in our study, studentsfrom School A demonstrated higher recallof Spanish vocabulary after being exposedto a traditional lesson rather than the non-traditional lesson. Additionally, studentsfrom School B confirmed higher quiz scoresover a period of time after exposure to a non-traditional lesson. These findings supportthat an 'either-or' approach to adopting non-traditional or traditional teaching strategiesdoes not appear advantageous to the learners.Instead, educators should adopt a 'both-and'model for integrating and slowly adding moreteaching strategies that are supported by theresearch found from the field of cognitivepsychology.

Classroom teachers should be encour-aged to involve themselves more in actionresearch so that they can carry out similarstudies in their own classrooms. If universi-ties and school districts partnered togetherto work collaboratively more so that thegap between research and teaching could belessened, further empirical studies such asours could be completed to explore how in-formation about cognitive psychology couldinform today's classroom practices.

Cognitive Psychology.. /129

Appendix A: Vocabulary Words Used in the Study

Traditional LessonhncaHillfiidil

hoithe sandwich

la zanahoriaI torta

4. e ajo. gaili5. e pepino 5. the r.iic

la cereza 6. t e cherry7. la crema de cacahuete eaniit hiiftarS • la uva9. la maritp-quilla10. 1amip.1 10. thehqneyi hnr

; nilJJ aceite 11 theoi12u. a harina 12. the flour_L a salchicha the sausage14. la aceituna 1 lÊ15 • el camarrtn íp shrimp

Non-Traditional Lessone.1 champiñón 1 • miishrnoni

mío. 2. celery

± 3. peach4. 4. cnnkie,•V la pimienta

e pinsantee eiote 1. green beanla sand 8. watermelon

9 la cp.h Q. onion10. el payo 10. turkey11. el azúcarel aziic!

la lechi:11. sugar12. lpffuce12. la lechuga

a mostaza4. la salS l hhistp.c

mustard14. salt15. steak

130/ Journal of Instmctional Psychology, Vol. 37, No. 2

Appendix B: Traditional Lesson Script

*A11 students are given a list ofthe Spanish words.Teacher: Today we are going to leam 15 new vocabulary words that deal with food.

I. Let's start with pronouncing the words correctly and learning their meanings. (10minutes)

Here, the teacher says each Spanish word two times, and the students repeat after eachpronunciation of the word. The teacher then states the English translation of the Spanishword and the students repeat. This step is repeated for each ofthe 15 words. The studentsfollow along with the vocabulary list in front of them.

(*Example: Teacher-"el bocadillo". Students: "el bocadillo",Teacher- "el bocadillo". Stu-dents: "el bocadillo". Teacher: "the sandwich". Students: "the sandwich")

an por favor... (2x's each) 1X eachthe sandwich

la zanahoria the carrotla torta the, rake

4. el ajn. 4. the garlicpepino 5. the cucumber

6. the cherrya crema dp. cacahuete eanut butter

mantequilla0. la miel the honey

aceite the oil1 harina 2. the flour

a salchicha • tha saiisage.a aceituirrtn

the olive•S. el cama 15- the shrimp

n . IMAGE WORKSHEETNow you will all receive a sheet of food images of the vocabulary you are leaming. Followalong with me, and for each image, you will look at the image, repeat the word in Spanishafter me, and then write the word on the line provided. Here we go. (word ust on back)

Ltorta^ 1. the cake7.. the .shnmpI cama

3. el bocadillo the sandwich4. the cherry5. the cucumber

ft. el ajo ft. the garlica crema de cacahuete e.aniit hutter

.Ä. a mantequilla R the buttera harina 9 the flour

10. thei grapei olivea acei una 11- the

a miel 12. the honeyt le carrot

5. el aceitethe .sausagethe oil

Cognitive Psychology../131

Appendix C: Non-Traditional Lesson Script

Teacher: Today we are going to learn 15 new vocabulary words that deal with food.(Students will all have a list of the Spanish words along with their English translations ona sheet of paper.) Eirst, let's learn how to pronounce the words and learn their meaningsusing real object.

I. Realia (10 minutes)Teacher will hold up an object and then say the word 2 times, having the students repeat theSpanish pronunciation of the word each time.

