| Subject: Re: Test Taking |
Author:
Neil James
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Date Posted: 04:33:04 04/03/06 Mon
In reply to:
Mandy
's message, "Test Taking" on 11:34:08 10/06/04 Wed
Memory and its Role in Overcoming Dyslexia
In order to learn, a person must be able to store something that he has perceived and decoded, so that he will be able to recall this information at a later stage. It is the ability to recall to memory or to remember that makes learning possible.
Memory is one of the foundational skills of learning that is of special importance in the so-called learning subjects at school or university, where information is presented to the learner, and it is expected that he be able to reproduce it as accurately as possible. However, memory is a skill that is also of great importance to the reading act. For example, recognizing the shapes of the different letters comprising a particular word is an act of memory. Every word also consists of letters in a particular sequence, and one has to remember what word is represented by the sequence of letters in question. Simply by changing the sequence of the letters in name, it can become mean or amen.
It is widely accepted that learning-disabled (LD) students have poor memories. In an article published in the Learning Disabilities Quarterly Scruggs and Mastropieri state, “One of the most commonly described characteristics of learning-disabled students is their failure to remember important information.”
Although there is a large number of other “disabilities” to be found within the learning disabilities field, a reading disability — or dyslexia — remains the most common. Estimates of LD students being dyslexic vary between 70 and 85 percent. Some experts are of the opinion that this percentage is even higher, so much so that labeling a child as learning disabled is understood to include a reading disability. A thorough investigation of memory is thus essential.
The problem is that memory is often viewed as a “fafrotsky” — a word coined by Ivan T. Sanderson, and standing for “Things that…FAll FROm The SKY.” For a long time it was firmly believed that IQ was biologically determined. In the same way, it is widely believed that biology decides whether a person has a good or a bad memory. And those who believe that memory can be improved are ridiculed, writes Lyman in his book Making the Words Stand Still:
For many centuries it was felt that mind-brain with its memory component was like a muscle — if you exercised it enough, it became bigger, healthier, and more efficient. When I was young, most college-bound high school students were forced to study Latin. They were told that this study was good exercise for their brains and memories. With enough study of Latin, they would be able to learn practical disciplines more efficiently. Today, the analogy of memory and muscle causes chuckles of amusement at the innocence and simplicity of former educational and psychological theory. Today, most students of cognitive psychology believe that memory is physically determined. Individual differences allow for some small improvement, but generally a good memory remains good and a poor memory remains poor. Not much hope for the learning disabled here.
However, some modern researchers feel that memory can improve dramatically with training. (They studiously avoid the muscle analogy or the word exercise. Who wants to be laughed at?)
Perhaps that is why the role that memory training can play in preventing and overcoming learning disabilities is grossly underestimated.
In their article to the Learning Disabilities Quarterly Scruggs and Mastropieri evaluated the results of mnemonic instruction in learning disabilities intervention, and concluded, “mnemonic instruction delivers the greatest learning increases seen in the history of learning disabilities intervention research.”
Defined in broad terms, a mnemonic is a device, procedure, or operation that is used to improve memory. Defined in narrow terms — and what Scruggs and Mastropieri mean by the word — a mnemonic is a specific reconstruction of target content intended to tie new information more closely to the learner's existing knowledge base and, therefore, facilitate retrieval. Mnemonics have been used for thousands of years. Having limited access to writing materials, the Ancient Greeks developed complex mnemonic systems for remembering stories, poems, plays and lectures. Many of the Ancient Greek techniques were revived in the Middle Ages, where they were sometimes associated with mysticism and the occult. However, with the invention of the printing press these ancient arts became lost as more and more people relied — sometimes exclusively — on note-taking and on the printed page.
There are a variety of mnemonic techniques, including keywords, pegwords, acronyms, loci methods, spelling mnemonics, phonetic mnemonics, number-sound mnemonics, and Japanese “Yodai” methods. An example of an acronym is to remember the word HOMES to recall the names of the Great Lakes: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior. The purpose of number-sound mnemonics is to recall strings of numbers, such as telephone numbers, addresses, locker combinations or historical dates. To use them, learners must first learn the number-sound relationships: 0=s; 1=t; 2=n; 3=m; 4=r; 5=l; 6=sh, ch, or soft g, 7=k, hard c, or hard g; 8=f or v; and 9=p. To remember the date 1439, for example, the learner uses the associated consonant sounds, t, r, m and p, and will insert vowels to create a meaningful word or words. In this case, the word “tramp” can be used. Spelling mnemonics is intended to help us remember the spelling of words. In order to remember that the word “cemetery” is spelled with three e's, for example, one can picture a lady screaming 'E-E-E' as she walks past the cemetery.
In their research Scruggs and Mastropieri synthesized the results of twenty-four experimental investigations of mnemonic instruction in special education settings. They found that the overall effect size of these combined investigations was 1.62 standard deviation units. According to them this was the highest measure of treatment effectiveness reported at the time. For comparison, Kavale and Forness reviewed previous quantitative syntheses of special education interventions, reporting overall effect sizes ranging from -0.12 to +0.58, for such interventions as reduced class size, special class placement, psycholinguistic training, perceptual-motor training, stimulant and psychotropic drugs, and diet interventions. Also compare Scruggs’ and Mastropieri’s finding with the overall effect size for systematic phonics instruction, reported by the National Reading Panel as 0.32 for LD children and 0.15 for low-achievers from 2nd to 6th grade.
Scruggs and Mastropieri demonstrate, first of all, that memory can be trained, and second, the importance of memory training in helping LD children. There are, however, at least two problems in improving memory by means of mnemonic instruction. The first problem is that it overlooks the sequential fashion of learning. Mnemonics instruction is, to a large extent, instruction in memory techniques, which should be taught only after the skill of memory has been learned. It can be compared to a child being taught soccer tactics, such as the “wall pass,” while he has not yet adequately mastered the skill of passing the ball. As stated in Knowabout Soccer, “No matter how good your passing technique, if the quality of your passing is poor, your technique will not be effective.” The second problem is that by teaching the child to use memory crutches, the result is, as Scruggs and Mastropieri acknowledge, “On more complex applications, generalization attempts have been less successful.” If the skill of memory is taught, however, the child can apply it in any situation.
Audiblox teaches — among other skills — the skill of memory, which makes it possible for a person to apply his memory in any situation. Visit the website www.audiblox2000.com for more information.
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