Bob La Quey wrote:
The real issues are IMHO cognitive and may well get wired
pretty early on (Mother Duck Syndrome.) For an example see
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/dn10689-what-you-speak-may-affect-what-you-hear.html
BobLQ "My problem with Spanish is a I do not hear it well."
Ooooo, this is one of my favorite topics.
I'm in the school that our brains are more plastic than we give them
credit for.
My opinion is that we hurt the ability of our brains to learn new things
because we change the mechanisms for reinforcements.
In terms of reinforcements, we give small children *huge* amounts of
external reinforcement for even the smallest achievements. A couple
incomprehensible words, scribbles on paper, etc.
This is a good thing. So why do we make things so hard for adults?
An adult learning a new language or drawing skills or anything else has
a *HUGE* step function from internalized motivation until external
praise occurs. We're talking the need to get through *years* of what a
child would go through before even the first peep of praise.
That is hugely demotivating to 99% of the people on the planet.
We, on this list, have *very* high internal motivation and reward systems.
I'm not a fan of "self-esteem" praise. However, a little acknowledgment
to people for how much they have improved would probably go a long way.
Several of the best teachers of dance and music I have had all did the
same thing with their students, they *recorded* them at the beginning
and at regular intervals. When they reviewed these, it was important to
*watch an old one first*.
Maybe it's all about psychological framing, but the first time I had
that done to me it had a *huge* impact. It's *palpable* how much you
improved. The teacher gets to sit down and catalogue everything that
improved in a fairly objective way.
The reinforcement is amazing. Suddenly, all the hard work becomes
concrete.
-a
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