RF.AT.TA1 Ho up MTISHROOM and say "el champiñón"

p CET .FRY and say "el apioup PEACH and say "el dura

* ^ ^ ^ ^ ^"^^W • • 1 1 ** Let •*•^

up COOKTE and say "la galleta"up PEPPER and say "la pimienta"lip PEA and say "e.T giii santa

old lip fiRFEN REAN anH say "p.l e.pt^^old un WATF.RMErON arid sav "la sandiaR. Hold

9 Hold lip ONTON and say "la cebolla"* rrrr Tr% T.r'TTTXr T t t _ 1 J0 Ho tip TURKEY and .say "el pavo"up .SUGAR and say V.I aziirar"1 Holip T.E I'It ICE and say "la lechugalip MTISTARD and sav "la mostazaup SALT and say "la sal"

iíLsd up STEAK and say e.l bistec

n . Emotion: Me gusta o no me gusta (10 minutes)

Now you will all receive a sheet of food images of the vocabulary you are leaming. Followalong with me, and for each image, you will look at the image, repeat the word in Spanishafter me, and then write the word on the line provided.

Afterwards, think of an incident or experience from your life that involves that food item,and then check the box ME GUSTA or NO ME GUSTA under the corresponding word.(•Follow script on next page.)

1. "el bistec"2. "la rnostaza"

ejote4. "el puisante

a sandía"a cebolla"

iall

9. "e.l api0. "la galleta"1 "la'sal"

"la pimienta""el aziicar''

4. "el pavo"5. "el champiñón^

Students repeat the wordonce orally and then

write the Spanish wordunder the picture.

Teacher: Think of anincident or experience fromyour life that involves thatfood item, and then checkthe box ME GUSTA or NOME GUSTA under the cor-responding word.

132/ Journai of Instructional Psychology, Vol. 37, No. 2

ReferencesBarcroft, J. (2002, June). Semantic and struc-

tural elaboration in L2 lexical acquisition.Language Learning, 52, 323-363.

Brown, H.D. (2001). Teaching by principals: Aninteractive approach to language pedagogy.NY: Addison Wesley Longman.

Bnier, J. T. (1997). Education and the brain:A bridge too far. Educational Researcher,4-16.

Caine, G., & Caine, R.N. (1991). Making con-nections: Teaching and the human brain.Alexandria, VA: Association forSupervisionand Curriculum Development.

Caine,RJSi,Caine,G.,McClintic,C.,&Klimek,K.(2005). 12 brain/mind learning principles inaction: Theßeldbookfor making connections,teaching, and the human brain. ThousandOaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Commission on Behavioral and Social SciencesEducation. (1999). How people learn: Brain,mind, experience, and school. Washington,D. C : The National Academies Press.

de la Fuente, M. J. (2006, July). Classroom L2vocabulary acquisition: Investigating therole of pedagogical tasks and form-focusedinstruction. Language Teaching Research,70,263-295.

Elliot, R. T., & Adepoju, A. A. (1997, Novem-ber). First language words as extra-stimulusprompts in leaming second language vo-cabulary. International Review of AppliedLinguistics in Language Teaching, 35,237-249.

Fogarty, R. (2002). Brain compatible classrooms.Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Jensen, E. (2000). Brain-based leaming. Thou-sand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Jossey-Bass Publishers (ed.) (2008). The Jossey-Bass Reader on the brain and learning. SanFrancisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Krashen, S., and T.D. Terrell. 1983. The naturalapproach: Language acquisition in theclassroom. Oxford: Pergamon Press.

liebowitz ,D.G.(erblackline masters. Lincolnwood: NationalTextbook Company.

Lorayne, H. (1973). Cood memory-SuccessfulStudent! A guide to remembering what youlearn. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Inc.

Maximo,R.,&Sadoski,M. (2000, June). Effectsof rote, context, keyword, and context/key-word methods on retention of vocabularyin EFL classrooms. Language Learning,50,385-413.

Sagarra, N., & Alba, M. (2006). The key is inthe keyword: L2 vocabulary leamingmethodswith beginning learners of Spanish. ModernLanguage Journal, 90,228-243.

Shapiro, A. M., & Waters, D. L. (2005). Aninvestigation of the cognitive processesunderlying the keyword method of foreignvocabulary leaming. Language TeachingResearch, 9,129-146.

Smilkstein, R. (2003). We're born to learn: Us-ing the brain's natural leaming process tocreate today's curriculum. Thousand Oaks,CA: Corwin Press.

Sousa, D.A. (2003). The leadership brain: Howto lead today's schools more effectively.Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Sousa, D.A. (2006). How the brain learns, (3"'ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Sprenger, M. (2005). Becoming a 'Wiz' atbrain-based teaching. Thousand Oaks,CA:Corwin Press.

Sylwester, D. (2004). How to explain a brain:An educator's handbook of brain terms andcognitive processes. Thousand Oaks, CA:Corwin Press.

Täte, M. (2003). Worksheets don 'tgrow dendrites:20 instructional strategies that engage thebrain. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Woolfolk,A. (2008). Educationalpsychology,(9"'ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Copyright of Journal of Instructional Psychology is the property of Educational Innovations and its content may

not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written

permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.