Tokyo JALT:

Huh? Oh. Aha! Differences between rote memorization and active thinking

Date: Friday, October 3rd, 2008 Time: 7:15 PM - 8:45 PM

Speaker: John F. Fanselow

Description:
When a person in a language class responds to a question with "Huh? Sorry, I can't remember" the person is implying that rote-memorization is the main way to learn a language. Questions in textbooks and on tests that ask for restatement of information also send the message that we learn through rote memorization.

Though there is a place for some rote-memorization in all learning, to assimilate and internalize a language we want to learn we need to use predicting skills. Though we cannot learn without increasing the amount of language that we move into our memory, the least efficient way to move anything into our memory is through rote memorization. The most efficient way to move something into our memory is through predicting and projecting meanings -- connecting what we do not know with what we know.

During the session, we will do a range of activities to contrast learning through predicting and projecting and rote memorization.

Organization: Tokyo Chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching (Tokyo JALT)

Cost: JALT Members: free
Non-members: 1000 yen

Venue: Temple University Japan Room 213

Location: Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis, Japan

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