Deep processing

Laufer’s concept of ‘involvement’ Various basic concepts: ‘deep processing’; motivation; need; noticing and attention. This paper attempts to operationalize these concepts as features of task design Involvement = need + search + evaluation

Need The learner perceives a need to find out what the word means, and is motivated to do so.

Search The learner actively searches for the meaning (asks the teacher, looks in a dictionary, guesses from context)

Evaluation The learner looks at what this word means compared to other words, chooses the right one of a number of possibilities etc. Reflects on, or thinks about, what it means and how it works in context. Various studies to support this hypothesis.

Keating: The involvement load hypothesis on trial Criticisms of previous research: Advanced learners Only receptive knowledge tested Time not taken into account

The present study Conditions varied in amount of ‘evaluation’: the ‘need’ and ‘search’ held constant. ‘beginner’ level. Result: the third group, with the highest involvement load did best. But the benefits disappeared if time taken into account.

Practical conclusions? ‘Deep processing’ leads to better learning But takes more time. Practical conclusions?

Reflections ‘Deep processing’ assists learning, but is best invested after the students know the basic meaning, not as part of the discovery process. ‘Deep processing’ encourages higher-order thinking skills (comparing, prioritizing, exploring, logical and creative thinking etc.) … educational value. ‘Deep processing’ activities based on recently-learned items should be success-oriented so as to minimalize time-wasting on failure.

Ideas for deep-processing activities providing review and enrichment of previously-learnt items sorting into classes/ categories prioritizing identifying the odd one out contextualizing in sentences, dialogues… finding opposites, synonyms, collocates creating stories, descriptions etc brainstorming associates Note: translation, multiple-choice, gapfills and matching exercises do not in themselves make for ‘deep processing’, though they are good for tests or quick reviews. However, if such items are used as ‘triggers’ for discussion of answers, they may indeed produce deeper processing.