IT MADE ME THINK
Attending to memory
Lesley Lanir looks into two causes of learning disabilities.
T
wo boys are playing in the sand.
It’s the last weekend of the
summer holidays. “School again
next week,” says Sasha. The other boy,
Alex just digs deeper.
Alex, deeper He doesn’t look
up. “I want to burn the school down.”
Sasha bursts out laughing but Alex isn’t
joking. Aged eight, he still can’t read
fluently in his mother tongue and he’s
behind with maths. Next year they
start foreign languages – English. He
is failing and his classmates laugh at
him. Alex already feels deep shame and
embarrassment and he wants to destroy
his school.
Alex is one of the many children who
suffer from learning disabilities that
cause unexpected academic under-
achievement or achievement which
is maintained only by unusually high
levels of effort and support.
Teachers of English as a second
language or foreign language can expect
that a quarter of their classes will be
weaker or slower learners with different
intensities of disabilities; the most
common originating from memory and
attention weaknesses and poor reading
and writing skills. Written language
disorders are subjects that will be
discussed separately. Firstly, this article
will give some idea as to how memory
and attention disturbances affect
language learners.
Learning disorders cannot be diagnosed
“ Learning disabilities are usually lifelong and,
in some cases, affect many parts of a person’s
life: school or work, daily routines, family life,
and sometimes even friendships and play.
Volume 19 No. 4 www.onlineMET.com
like measles or tonsillitis that have
known causes with recognized
symptoms. Instead, the term ‘Learning
Disabilities’ is broad and refers to a
number
mb off cognitiveitiv variances
ri that
can affect the ability to learn to read
fluently, to write, spell, perform
mathematical calculations, listen,
speak, organise, plan and remember.
These differences influence learning in
individuals who otherwise demonstrate
at least average abilities essential for
thinking and/or reasoning.
Low intelligence, environmental
disadvantages, mental retardation or
emotional disturbances do not cause
learning disabilities and neither do
hearing and/or vision problems, socio-
economic factors, cultural or linguistic
differences, lack of motivation or
ineffective teaching. Instead, disabilities
are the result of genetic and/or
neurobiological dysfunctions that alter
brain functioning.
For ease of assessment and treatment,
learning disabilities may be categorised
as dyslexia (difficulties with reading and
spelling), dysgraphia (difficulties with
writing correctly), dyspraxia (difficulties
with physical movement, writing
neatly), dyscalculia (difficulty doing
simple mathematical calculations),
etc. and can range in severity and co-
exist with various conditions including
attentional, behavioural and emotional
”
disorders. They can show up in one of
the three basic learning skills (reading,
writing or mathematics) or can affect
specific higher level processing skills.
Readin f instance,
Reading, for i ta may bbe affected
because of visual spatial difficulties,
weak phonological perception and poor
word recognition skills. Or, if a disability
affects written language one might see
spelling errors, weak written expression
and/or poor fine motor skills.
Learning disabilities are usually
lifelong and, in some cases, affect
many parts of a person’s life: school or
work, daily routines, family life, and
sometimes even friendships and play.
In some people, many overlapping
learning disabilities may be apparent.
Others may have a single, isolated
learning problem that has little impact
elsewhere.
The way in which these disabilities
are expressed may vary over an
individual’s lifetime, depending on the
interaction between the demands of
the environment and the individual’s
strengths and needs.
Memory and information
processing
Most learning disabilities are
neurologically based and may result
from impairments in one or more
neurological processes taking place
among billions of microscopic cells
in the complex structure of the
brain. These cells, known as neurons,
receive, analyse and store information
receiv
by passing
pas
Learni
messages to each other.
Learning and performing tasks help
create new links between them or
reinforce existing ones. Unfortunately,
reinfo
just like
lik a sophisticated circuit board,
a faulty link or two may affect any
