Enhancing Learners'

New Skills Retention

Many teachers struggle with learners' inability to retain new words and
semantics, attributing it to the ineffectiveness of classroom methods and
strategies.

This study aims to explore teachers' attitudes towards effective ways to enhance
learners' retention, focusing on the hypothesis that appropriate teaching methods
can significantly improve learning.

Understanding the history of teaching methods and the function of human

memory is crucial for evaluating the appropriateness of the approaches.
Fundamental Questions of Language
Learning Methods
What is a method?
A method in language learning refers to the
overall approach or strategy used to impart
knowledge of a language to learners.
Applicability of methods across
all classes
There is no universal method applicable to
all classes; methods must be tailored to
individual learners and contexts.
Differences between method and
procedures
Methods are the broader approaches, while
procedures are the specific techniques and
actions executed within those approaches.
Impact of memory on learning
Memory significantly affects learning, as
retaining new information is crucial for
language acquisition and proficiency.
Method Definition
Richard and Rodergrs' Definition Methods in Language Classes

Richard and Rodergrs divided method into 3 Reflect on whether the best teaching methods are
categories: Approach, Design, and procedures, being utilized in classes.
each with a specific focus.
Commonly used methods include CLL, CLT,
The "Approach" considers the origin of language GTM, Direct method, Silent method, and
and learning, based on theoretical and general Audiolingual method.
theories. The "Design" dives into details like
objectives, syllabus, and roles, while "procedures"
delves into the activities in the class.
Method
• Prescientific era: Traditional informal methods focused on memorization and translation.
• Scientific era: Emergence of methods based on scientific theories of language learning.
• Post method era: Flexible teachers using different methods for individuals.
The post method era emphasizes the need for knowledgeable, flexible teachers
and customized techniques for learners. It abandons the search for a one-size-fits-
all method and instead focuses on adapting to individual learners and influential
factors. While there is no fixed procedure that applies to all classes, some macro
strategies are essential in every circumstance.
 Macro Strategies
Maximizing Learning Facilitate Student Interaction
Opportunities
Encourage students to negotiate and interact
Use creative teaching activities, such as games with each other to promote language
and movies, to enhance learning. development.

Contextualizing Language Input

Encouraging Language Awareness
Teach language items within context to

Raise cultural awareness about syntactic and enhance understanding and application.

morphological differences between languages.

What is the difference between

exercise and task?
Integrate language skills Exercises only require learners’
knowledge to fill in the gaps
Do not always do exercise do tasks as well. But tasks are real life and
between exercise and task? authentic and need
accomplishment
Memory Problems
Eggen (2010) highlighted that forgetting is a common problem that most people
experience at the level of memory. Forgetting is the loss of information from
long-term memory, affecting everyday lives and learning (p.214).

Experts cite "interference" as a cause of forgetting. It's when new information

either before or after detracts from understanding, causing proactive and
retroactive interference. Apart from interference, memory processing, which
involves encoding, storing, retaining, and retrieving information, can lead to
misremembering or forgetting information.

Automatic processing encodes details without conscious awareness, while

effortful processing requires conscious attention and effort. The way information
is encoded determines how it will be stored (Savage, 2018).
McDermott and Roediger (2016) admitted that encoding is selective and prolific.
It is selective simply because individuals do not encode all what they sense. They
attend to some events in their environment and they ignore others.

Also, it is prolific in the sense that humans are always encoding the events of
their lives, attending to the world, trying to understand it.

So, they don't need to pay attention to everything. But if something unexpected
happens then.
Memory Storage
Memories are not stored in just one place in the brain, but across different interconnected brain regions. With
each new memory, the human brain reshapes itself, leading to changes in the brain's structure and function.

Psychologists refer to this physical change in the neurological system as an engram or memory trace. There
are three separate memory stores: sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory, each
responsible for different types of information storage, including procedural, episodic, and semantic
information.

Briefly, storage is the process of saving information in memory. Memories are stored in different areas in the
brain, and the term "engram" refers to the physical change in the human’s nervous system.
Retrieval
• Four basic ways: Retrieval from memory
• Reconstructive process: Memory changes every time it's retrieved
• Function not always perfect: Lack of retrieval cues