2 posts tagged “mirror neurons”
Develop the habit of imitating and do not study grammar! You will learn English faster! I will follow up, here, on the previous post which referred to mirror neurons, and discuss how to use this phenomenon when you learn English on The Linguist system. In the example of my previous post, I was able to react instantly to the driver in front of me. I was able to anticipate the intentions of the driver in front of me without thinking. My neurons took over. I believe it was the mirror neurons. The instructions on what to do in that situation did not come from a "grammar book" or a driving instruction manual. It is the same in language learning. We need exposure to the language. Listening and reading are key to creating familiarity with the language, and especially in building up vocabulary. Formalized output exercizes that are found in grammar or text books are not necessary and do not work on our imitative ability. ( See my previous post on the inability of output to improve usage accuracy for a group of English learners in Japan). Instead, repetitive reciting of phrases is, I am convinced, the most effective and easiest way to practice output in the language whenever we want. It is not enough to observe someone driving, although it helps a lot. It is important to also drive oneself, in order to notice what is happening. I believe that in the case of language learning, it is not enough just to listen and read, although this should be our main activity since it is enjoyable (creating flow). It is not necessary to study grammar or answer grammar questions, since these do not work very well, and are stressful. It is, on the other hand, most useful to practice repeating a phrase, at least 5 times each time, immediately after hearing it. This can be done by just stopping the iPod from time to time and repeating the last phrase. Do this with an emphasis on the rhythm and intonation of the language, rather than on remembering the words. This in no way this makes reading and listening and the deliberate and efficient learning of vocabulary less important. It just improves your ability to perceive, observe, hear, notice and eventually imitate another language.
I have posted a few comments here about mirror neurons, those neurons that help us imitate, sympathize with and anticipate what people are doing or going to do. I believe these mirror neurons have a lot do with language learning. Something happened to me this morning that made me think of mirror neurons. I was riding in a car and the person driving the car ahead of us stopped and signaled that she was going to turn right. She was about 10 metres from the intersection and just beside a parked car. There was a parking space behind the parked car. I instantly, almost instinctively, knew that she was signaling because she wanted to back up and park, not because she wanted to turn right. How did I know that? How was I able to anticipate what she wanted to do? I believe that my mirror neurons told me. They were acting out what was going to happen based on my experience of watching people drive, and driving myself. Certainly I was not born with some innate set of driving instructions.
We learn by observing others. Our mirror neurons help us imitate because they fire the same way whether we are doing an action, or simply hearing and listening to someone doing an action. If we watch someone play tennis we start to learn how to play tennis. We just imitate them. The more we see them play, the better feel we have of how to play. Without the opportunity to see others, there is no way a book of instruction on tennis would be meaningful to us. It is the same way with language. We need to see and hear the language, as much as possible. That is how we will develop the ability to imitate the language. I will touch on vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation separately.