number of cognitive functions and
numb
cause a learning disorder.
One of the major obstacles to learning
63
 IT MADE ME THINK
is ‘poor memory’. Sometimes the
‘vacant’ look we receive from our
students appears because the material
being discussed was never perceived,
processed or stored or because
students cannot retrieve any relevant
information due to inadequate memory
storage. To try and understand where
the information processing failed,
memory can be categorised into three
systems:
s short-term sensory memory;
s short-term working memory;
s long-term memory.
Knowledge of the functions of these
different stages of the memory process
helps teachers understand where a
breakdown has occurred. Was it in the
initial input, integration and storage or
in the systems of retrieval and output?
Short-term sensory
memory
At the outset memories are formed by
new information entering the short-
term sensory memory via the auditory,
visual, kinaesthetic or olfactory sense
registers; the eyes and ears being the
primary sensory receivers. Any incoming
data not selected and disregarded
decays and fades away or is replaced by
new input.
This brief registering process – less than
a second for visual sensations and about
four seconds for auditory sensations
– is influenced significantly by three
essential factors:
s attention
s meaning
s emotion
Teachers can aid sensory input by:
s creating a calm and safe learning
environment;
s reducing unnecessary sensory
distractions;
s being clear, visually and verbally;
s making sure attention is focused on
the information being taught;
s using meaningful topics, richly
linked to background knowledge,
skill level and experience.
64 Modern English Teacher
“
Rehearsal is the main activity that ensures
that information stays in the short-term
working memory until it is correctly encoded
and ready for transfer to long-term memory.
The middleman – short-
term working memory
If information passes through the first
stage of sensory integration, it transfers
to the short-term working memory
– an active mental workplace where
information can be temporarily stored
and manipulated. Here, information
is rehearsed, organised and integrated
with existing memories.
However, working memory has its
constraints;
s it is affected by the emotional state
of the learner;
s it can hold only approximately seven
items;
s it can retain information for less
than twenty seconds;
s it performs only one conscious
cognitive function at one time.
Teachers can aid short-term working
memory weaknesses by:
s filtering out unnecessary verbal and
auditory distractions;
s breaking down new information
and instructions into manageable
segments or steps;
s ensuring students understand
instructions by not assuming
that repeating them back means
students understand, remember and
can follow through;
s slowing down the pace of the
lesson;
s working on existing schema by
providing a context or reviewing
past concepts before presenting new
ones;
s underlining and highlighting the
most important details;
”
s grouping similar concepts together
to form chunks;
s organising presentations so
similarities, differences, connections
and patterns can be easily
recognised;
s encouraging students to underline,
highlight, jot key words down;
s pausing often and recycling and
ensuring the students are still
following.
Rehearsal is the main activity that
ensures that information stays in the
short-term working memory until it
is correctly encoded and ready for
transfer to long-term memory. Unless
reinforcement is given at this stage,
information may fade away very quickly
and not advance to long-term memory
or may alternatively be stored in a
“degraded” form so it becomes lost in
the memory system.
Creating memories – long-
term memory
Long-term processing is dependent on
the meaningfulness of the material
and depth of processing. If incoming
information can be linked to past
experiences and varied systems used
to store an event, the more potent
the learning will be and the easier the
information retrieval will be later on.
To create permanent memories, lessons
have to use a mixture of auditory,
visual, and practical methods that
stimulate the semantic, episodic,
procedural, automatic, and emotional
memories. The more memory lanes
are used to store an event, the more
powerful the learning will be and the
easier retrieval will be later on. (Jenson,
1998, Sprenger, 1999)
Volume 19 No. 4
 IT MADE ME THINK

