PowerPoint Presentation 2 Classroom Language Dynamics Executive Functions and Language • Executive Functions – Aspects of meta-cognition – …

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Classroom Language Dynamics

Working Memory: Information and Strategies

Lydia H. Soifer, Ph.D.

Language and Learning Consultant

[email protected]

Bergen County Speech, Language, and Hearing

Alliance (BCSLHA)

May 18, 2017

© 2017 Lydia H. Soifer, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved


Cognition (Nicolosi, Harryman & Kresheck, 1989; Owens, 1988)

Cognition is a general concept embracing all of the various ways of knowing: perceiving, remembering, imagining, conceiving, judging, reasoning.

Cognitive development also involves methods a child must use to organize, store and retrieve information for problem solving and generalization.

© 2017 Lydia H. Soifer, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved 2


Executive Functions and Self-Regulation

Executive Functions

– Inhibiting reactions

– Restraining and delaying responses

– Attending selectively

– Setting goals

– Planning

– Organizing

– Maintaining and shifting set

* Working Memory

Self-Regulation

– Self-monitoring

– Self-evaluation

– Self-reaction (behavioral adjustment)


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Executive Functions and Language

• Executive Functions – Aspects of meta-cognition

– Decision making and planning processes

– Invoked at the outset of a task when faced with a novel challenge

– Involved in defining the problem which requires the ability to stop, plan, analyze before taking action

• Language – A mediating force for thinking and reasoning

– Must pass, along with cognition through affective states

– Vygotsky (40 years ago) said, speech and language plays a central role in the development of self-control, self-direction, problem solving and task performance.



Your memory is going? Which one?

• Visual • Auditory • Episodic • Automatic • Procedural • Motor • Associative • Factual • Interpretive • Recognition • Simultaneous • Cumulative • Categorical • Sequential

• Short-term

• Working

• Episodic

• Autobiographical

• Semantic

• Procedural



Working Memory: Without it…huh?

• Part of the information processing system

• If you can’t hold onto it, then you can’t do much with it!

• Interaction with the language system


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PEERAMID-2: Verbal Instructions



Working Memory is…

• The capacity to hold and manipulate information in the mind over short periods of time

• Responsible for temporary storage and processing of information

• A mental workspace

• Not influenced by prior learning or socio-economic factors

• Different than short-term memory



Functions of Working Memory (WM)

• Holding an idea in mind while developing, elaborating, clarifying or using it

• Recalling from long-term memory while holding some information in short-term memory

• Holding together in memory the components of a task while completing the task

• Keeping together a series of new pieces of information so that they remain meaningful

• Holding a long-term plan in mind while thinking about a short-range goal


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Examples of the Functions of Working Memory

WM Function

Holding an idea in mind while developing, elaborating, clarifying or using it

Example

Remembering the beginning of an instruction while listening to the rest; remembering the ending while performing the beginning.



WM Function

Recalling from LTM while holding some information in STM.

Example

Retrieving information to answer a question while also remembering all the parts of the question; remembering where you are going and why you are going there while also figuring out how to get there.


Examples of the Functions of Working Memory (cont’d)

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WM Function

Holding together in memory the components of a task while completing the task

Example

“There is no room for all that stuff inside my head. Every single time I try to write, I forget what I am doing. If I think about one thing like spelling, then I forget all about something else, like punctuation; or else, when I have to think hard to figure out what I’m going to write, my handwriting gets really messy.” (10 year old)



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WM Function

Keeping together a series of new pieces of information so that they remain meaningful.

Example

Sounding out multi-syllabic words (remembering the first syllable while working on subsequent syllables and then combining all the syllables to blend them into a word while manipulating the stress pattern); remembering the math procedures and specific facts while performing a multi-step math problem.




WM Function

Holding a long-term plan while thinking about a short-range need

Example

Rushing through math, resulting in a messy paper with careless errors (child feels it is necessary to work fast or risk forgetting what he or she is doing).



A WM Task or Challenge!

To multiply 67 x 43 in your head – requires:

– mental storage of two numbers while, – arithmetic rules are retrieved from LTM and applied,

generating – partial solutions that must be stored while – further calculations are made, and then – successfully integrated to come to a solution


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Are there limits to WM capacity?

• In a word, “Yes!”

• Try this - 264 x 369 !!!

• Amount that can be held is limited

• Limit is influenced by what is to be remembered ‒ Units

‒ Meaningfulness

‒ Background noise

• Rehearsal boosts recall



How does WM vary among people?

• Personal limits

• Fixed capacities

• Two Profiles

Female, 13 Male, 13

Verbal Comprehension 96 130

Perceptual Reasoning 94 135

Working Memory 135 86

Processing Speed 147 85



How does WM work?

