USING NEUROCOGNITIVE THEORY TO DEVELOP A NEW APPROACH FOR TEACHING GERMAN GRAMMAR The Effect of Color-Coding German Grammar on Language Acquisition

Abstract

ABSTRACT Traute Kohler Department of German Languages and Literatures University of Kansas The objective of this research project is to find out whether or not color coding has an effect on second language learning, in particular on learning German grammatical features, by using neurocognitive theory to develop a new approach for teaching German grammar. The experiment was conducted in two separate environments, one in a natural setting of a regular beginner's German class in the German Department (66 subjects), Experiment I; and the other one in a controlled laboratory setting in the Psychology department (82 subjects), Experiment II, both of the University of Kansas. The main goal of this study is to compare the control group (black and white grammatical features in black boxes) with the experimental group (color-coded grammatical features in black boxes), and isolate the effects of color on the acquisition of L2 grammar. The grammatical featured tested were the articles and nouns in the nominative, accusative and dative cases as well as articles and nouns in context with accusative and dative prepositions. These grammatical categories were also tested across time. In the setting of the German class, memory was tested on the day of the first exposure, after one day (which was a repeat exposure), after one week and finally after four weeks. In the laboratory setting of the Psychology Department, memory was tested only after one day. Also the application of words in isolation (non-contextualized) and of words embedded in context of full sentences was tested. The results of the experiment across groups (color vs. non-color), across the different grammatical cases, across times of exposure, and across gender of the nouns were calculated according to the percentages of the correct answers given. An analysis of variance statistical analysis (ANOVA) was run for the dependent variable across all five independent variables. When reporting a statistically significant difference, it is understood that this mean difference reflects a p value of .05, which means a 95% confidence interval was used for the analyses. The overall results of the collected data reveal a statistical significant advantage of color over black and white instructional material, with a 16% overall superior performance by the experimental group over the control group in Experiment I, and with 13% overall better performance by the experimental group over the control group in Experiment II. Memory was enhanced significantly by color coding German grammatical features. Even after four weeks of exposure, the experimental group (color) performed better than the control group (black and white) on the first day of exposure. In conclusion, the data of this experiment suggest that color enhancement can make a statistically significant difference in learning and remembering German grammatical material. The overall results of this research study give reason to propose that color enhancement of particular linguistic features can be considered a promising tool for better learning and retention of German grammar. These findings are not limited to German grammar learning alone; they could be adjusted and applied to foreign language learning in general, supported by the use of neurocognitive theory in developing a new approach for teaching foreign languages.