Vision and Audition in Language Learning

Abstract

The primary purpose was to present data for the transfer of learning from one sensory modality to another, specifically the relationship between vision and audition. The parameter was a range of natural languages including Spanish, Japanese, Russian, Turkish, and Persian. The secondary purpose was to suggest some theoretical constructs which may account for the data, and the third purpose was to explore certain side issues such as pronunciation shock and the validity of predictors for paired-associate learning. There was positive transfer of large magnitude from vision to audition for Spanish, Japanese, Turkish, or Persian, but a small, negative transfer for Russian. There was positive transfer from audition to vision for Spanish, Japanese, and Russian, but transfer was neutral for Turkish and negative for Persian. The magnitude of the positive transfer was usually higher from vision to audition than audition to vision. Much of the transfer data seemed to be accounted for with a phonetic fit hypothesis and a central mediation hypothesis of sensory process. The first concept, that of phonetic fit, postulates that positive transfer will be a function of the congruent match between the spoken and written language. The greater the congruency, the higher the probability of positive transfer between sensory channels. The second concept, the central mediation hypothesis, suggests that the direction and amount of transfer is a function of data processing not at the sensory receptor level, but at some centralized location in the brain.

The Strategy of the Total Physical Response: An Application to Learning Japanese

“…The next major finding was that retention for the technique of the total physical response tends to remain stable and near maximum for long periods of time. In the experiment reported here, data were collected only for retention after two weeks, but in a pilot study (Asher, 1964a), one subject tested a year after training still showed better than 90 % retention.…”

“…Einige Konsequenzen dieser Ergebnisse für das Erlernen einer Fremdsprache werden diskutiert. Asher (1964a) has published a theoretical paper describing a method of learning which he called the strategy of the total physical response. In that article, Asher reported pilot studies in which subjects showed unusually long-term retention *) The experiment reported in this e article was from a master's thesis written by the first author and directed by the second one at the Child Research Center of San Jose State College.…”

The Application of Total Physical Response Method (TPR) in Preschool Children’s English Teaching

“…He ruled out four factors that might affect the effect of systemic reaction: location, confluence, clues, sequence. Through data analysis, he concluded that the body movements of learners were the most important factor (Asher, 1964). After a series of persistent experiments, Asher also found that adults could learn a second language as a child.…”

Note on Phonetic Symbolism

“…This note examines the above statement and concludes that Asher's findings have only an indirect relevance either to phonetic symbolism or to Taylor's hypothesis. This note examines the following statement by Asher (1964) touching on Taylor's (1963) phonetic symbolism hypothesis:…”