A model summarizing the components of WM (based on Baddeley; Gathercole, and Alloway)

Central Executive

Visuo-spatial

short-term memory

Verbal short-term

memory


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Working Memory and Learning

• Measures of WM capacity – excellent predictors of academic success

• Working memory overload impairs learning

• Some difficulties in reading and math are predictable by poor WM capacity

• Dyslexia, Dyscalculia and Language Impairment



Working Memory and Attention

WM and paying attention – a close relationship

Aspects of attention important to WM ‒ Focus for a sustained period of time

‒ Inhibit irrelevant information

‒ Shift attention between activities



Working Memory in the Classroom: Recognizing WM Failures

• Recognizing WM failures ‒ Incomplete recall – forgetting instructions

‒ Losing track in complex tasks – what’s next?

‒ Simultaneous processing and storage demands – taking notes

‒ Task abandonment – giving up!


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Working Memory in the Classroom: Support for Children with Poor WM

• Support for children with poor WM – Simple Verbalizations - make instructions brief/simple

– Simple, isolated procedures - break instructions down into individual steps

– Repeat instructions frequently; ask students to repeat

– Allow time for rehearsal/processing

– Promote higher level processing – Use external memory aids

– Quiet learning environment

– Organized presentations

– Scaffolding

– Activating Relevant Information



Bottom Line: Direct Instruction and Mnemonic Strategies

• Direct Instructional Methods ‒ Small group instruction ‒ Explicit teaching ‒ Awareness of and control of pace ‒ Well-sequenced, focused lessons ‒ Modeling and shaping of correct responses ‒ Reinforcing appropriate responses ‒ Systematic procedures for corrective feedback ‒ Continuous assessment of performance ‒ Lots of repetition and review of material ‒ Emphasis on mastery at each step in learning

process

• Memory (Mnemonic) Strategies ‒ Teach them as part of learning the content ‒ Encourage their use



Quick and Dirty Summary

Keep instructions brief and simple

Repeat instructions frequently

Ask the child to repeat the instructions back to you

Underline key words and phrases

Reduce the processing load of the task

BE ALERT to the complexity of directions you give

Teach and encourage the use of memory strategies!


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Working Memory Sources and Resources

Alloway, T. (2006) How does working memory work in the classroom? Educational Research and Reviews, 1(4), 134-139.

Alloway, T. and Gathercole, S. (2006) Working Memory and Neurodevelopmental Disorders. Hove, UK: Psychology Press.

Archibald, L. (2013) The language, working memory and other cognitive demands of verbal tasks. Topics in Language Disorders, 33(3), 190-208.

Baddeley, A. (1986) Working Memory. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Dehn, M. (2008) Working Memory and Academic Learning. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Ellis Weismer, S., Evans, J.L., and Hesketh, L.J. (1999) An examination of verbal working memory capacity in children with specific language impairment. J Speech, Language, Hearing Research, 42, 1249-1260.

Engel, P., Santos, F., Gathercole, S. (2008) Are working memory measures free of socioeconomic influence? J. Speech, Language and Hearing Research, 51, 1580-1587.



Working Memory Sources and Resources (cont’d)

Gathercole, S., Alloway, T. Willis, C. and Adams, A. (2006) Working memory in children with reading disabilities. J. Memory and Language, 29, 336-360.

Gathercole.S. and Alloway, T. (2008) Working Memory and Learning: A Practical Guide for Teachers. Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications.

Lyon, G.R. and Krasnegor, N. (Eds.) (1996) Attention, Memory and Executive Function. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing.

Mastropieri, M. and Scruggs, T. (1991) Teaching Students Ways to Remember: Strategies for Learning Mnemonically. Cambridge, MA: Brookline Books.

Meltzer, L., et.al. (1996) Strategies for Success: Classroom Teaching Techniques for Students with Learning Problems. Austin, TX: PRO-ED.


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Working Memory Sources and Resources (cont’d)

Pickering, S. (Ed.) (2006) Working Memory in Education. Burlington, MA: Elsevier

Richards, R. (2003) The Source for Memory and Learning Strategies. East Moline, IL: LinguiSystems.

Schuchardt, K., Maehler, C., Hasselhorn, M. (2008) Working memory deficits in children with specific learning disorders. J. Learning

Disabilities, 41, 6, 514-523.

Swanson, H., Howard, C., and Saez, L. (2007) Reading comprehension and working memory in children with learning disabilities in reading, in Cain, K. And Oakhill, J. Children’s Comprehension Problems in Oral and Written Language. NY: Guilford Press, 2007.

Vance, M. (2008) Short-term memory in children with developmental language disorders. In Norbury, C., Tomblin, J.B., and Bishop, D. (Eds.) Understanding Developmental Language Disorders: From Theory to Practice. New York, NY: Psychology Press.



Working Memory: Information and Strategies

Lydia H. Soifer, Ph.D. Language and Learning Consultant [email protected]

Bergen County Speech, Language, and Hearing

Alliance (BCSLHA)

May 18, 2017


mailto:[email protected]

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PowerPoint Presentation 2 Classroom Language Dynamics Executive Functions and Language • Executive Functions – Aspects of meta-cognition – …