Memory book update

 

Update on 19.12.20 Publication is now likely to be in the first half of January.

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I've been quiet on the blog in recent weeks, partly since we spent two lovely weeks in France through August and September and partly because my main focus has been on reading and writing for our soon to be published book on memory. This book has been over a year in gestation. The title is looking like What Every Language Needs to Know about Memory. That could yet change.

So where are Gianfranco and I up to? The book is largely written, but we keep getting ideas for new additions and one challenge, not an uncommon one, is knowing where to stop! Our original idea was for quite a brief book, quick to read and cheap to buy. But as we delved into the subject matter we felt we could not do it justice without going into a certain level of detail. So, as its stands, the book is quite highly referenced and gets just a bit technical in parts. We are acutely aware of the challenge of balancing accuracy against clarity. the fact that both Gianfranco and I are (retired) teachers helps us gauge what teachers will find useful.

The book consists of 16 chapters, covering matters such as working memory, phonological memory, cognitive load, long term memory, levels of processing, prospective memory and metamemory, emotional factors affecting memory, corrective feedback for memory and a good deal more. The book explains the cognitive science, as it is currently understood, then relates it to language teaching.

The book is not a "how to teach" manual, but it does contain examples of lesson activities. You will get a flavour of the type of things Gianfranco and I have written before, but the book is largely new.

We aim to show that a knowledge of aspects of cognitive science, in particular how memory works, can underpin and inform what language teachers do.

When the writing is finished (very soon), we shall go into editing mode with the help of my wife, Elspeth Jones, an experienced academic editor, then upload to Amazon via KD Publishing. Elspeth has edited our other two books, The Language Teacher Toolkit and Breaking the Sound Barrier, which continue to sell very well. Self-publishing allows us to work freely, at our own pace and is, frankly, more lucrative than using a publisher.

It looks like we shall have a book over 200 pages long, illustrated, in colour (woo hoo!) and hopefully readable. It's been a challenge though. The research on memory and cognitive psychology is huge, provisional, sometimes speculative, and takes some deciphering at times. But it's also extremely interesting and of growing interest to teachers.

There have been a number of useful books about the science of leaning by eminent writers and researchers such as Dan Willingham, Bradley Bush and Edward Watson, David Didau and Paul Kirschner. None of these specifically address the needs of language teachers. And as you no doubt know, language learning is really not the same as other types of learning. Yes, we are special.

So, with a following wind, we may be able to publish by late this month or early December. Then, in due course, we shall write a second book with a focus not so much on memory, but more about the acquisition of language skills. Gianfranco will take the lead on that. I have been the lead writer on this volume.

Our way of working goes something like this. We both read a lot, I write chapters which Gianfranco reads and suggests additions or redrafts. We swap references on Twitter, exchange drafts, have occasional phone chats and emerge with something we are both happy with. We have our own biases, of course, but since we have worked together since 2016, we have a good idea of how we each think about classroom language learning.

The bottom line for me is that the book should be two things: interesting and useful.