Remembering words
Semantic memory stores word
knowledge. Unfortunately, semantic
recall is the weakest of our retrieval
systems and much of our semantic
learning is inaccessible because the
material presented was:
s rushed
s trivial
s too complex
s irrelevant
people, and entire ideas - picturing
the letter ‘s’ as a snake, or a
crown and robe when learning the
meaning of the word ‘queen’, etc.
Examples of how to present
material
1 Similarities, differences and
comparisons in irregular tenses
To Be
Present Simple
I am ’m not
s using certain visual aids for
particular points;
s allocating different coloured paper
for each subject;
s testing in the same room in which
your students learned the material;
s dividing the board in the same way
for certain teaching points.
Past Simple
I was wasn’t

s unclear
he is isn’t
s insufficient
she is isn’t
s lacking in sensory stimulation
it is isn’t
Apparently, the semantic retrieval
process is affected by “when” as much
as by “why” and we remember things you are aren’t
that are new, first on the list or that we are aren’t
appear unusual. (Jensen, 1998).
they are aren’t
Teachers can aid semantic memory
storage by:
2 Reading and spelling patterns in
s opening and closing the class with
irregular tenses
three most important words or
concepts; drink drank drunk
s keeping things structured, ring rang rung
meaningful and relevant to the
sing sang sung
students and their backgrounds;
s previewing material, such as difficult
words, new concepts; 3 Comparison of Adjectives
s providing visual representations but as _ as
reducing distractions by keeping Dan is as tall as Tom.
them as simple as possible; Dan is not as tall as David.
s displaying only one new concept at
I‘m as hungry as Tara.
a time; I‘m not as hungry as Ben.
s teaching mnemonic strategies that
Using contexts
work on relating new information
to existing memories by associating Episodic memory deals with locations
keywords to new vocabulary; and is sometimes called contextual or
spatial memory.
s using illustrations, strong colours;
Teachers can aid episodic memory by:
s using tables and charts to show
relationships, steps, comparisons s using bulletin boards – display
and contrasts; information and pictures related to
the lesson in one area;
s presenting graphic organizers,
semantic and concept maps; s changing the arrangement of the
desks to suit certain topics;
s pointing out connections and
s holding the lesson somewhere else;
patterns for example – prefixes and
suffixes – conjugations – spelling s changing your location within your room;
patterns;
s wearing special/unusual clothes or
s creating visual images for concepts, using props;
he was wasn’t
she was wasn’t
it was wasn’t
you were weren’t
we were weren’t
they were weren’t
Also, teachers can use episodic memory
to reinforce semantic memory and, in
addition, by using physical movement,
games, role play and hands-on learning,
add a sensory element to a cognitive
activity. This can be achieved by giving
students direct experience with a topic
and allowing them practice applying
their knowledge to “real life” situations.
For example, practise new vocabulary
or language structures by students role
playing/acting and ‘go shopping’/‘visit
a restaurant’/‘go to the doctors’ in the
classroom.
Routines help
Procedural memory deals with
processes that the body performs and
remembers (e.g. making a cup of tea).
Teachers can aid procedural memory by
teaching set procedures and strategies
so students become familiar with the
‘formula’ for that lesson or exercise
so mental energy isn’t wasted with
‘wondering what to do’ etc., for example:
s how to approach a ‘fill-in’ exercise;
s what to do before, during and after
a listening exercise;
s how to tackle different types of
comprehension questions;
s how to recognise when to use

