Using Repeating Word Technology During Sleeping Time
Learning a foreign language is a necessity for every person who wants to work or live beyond local limits. Traditional ways of memorizing data present numerous disadvantages and difficulties. Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) approach has become a point of great interest in recent years as it offers easy and time-saving solutions of language acquisition during sleep. Memorizing new words while listening to a recorded voice presupposes the ability of the human brain to learn unconsciously, erasing the barriers of social and intellectual background difference in human psychology. Although there is still not enough evidence to analyze the massive effects of such technologies, the goal of this research paper is to define the efficiency of NLP methods comparing to traditional means. The study group will include a class of students, with half of them receiving a task to memorize words their usual way and another half listening to a recorded voice during sleep. The results will show the possibility of improving the learning technologies and easing the efforts of language learners around the world.
Introduction
The modern market dictates strict rules concerning the amount and quality of knowledge that an individual should possess in order to stay afloat. With new information constantly appearing, people must sharpen their skills daily. Time scarcity becomes a major problem as the time available for learning is cut in half due to the need to interrupt the learning process every day to restore energy during sleep. Where usual language learners rely on their will, discipline, and persistence of tries, alternative ways of acquiring knowledge such as Neuro Linguistic Programming offer easier and nature-corresponding methods for self-improvement.
NLP was introduced by Richard Bandler and John Grinder in the 1970’s as an activity involving “studying the thinking and behavioral skills used by particularly effective and successful people” (La Valle, n.d.). The analysis of successful psychological therapies of such well-known therapists as Satir, Perls, and Erickson led the researchers to a structured pattern of broadening the abilities of the human mind.
Understanding the reaction of the brain to different stimuli brings an opportunity to change the basis of human behavior. Numerous complex qualities such as memory were previously considered congenital. NLP suggests a possibility to erase the limits of initial knowledge in order to enhance the desired features of any individual.
Literature Review
The difficulty of learning a language has always been the main stopper in the initial desire of students to start mastering a new language. According to the survey of the Guardian (Young, 2014), 48% of students believe that the grammar of a new language is hard to study. The latest research shows that “Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) techniques can help EFL learners become successful by increasing their motivation, by decreasing their anxiety leading to learning improvement” (Lashkarian, Sayadian, 2015). Erasing the prejudice before acquiring new information helps students reach their goals with less effort and engaging less sources.
People in general do not have any objective reasons to behave in a certain way or believe in specific things. Each individual has a subjective perception of the world which shapes his/her thoughts, emotions, and behavior along with life experience, environment, and society norms. It is impossible to underestimate the power of the mind. Such a medical effect as placebo has been a common and effective practice for a long time already. Its main principle lies in the personal confidence in certain information. “Empathic health care creates a cognitive-affective-sensory orientation, tapping into conscious and nonconsious mechanisms that can predispose patient toward reduced symptom severity and lessened reactivity to underlying pathophysiology” (Kaptchuk, Miller, 2015). If a certain belief can change the physiological state of a person, it is logical to suppose that it can change the perception of individual abilities as well. A person considering him- or herself unable to perform certain actions has “limiting barriers” (Brannan 2015). These barriers develop through the life of each individual and they are unique for everyone. Erasing brain barriers, programming the mind on success is the initial step of a personal self-growth ladder.
NLP techniques engage three areas of gaining experience through language, body, and mind. “NLP provides tools and skills for the development of states of individual excellence, but it also establishes a system of empowering beliefs and presuppositions about what human beings are, what communication is and what the process of change is all about.” (Dilts, 2014). The innovative technologies of neuroscientists allow the general public to shift the perception of learning from a fearful, long, and unpleasant process to a natural and time-saving activity.
The critics of NLP are concerned about the lasting effect of this method. A clinical psychologist Guy Winch (2014) assures that despite all the prejudice against the innovative methods and absence of long-term observations, it is safe to rely on neurolinguistic programming as “a trigger for a more desired state”.
Learning is a process of a conscious and healthy mind; however, not all brain- conscious states are considered. The first period of sleep is also a conscious state of mind called hypnagogia. People experiencing this state “are still sensitive to sensory inputs from the outside world, but no longer entirely awake, and they are more likely to make all sorts of original mental associations” (2015). Language learning is tightly connected with associations as it starts at the age when no social principles influence abilities apart from physiological bases. It suggests the possibility not only for acquiring, but analyzing information by the brain when asleep.
Although the practitioners of this sphere have been using neuroscience technologies from the 1970s, such methods are still not accepted on a massive level. “There is currently insufficient evidence to recommend use of NLP for any individual outcome.” (Sturt, Robertson, Grove, Bourne, Bridle, 2012).
Significance of Research
According to the representative of one of the largest English language providers around the world, British Council, “the number of English language learners worldwide is up to 1,5 billion” (Knagg, 2014). Globalization trends require the social members to use a unified language, which is historically chosen to be English. With an increased number of population in non-native English-speaking countries, the number of English scholars will become larger each year. The positive results of the research may bring a breakthrough in data acquisition techniques and shape the lives of learners around the world.
Research Question
This research aims to solve the following questions:
Is there a possibility to improve the language acquiring process employing the subconscious resources of the human brain? Is it efficient to recommend NLP techniques as panacea for language learners en masse?
Research Methodology
In order to check the effectiveness of NLP methods, the research will involve two groups of high school students previously tested and identified as lagging behind in language learning disciplines. The two groups of five students with lower grades compared to their fellow classmates receive a list of fifty words of the New English vocabulary. The first group will study the list traditionally reading and repeating the words continuously, trying to memorize them. The second group will read the list once and listen to the recorded voice during sleeping afterwards. The second group also receives an anonymous questionnaire about the overall awareness of existent language learning techniques and attitudes towards the discussed topic. The questionnaire is filled in before and after the experiment in order to check how the opinions of the students have changed within time. At the end of the specified time period, both study groups will pass simple tests. The results will be analyzed according to latest studies of human mind capabilities.
Limitations of the Study
Since the emergence of NLP technologies, there have been numerous discussions concerning the righteousness of the research on the human levels of consciousness. The absence of the information relating to the consequences of such studies causes concern about the inevitable harmful influence .
Expected Results
The results of the proposed research may open new horizons in understanding human functions and abilities of the brain. Acquiring new information during sleep will incredibly fasten all spheres of the modern world, as sleeping hours earlier considered as wasted from the learning perspective, will now serve as primary study time, leaving waking hours for more challenging actions.