The "Marshmallow effect" in (haptic pronunciation) teaching

Following up on the previous blogpost on "distracting from distractions," here is a "delicious" study by Heyman, of University of California San Diego, and colleagues, summarized by Science Daily that attempts to refine the classic "Marshmallow effect," studies where children are bribed with marshmallows to see how long they will wait to eat them. Basically, they are told if they can just hold off a bit, they'll get more marshmallows. Those that do turn out to be more successful later in life, maybe more disciplined, etc. 

In this study the added variable was that the 3 and 4 year olds in different groups were told (a) their teacher would find out how much time they waited, (b) their friends would find out, or (c) in the control group, no such instruction were provided. As you can guess, the first two groups waited longer; the first, more than twice as long as the second. (The researchers' conclusions as to what is actually motivating the kids--they say " . . .  findings suggest that the desire to impress others is strong and can motivate human behavior starting at a very young age." Well maybe, in the case of (b), but in (a), given that the research was done in China . . . could there be other cultural factors involved, such as fear of teacher reaction or discipline? Maybe . . . 

In haptic pronunciation teaching, but in many different teaching contexts, instructors pay very close attention to time on task work by students both in and out of class. A basic HaPT protocol is that students have to report weekly in some detail on their out of class practice, including how much time on assigned task and various levels of evaluation of how "it" went. Here, too, however, there is the same "Marshmallow" question . . . Those that do consistently report seem to do much better; those that don't, don't. But there is no obvious way to assign simple cause and effect there. Maybe it is just that the disciplined do better, including at providing good reports on time allocation, etc. 

I have been unable to find a decent piece of research that parallels what we do in the "ActonHaptic" version of HaPT with time management and reporting. (If you know of one, please pass that on!) But, the general effect always seems to be more focused, less distracted work/study. I do something similar in my some of my grad courses, in fact, where at least the monitoring effect, that they have to report to me regularly always seems to "work." I do have data from final course evaluations that confirms that consistently. 

So . . . try applying that idea to your course. As you do, take careful notes on how much time you spend on what, and when, and how it seemed to work. Then report back to me . . . or else!

Source: 

Association for Psychological Science. (2020, September 10). Children will wait to impress others -- another twist on the classic marshmallow test. ScienceDaily. Retrieved October 26, 2020 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200910110826.htm

The sweet spot: Motivation and self-discipline in (pronunciation) teaching

Clip art:
Clker.com

The term, self-disciplined or its distant cousin "will power," does not seem to show up much in research on second language pronunciation teaching today (cf. Bunrueng, 2014) --or most anywhere for that matter. Ever since elementary school where I was continually bribed with sugar to calm down and pay attention or be rewarded for demonstrating a little of that,  I've been sold on how important it is . . . (self discipline, that is!)

Helping students become more independent, autonomous and better managers of their learning and study is ostensibly a goal of most contemporary, post-modern-method, "pedagogically hip" programs. But how do you do that, especially if they (naturally) lack motivation and self-discipline, and blatant bribery of at least adults with sweets is pretty much out of fashion?

Ah . . . not so fast there . . .

In a fascinating piece by Herbert at PsychologicalSciences.org, entitled, "Where does self-discipline come from?" (Full citation below), reporting on research by Molden at Northwestern university, we find that even just quickly rinsing out your mouth with sugar water occasionally may serve to seriously restart your motivation to get something done. (But you knew that already!)

They are not sure exactly why that works but, apparently, just the hint to the brain of some later "reward" works nearly as well as the real thing. So it is not the blood sugar that immediately gets you going when you wolf down that bear claw and latte, it is the THOUGHT of what it is going to do for you that gets your juices flowing, so to speak!

So what is the obvious takeaway here? (Should you live close to a Tim Hortons or KrispyKreme shop, you are way ahead of me!) If self-discipline is a plus in your work (or your life)--and it certainly is in getting students to take responsibility for their own learning, in doing the heavy lifting of homework and practice in haptic teaching pronunciation, then my occasional, strategic use of chocolate and "Timbits" is fully justified!

Just think about it . . . 

Sweet!

Full citation
Herbert, W. (2015), retrieved from http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/news/full-frontal-psychology/where-does-self-discipline-come-from.html (February 23, 2015)