Volume 19 No. 4 www.onlineMET.com 65

 IT MADE ME THINK
certain tenses;
s when to use punctuation and capital
letters.
Reflexive behaviours
Automatic memory is activated when
prompted involuntarily by certain
stimuli, for instance, the first few notes
of a song.
Teachers can aid automatic memory by:
s putting information to music or
poems – especially music with a beat;
s reciting out loud and having students
repeat the irregular verbs tables till
they know them off by heart – all
three forms “do, did, done”; “see, saw,
seen” so they learn them as chunks
and one word triggers the next;
s using colours for different tenses
so when student see, for example,
‘yellow’ they know they are working
on the future tense;
s teaching spelling rules “if there’s a
‘q’ there has to be a ‘u”, etc.
The emotional effect
Interestingly, emotional memory takes
precedence over any other kind of
memory because if something causes a
strong emotion, a stress response occurs
which results in interrupted transmission
in the brain. If this happens all the other
memory lanes become blocked.
Teachers can aid emotional memory by:
s using stories with strong themes and
plots that students can relate to;
s including music;
s encouraging role plays;
s bringing accessories to enhance the
learning experience;
s relating concepts to students’
background knowledge.
(Sprenger, 1999)
Although teachers might think that they
don’t have time to deal with sensory
channels and memory lanes, adapting
lessons does not have to be too time-
consuming. It’s possible that teachers are
already being eclectic without realising
it. For example, a simple memory
card game covers most of the required
elements.
66 Modern English Teacher
Sensory Channels
visual / tactile / auditory /
kinaesthetic verbal
memory ¸ ¸
game
student picking up listening to and drawing pictures matching the
activity the cards and repeating the
looking at the names
words
semantic episodic
memory ¸ ¸
game
illustrations changed rooms and
desk arrangement
colours
associations
action pictures
With a few slight adaptations to
existing lessons, teachers can increase
activation in the brain and stimulate
many memories to create strong neural
pathways and redefine old ones.
Attending to attention
As mentioned above, to receive
incoming stimuli, the sensory
registers are dependent upon effective
perception and attention systems.
Without focused attention, information
cannot transfer successfully to the
sensory register and onto the short-term
working memory for rehearsal.
What grabs a person’s attention
depends mainly on what is taking place
in the short-term working memory
and what has already been stored in
long-term memory and if students are
not fully focused, the memory systems
that should be processing incoming
information from the English lesson will
be busy with something else.
Unfortunately there are students in
our classes who may have perfectly
adequate memory systems but due to
their Attention Deficit Hyperactivity
Disorder (ADHD) they have difficulty
focusing, sitting still, controlling their
behaviour and sustaining attention and,
therefore, salient information does not
kinaesthetic / tactile / visual
visual
¸ ¸
that represent words to the
pictures
the words
emotional
¸
a different learning
experience
drew pictures using
personal association
played a game
reach their sensory input systems. As
such, the neurological disruptions that
this disorder creates have a substantial
influence on academic performance
and subsequently on the level of
motivation.
Regular classroom activity causes
huge levels of frustration for ADHD
sufferers and causes many to give up.
They have to cope in an environment
filled with instructions, tasks, new
information, and methods and choose,
comprehend, incorporate, apply and
store information using neurological
systems that refuse to cooperate. All of
this requires enormous amounts of self
control and as Daniel Amen M.D. aptly
says – “The harder [they] try, the worse
things get for them.”
If students cannot pay attention, their
sensory channels will not perform the
first stage of selection. The bottom line
is, if students cannot focus, information
will not be processed and they will
not remember anything about how
to use the ‘conditional phrases’ or the
homework details or even that they
attended that particular lesson.
To help students with attention
problems, firstly, teachers should take
into consideration that they have
difficulty
Volume 19 No. 4
 IT MADE ME THINK

s staying alert; this article provides important insights Lesley Lanir

s ignoring distractions;
s focusing;
s regulating impulses;
s adjusting their pace and managing
activity levels.
Besides incorporating all the above
mentioned memory tips into their
lessons, teachers can aid students with
specific attention problems by:
s varying voice tone;
s using whistles, bells or raising hands
to signify changes or instructions;
s listing lesson aims and assignment
objectives on the board;
s always highlighting the number of
items to be dealt with; for example,
‘We will review two exercises today,’
‘There are five new items’;
s noticing during which lessons
students become unfocused and
taking necessary steps to make
changes;
s being structured and eclectic and
mixing lectures with reading, hands-
on activities, and discussions. Not
having a double lesson of listening
comprehension, for example;
s arranging to tap the desk or
shoulder to bring students back into
focus.
Memory and recall are critical elements
in the learning process. Research
emphasizes repeatedly that it is not
sufficient to teach using only one style.
Therefore, teachers have to be eclectic
in order to ensure that information
is being processed effectively and is
retrievable when required. Hopefully,
and useful suggestions that will
encourage teachers to step back and
consider the reasons why some of their
students are not progressing as they
should and take steps to alleviate some
of the overload felt and encourage
information processing to take place.
REFERENCES
Amen, D. (2001) Healing ADD. The
Berkeley Publishing Group, Penguin Lesley Lanir, a freelance writer,
Group (USA) Inc. 375 Hudson Street, lecturer and teacher trainer, has been
New York involved in TEFL for over 15 years
specialising in learning disabilities
Jensen, Eric. (1998) Teaching with the
and foreign language learning. She
Brain in Mind. Alexandria Virginia: ASCD
has a BA in English and Education,
Publication
CTEFLA/RSA and an MA in Learning
Levine, M. (2002) A Mind At A Time. Disabilities.
Simon & Shuster, Rockefeller Center,
Email: lesleylanir@gmail.com
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York
Sprenger, M. (1999) Learning and
Memory – The Brain in Action.
Alexandria Virginia: ASCD Publication
Recommended Internet sites:
http://www.ldonline.org/adhdbasics
http://www.allkindsofminds.org/

“
… if students are not fully focused, the
memory systems that should be processing
incoming information from the English lesson
will be busy with something else.

Volume 19 No. 4 www.onlineMET.com

” 67